Facebookâs Privacy Trainwreck
By Danah Boyd
IMPORTANT POINTS:
- On 5, September 2006, Facebook â a social network site primarily used by college students at the time â launched a feature called âNews Feedsâ. Upon logging in, users faced a start page that listed every act undertaken by their Friends within the system â who âbefriendedâ whom, who commented on whose Wall, who altered their relationship status to âsingleâ, who joined what group and so on.
- Facebookâs founder Mark Zuckerberg responded with an apology and a peace offering in the form of new privacy options. Zuckerberg explained that News Feeds helps people keep tabs on their friends, and only their friends.
- Facebook users have to consider how othersâ opinions might affect their reputation due to their online actions, based of the fact that it will be clearly broadcasted to everyone whom theyâve digitally âbefriendedâ.
- Biologist, Robin Dunbar found that humans gossip to keep tabs on the social world around them. Thereâs a limit to the number of people that humans can actively keep tabs on. While having hundreds of Friends on social network sites is not uncommon, users are not actually keeping up with their lives. (It is natural for a human being to possess curiosity, but where does curiosity draw the line and become nosiness?)
- Information is not private because no one knows it; it is private because the knowing is limited and controlled. (Whatâs your interpretation on this statement?)
- Social convergence requires people to handle disparate audiences simultaneously.
- Privacy is not an inalienable right â it is a privilege that must be protected socially and structurally in order to exist. Does society support privacy?
Online Privacy
Do Americans need better protection?
 By Charles S. Clark
The issue of protecting personal online data drew attention from consumers, privacy-advocacy groups and Congress. âWe probably should have been more sensitive to this issue beforehandâ said Mark Zuckerberg.
The rally against Facebook privacy seems to be ignited by many corporations. Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the (EPIC) Electronic Privacy Information Center said, âFacebook is trying to change privacy on the Internet, and users are pushing backâ. EPIC is just one of many groups that have legally filled complaints about Facebookâs privacy practice to the FCC. âThis is about who controls the disclosure of data. Facebook cannot make that decision for usersâ said Rotenberg.
âThe debate here isn’t whether government should get involved in protecting online privacy, but how,â says Berin Michael Szoka, director of the Center for Internet Freedom at the Progress & Freedom Foundation.
The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse published the âTop Eight Things You Shouldn’t Give Social Networking Sites.â Which consisted of:
- Access to your e-mail account; your work e-mail address
- Your exact date and place of birth
- Your browsing history
- Your vacation plans
- Public posts with your address
- Phone number and e-mail address
- Embarrassing or compromising photos
- Money
Questions
- Is it possible to enjoy or fully experience the advantages of socially networks without giving some of the information mentioned on the âTop Eight Things You Shouldn’t Give Social Networking Sitesâ?
- Can Internet activism turn into a real political movement? (Rhetorical Question)
- How private is âprivacyâ according to these new age social forums?
- How critical is the job of an RSS Feed Reader? How are they affecting me?
- How should the government go about protecting online privacy?
At the end of the day, can all parts of society be pleased? Whether itâs the consumers or corporations, is there any possible solution to settle this debate? How are business interests that benefit from an unregulated Internet affected by privacy, and how are they influencing activism?
Interesting statistics shown here, how true is it?