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Katie Alvarez
Professor Melina Probst
English 1101
11/28/15

Argumentative Essay
In hopes of finding a woman to share his life with, Joe Jeffreys took to the dating site
Farmers Unite. Farmers Unite is a dating site in which single farmers can look for potential dates
in their area, from the privacy of their own homes. Excited about this prospect, Joe quickly made
a dating profile, excited about all the ladies he might get a chance to meet. As he was bursting
with anticipation, Joe found it pertinent to lie about certain facets of himself, as to attract more
women. However, when he met a women named Cecelia and she took to Google to find out more
about him, she found a picture of Joe in part of a promotion of school janitorial work on a
unions website, unaware that Joe used to substitute teach. Assuming that Joe had lied about
being a farmer, Cecelia then ended their correspondence indefinitely. Joe has also lied about his
income on Farmers Unite, which then attracted an IRS agent, Regina Philange, who was now
under the impression that Joe had claimed a lower income on his taxes, and could potentially be
producing and selling on the black market. With all this happening, Joe is uncertain what
measures he should take against Farmers Unite, if any. He is thinking about suing, but the
situation is risky. After careful consideration of the Farmers Unite controversy, it is clear that Joe
Jeffreys should not win his case as he made a dishonest profile and failed to read the terms of use
set by Farmers Unite.
In a rush to make his Farmers Unite dating profile, Joe skipped over reading the terms of
use. In the terms of use, it states that a third party may have access to the information shared

with Farmers Unite or with another users over the site. This leads me to an excerpt taken from
an article written by Sherry Turkles, who is the Abby Rockefeller Mauz Professor of the Social
Studies of Science and Technology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology: How
Computers Change the Way We Think: Unlike past generations of Americans, who grew up with
the notion that the privacy of their mail was sacrosanct, our children are accustomed to electronic
surveillance as part of their daily lives (Turkles para 10). Joe was fully aware that Farmers
Unite had access to all the information that he had provided for them, but he chose not to take a
second to think about what that really means, as his generation is so very used to electronic
surveillance. He didnt think twice about sharing his private information with Farmers Unite, nor
did he think about what it means to have all of that confidential information manipulated in the
grips of the interweb. Nicholas Carr, an American writer whose book The Shallows was a finalist
for the Pulitzer Prize in 2011 and author of Is Google Making Us Stupid? What the Internet is
doing to our brains also brings up an interesting point: I now have almost totally lost the ability
to read and absorb a longish article on the web or in printeven a blog post of more than three
of four paragraphs is too much to absorb. I skim it (Carr para 8). Terms of uses are by definition
very lengthy creatures, and since Joe was in such a rush to get his Farmers Unite profile up and
running, it was an easier alternative to accept the conditions of the terms of use without reading
it. Joe rushed through this step, and did not take the time to read the entire list. As Carr put it, Joe
merely skimmed the list, and because of this he completely missed out on crucial information.
Joe taken the time to thoroughly read through the terms of use, he would have been fully aware
of the risks involved.
When Joe made his Farmers Unite profile, he was not altogether honest. Joe lied about
various facets of himself such as his current occupation, height, and gross income. This once

again leads me to Sherry Turkles essay, How Computers Change the Way We Think: Chat
rooms, role-playing games, and other technological venues offer us many different contexts for
presenting ourselves onlineBut some people who gain fluency in expressing multiple aspects
of self may find it harder to develop authentic selves (Turkles para 12-13). Joe didnt think
anything of it when he casually lied about various components of himself, one of the most
important facets being his gross income. Nor did he consider what his potential dates would
think upon finding out that he had lied, because he didnt even realize he wasnt being true to
himself. By completely disregarding these inaccuracies, Joe was not representing his true self,
and in turn, this lead to Regina Philanges involvement in the Farmers Unite case. Joe also lied
about his current occupation, which led to the termination of his relationship with Cecelia. This
leads me to an excerpt from an article titled How Google Dominates Us, written by James
Gleick, who is an award winning author and has written extensively on the cultural impact of
modern day technology: The rise of social networking upends the equation again. Users of
Facebook choose to reveal-even to flaunt- aspects of their private lives, to at least some part of
the public world. Which aspects, and which part? (Gleick para 62). On social media websites,
you get to choose which parts of your life youd like to publicize, as Joe chose not to publicize
the fact that he used to substitute teach when his degree in education left him unemployed for
three years. As a result of this lie of omission, Cecelia came to the conclusion that Joe had lied
about being a farmer, and this misunderstanding led to the termination of the relationship before
it began.
An opposing view could argue that because Farmers Unite claims that it prides itself on
confidentiality, it is unacceptable that the site chose to share Joes private information. Sherry
Turkles article, How Computers Change the Way We Think, states that students do not

understand that in a democracy, privacy is a right, not merely a privilege (Turkles para 11). One
could argue that because we live in a democracy, Joes right to privacy should not have been
violated, and that his rights were violated when Farmers Unite shared his private information.
However, James Gleick brings up a very interesting point in his article, How Google Dominates
Us: It is well to remember that a modern day corporation is an amoral creature by definition,
obliged to its shareholder financiers, not to the public interest (Gleick para 60). A modern day
corporation does not have morals, it is not concerned with what is right and what is wrong. It just
wants results. Its loyalties lie with who have created it, and not those who use it. One could argue
that in terms of this case, Farmers Unite has done what corporations like it has always done, and
that is to serve its shareholders.
This case is definitely a very involved one. There is sufficient evidence for both sides of
the argument, though it is clear that one side is more cohesive than the other. If Joe would have
read the terms of use, then he would have been much more cautious in making his Farmers Unite
profile. If Joe had been honest about himself when creating his profile, then he would have
avoided any and all conflict with Cecelia. Regardless of the argument of privacy, the fact of the
matter is that everything that happened to Joe in this case could have been prevented.