You live in the digital age. Computers, the Internet, social media: all these things are an inescapable fact of life for you.
Lucky you! Because living in the digital age is awesome. Google has the answer to every question, GPS means you will never get lost, Skype makes it possible for you to have a chat over a glass of wine with friends living all over the world, and your smartphone allows you to have it all at your fingertips. The digital age is incredible because it allows us to connect with the world, and share experiences, in a way that we never could have imagined.
But the digital age is also terrifying. Why? For exactly the same reason it is so wonderful. It is terrifying because it allows us to connect with the world, and share experiences, in a way that we never could have imagined.
Let’s explain: before Web 2.0, the only way you could have your voice heard on a public platform was to send a letter to the editor of a newspaper. Now think about what the process of sending that letter involved: sitting down to write it; putting it in an envelope; buying a stamp; and walking to the postbox to post it. Each and every step affording you the luxury of time to satisfy yourself entirely that the content of the letter was not only something that you wanted to say, but something that you wanted to say publicly. Even then, it remained possible for the editor to choose not to publish your letter, because he or she thought it defamatory, abusive, otherwise inappropriate, or simply not worthy of publication. Every stage in the process conspired to a protect you from getting it wrong.
In the digital age, every single person who has an Internet connection or a smartphone has access to a public, often permanent platform, with a potential readership well beyond any newspaper. Worryingly, this access is instantaneous: there is no drafting, no thinking, no contemplating. This is access at the push of a button; access that can have the same consequences as that tedious letter to the editor.
But, really, how bad can those consequences be?
Well, this book will show that what you say and do online – and even what you retweet, share or like – has the potential (for both you and your children) to:
- land you in prison;
- see you sued and having to cough up tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands of rands;
- seriously jeopardise your safety;
- result in the loss of your job, or expulsion from school or university;
- do significant damage to the brand and reputation of a company; and
- most importantly, do irreparable damage to your personal reputation.
Now there are two possible reactions to this … If you’re older, you’re probably terrified and want to go and lie under a rock and wait for it to pass. But before you do that, you should know that it’s not ‘going to pass’. You see, the world is not in the habit of undoing innovation. And you should also know that, without doubt, someone is going to walk past you and your rock and take a photo. They will then, of course, post that photo online. And you will then, of course, become the latest in a long line of Internet laughing stocks.
If you’re young, your reaction is probably to virtually high-five all your Facebook friends and wonder how on earth your parents survived without an iPad. Either way, you’re in it.
Either way, you need to carry on reading. Because as wonderful as the digital age is, getting it wrong online has the potential to get you into some very serious trouble. Every status update, every tweet, every picture, is stored in a digital dossier of your life, and has the potential to bring about life-changing legal, reputational and disciplinary consequences for you.
We’re here to make sure that doesn’t happen.
So why bother?
You’re probably wondering whether you should even bother reading to the end, or just throw away your computer and smartphone now and be done with it.
Not so fast.
You see, this book is not intended to scare you offline. We’ll admit, it is intended to scare you. But we want to scare you just enough to make you conscious of the risks of living your life online. We want to scare you just enough to make you stop for a second and think before you post. We want to put you in a position where you can reap the immeasurable benefits of the digital age – personal, professional, social, reputational – without compromising yourself in any way.
How we’re going to do that is by setting out some important dos and don’ts of living in the digital age. Some are really obvious, while others will surprise you. We’ve tried to make it fun, but please remember that we are very nerdy lawyers, so our definition of ‘fun’ might not necessarily align with yours. So, yes, you might come across some boring lawyer stuff, but we promise that every word is very important in achieving the end goal of getting you through the very murky waters of the digital age in one piece, with your life and reputation intact.
What you won’t come across in this book is footnotes. There are no footnotes (because we know you’re not going to read them); it isn’t littered with case references or sections of long and boring Acts; and there aren’t any long technical explanations of the law. Mostly, this is because you haven’t paid us to be your lawyers, and if this book should teach you anything, it is that there is no such thing as a free lunch. But it’s also because we don’t want to put you into a book coma. We actually want you to make it to the last page without giving up, tweeting about how boring it is, and googling the ending.
So you’re going to have to assume that what we’re saying is accurate – we promise, it is (well, at least at the time of going to print). Or pay us, and we’ll tell you the same thing in legalese and in exchange for lots and lots of money. Or, if you’re feeling particularly stupid, you can go and test out some of our theories and see whether or not you land up in jail/being sued/fired/changing your name. If you choose that last option, please do let us know, because we’d love to include your story as a funny anecdote in the next edition.
