Recently, Kaushiki Chakraborty, a well known Hindusthani classical singer, went live on Facebook pointing out that a part of her rendition at the Darbar Festival has been lifted, mixed and included in the popular Tamil Vaanmathi song without her permission or giving credit to her.
Subsequently, Jayati Chakraborty, a famous Bengali playback singer came live stating that a private group/individual has uploaded posts in which it is alleged that she is suffering from a dangerous throat infection which can presumably disrupt her singing career.
In today’s HT Daily, an Indian actress, Rashmika Mandana, has complained that she is being inundated with unwarranted messages counselling on her marital relationship.
Despite an outstanding performance, Durefishaan, a Pakistani actress, is being trolled for her ‘lousy acting’ in the now trending Pakistani Serial, Dar-e-Nijaat.
In the era of the internet being a public figure is not easy. The yesteryear celebrities used to strictly keep their personal lives off public creating an aura of enigma around them and that worked for them. Today it is fashionable to go public. The more the following the greater is the celeb’s market value. Even political battles are now being fought online.
In so far as public performances are concerned videos are freely available on YouTube and other sites facilitating plagiarism. Defamation is part of showbiz which is calculatedly carried out by PR Teams of rival singers, actors and actresses. If one lays bare one’s private life to the so-called fans it is stupid to cry foul on being trolled later.
Many years back I had a chance of interacting with a fellow commuter, a young girl, working in the IT sector. I was surprised to learn that she had no FB or X (then Twitter) accounts as she was well aware how intrusive social networking could be. There are many celebrities who do not have a social profile. However, their fans create accounts on their behalf.
Social media is an important link to the world. While I have an FB, Insta and X accounts I am not very active there. Notwithstanding the infrequent indulgence, I have kept my accounts active because tt is rather necessary to stay connected. It helps to keep me updated on what is happening in the world. I have also been able to get in touch with many of my school and childhood buddies through FB. Since I used to contribute to many online journals my profile is also available on Google.
I am not a celeb but it is also a fact that availability of unchecked personal information online can make even ordinary people like me vulnerable to cyber crime. I receive a number of sms warnings in a day not to share personal details to unknown callers and fake messages. Though the temptation to be popular online is undeniable the question is how much to share in the public domain so that we do not become an easy prey to hackers, trollers, plagiarists, imposters and cyber criminals. I am still unsure, to some extent clueless, how ‘protected’ our writings are once we upload them for public viewing and reading and how strong the law is with regard to safeguarding our intellectual property showcased online
Any clue ?
I think it would depend on the laws in each country. For example, anything I write here in the U.S. is automatically covered under our copyright laws. But with the international and borderless internet, I think that becomes difficult to enforce.
I try to be careful about what I share online and on social media. My wife, however, refuses to have any social media accounts and I think she is much happier for it. 🙂
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Yes, the laws are country specific but the fluidity of the internet world is daunting. I agree with you, one has to be very careful about content shared online. Those who can do without the media are self sufficient, in my opinion.
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I post more personal pics on fb! I do not have an insta account just for the fact that I do not needone more social media account. Thee funny part is I do not get many likes from my friends on fb and some of my photos never get viewed! I feel fb’s ad promoted content gets priority. I loved fb when I was able to connect with close family and my Indian friends! But looks like it is not the case anymore! Are we just posting content for hackers? Almost all my views on WordPress has been from China the past week! Triple digit views 😂!
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I hope the blog space is safer than the rest because it’s not so much in vogue and also not so much ‘instant’. Insta, FB and X are more scroll friendly.
I too write a lot about what’s happening in my life, where I am visiting and things like that. My readership is more from US and UK and India. But does it make any difference?
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