The internet’s relationship with privacy has so far been… real, real bad. Ever since “Star Wars Kid”, real name, Ghyslain Raza, had a video of him playing with a fake lightsaber uploaded without his approval, the internet turned to each other and collectively decided that privacy was some weird as hell 20th century relic that must NOT get in the way of us being entertained for a minute or two. Now after the entire world has been memed an compressed for our entertainment value, one of those who broke through a couple’s privacy for clicks is… being remorseful!? Rosey Blair has apologized for the series of #PlaneBae Tweets where she documented the flirtation of two complete strangers on a plane, and encouraged her followers to discover the identity of the people involved.
https://twitter.com/roseybeeme/status/1016711281670225927
The apology follows Rosey Blair’s initial documentation of the two complete strangers who she knew nothing about (what if they were married? What if they just didn’t want the internet watching their flirting technique?), and her attempt to parlay the favs and the Retweets into either a Buzzfeed job or a movie deal (these Tweets have since been deleted). Most upsetting was Blair’s attempt to get her followers to discover the woman’s identity, essentially doxing her.
Blair’s apology seems to be sincere, as the Tweets in question have been deleted.
Before the apology broke, people were expressing their annoyance at this seemingly opportunistic breach of privacy:
A surprising amount of people think the plane couple thread was didn't violate anyone's privacy because Rosey Blair didn't include their names and scratched out their faces. But it's a compelling question: Are only our faces private? What about our conversations? Our bodies?
— ella dawson (@brosandprose) July 9, 2018
https://twitter.com/shapiro_stacy/status/1014901559833124864
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Sure. Why not invade her privacy further, cause her more harm (remember the threats/vile shit she got when you invaded her privacy before?) #RoseyBlair #roseybeem your audition for despicable comedy is going real well.
You're both pretty creepy tho, so.— It's Grave (@Itisgrave) July 7, 2018
rosey blair and her scary boyfriend are the creepiest most awful kind of people to be stuck in public with omg fully doxxed a woman and still acting like children
— kevin (@liquidbitch69) July 8, 2018
Helen, the woman whose picture was taken without her consent in the #PlaneBae incident has expressed she does not want this attention. She has since closed two of her social media accounts following harassment. Not everyone wants fame, and no one wants to be recorded without their consent.
It should be mentioned the man in the #PlaneBae incident, soccer player Euan Holden, has been enjoying the attention, although that incident is a luck of the draw considering Blair did not know a thing about him.
The internet may or may not accept Blair’s apology but the bigger question remains: how are we going to move forward regarding each others’ privacy in the days of the internet? Where do we draw the line when we break privacy purely for our entertainment? If we witness someone hurting the rights of others and recording them is the only way to document a breach of rights, the conversation is different (if watching ID Adam look like a buffoon stops others from racial harassment, all the better), but what do we make the legions of gigabites of content online where human beings are recorded by people only to help them pass the time online.
These are questoins that the internet won’t begin to discuss soon (possibly because it includes taking a long hard look at each of our individual actions), but they are nevertheless important. Tell us what you think though. Leave us a comment or ping us on Twitter at @WhatsTrending. And remember, be cool to each other, all right?
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