Facebook-Stalking

While reading the chapter named "Deception" in Ron Smith's "Ethics in Journalism," for a little while I was actually agreeing with the use of some deception by journalists for the sake of the story. It didn't strike me as horribly wrong for a reporter to get the "inside scoop" of a prison, but essentially lieing about his identity to the warden and others shouldn't be an issue unless you've got something to hide? I know that's pretty harsh, and the reality comes in when you consider the fact that the reporter has really stopped being a reporter, instead they've become a spy... worse yet this spy reports their findings to the world, essentially airing any dirty laundry they may have found. This sort of covert reporting is taken to a whole new level when TV News casters plant hidden cameras in an effort to get the story. Who hasn't seen or watched a commercial for an undercover news story, one that really rings out to me was one that I watched about news reporters who actually were tracking down sexual predators using the Internet and them luring them in for an interview. Is that wrong or is that a public service?

What scares are reports that I've found on reporters using social tools like Facebook in an attempt to get the "inside scoop." More specifically I found two articles where a New York Times reporter has used facebook in a malicious manor, both here and here. This is creepy and P. J. Gladnick is write when he (I'm assuming it's a he) describes this as sleazy tactics. Its pretty obvious to everyone now that we have to be careful about what we put on our facebook pages, and be sure to set it up so you aren't really visible to the world because what facebook does is enable people to stalk other people. We sort of joke about facebook stalking each other, but it's not so funny when not only do people have to be worried about legitimate predators but also news reporters ready and able to share information about you to the world... if it gets them the story. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that reporters are using facebook as a means to reaching out for more sources to a news story, and when someone may complain of an invasion of privacy, one has to ask the question... can anything you post online be considered private?