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Privacy issues on social networking sites
The impact of social media on privacy
The impact of social media on privacy
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Recommended: Privacy issues on social networking sites
In this essay I am going to discuss and critically analyse whether or not existing data protection laws protect the privacy of individuals whose personal information has been disclosed on social networking sites.
Over the period of time social networking sites (SNS) have increased their popularity among people. There are various reasons of people using these sites. However, majority of SNS users are those people who use these sites for social networking e.g. chatting with friends, sharing their interests etc. These SNS users do not only have data relating to them but also the data of third parties. Many of these users do not take care of other people’s personal information, for example, they share their family and friends information with other strange people. It is not that only SNS users do not take essential care of others personal information, SNS themselves seems uninterested to protect personal information of its users.
What is personal information? According to (article 2 (a)) of the data protection Directive, the information that qualifies as personal information is “Information only qualifies as personal data if it directly or indirectly relates to an identified or identifiable natural person. In order to determine whether a person is identifiable, account should be taken of all the means likely to be reasonably used either by the controller or by any other person to identify the said person (recital 26). As a result, most information that is made available on a social network (messages, photos, personal preferences, lists of friends) qualifies as personal data”. (Eecke, P V., and Truyens, M, 2010)
Relation between the data protection Directive 95/46/EC and social networking sites is complex. Data protection di...
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...nds and family’s information for personal and household purposes but, indirectly, process this information to allow third parties (SNS and application providers) to process this information for commercial purposes. When a user uses an application, application providers takes their consent to access their and their friends’ detail. Users of SNS are with wider communities from all over the world. One might be in United States (US) but have friends and family in United Kingdom (UK) whom information he/she is sharing, that person will also be exempted from data protection directive. In all these case Data protection laws do not adequately protects the privacy of individuals whose personal information is disclosed on social networking sites. A wider view is needed to protect the privacy of individuals. This should include global regularity for privacy protection.
Using the informal tone he enhances his argument by providing several thought-provoking statements that allow the reader to see the logic in the article, “Social media is designed for the information shared on it to be searched, and shared- and mined for profit… When considering what to share via social media, don 't think business vs. personal. Think public vs. private. And if something is truly private, do not share it on social media out of a misplaced faith in the expectation of privacy” (134). The reader should agree with Edmond that when posting or being a part of the social media bandwagon, you’re life and decisions will be up for display. Moreover, the business vs. personal and public vs. private point is accurate and logical, because evidently if you post something on any social media outlet you should expect that anyone and everyone can see it, regardless of your privacy settings. Edmond highlights that Facebook along with other social networking sites change their privacy settings whenever they please without
The Data Protection Act 1998 places controls on the length of time, who has access, and how much personal information can be stored on an individual by organisations, businesses and the Government. Any private information must be kept secure in compliance with the law. This ensures the individual’s right to privacy and confidentiality is upheld. (Gov.uk.
“Human beings are not meant to lose their anonymity and privacy,” Sarah Chalke. When using the web, web users’ information tend to be easily accessible to government officials or hackers. In Nicholas Carr’s “Tracking Is an Assault on Liberty,” Jim Harpers’ “Web Users Get As Much As They Give,” and Lori Andrews “Facebook is Using You” the topic of internet tracking stirred up many mixed views; however, some form of compromise can be reached on this issue, laws that enforces companies to inform the public on what personal information is being taken, creating advisements on social media about how web users can be more cautious to what kind of information they give out online, enabling your privacy settings and programs, eliminating weblining,
The personal connection Americans have with their phones, tablets, and computers; and the rising popularity of online shopping and social websites due to the massive influence the social media has on Americans, it is clear why this generation is called the Information Age, also known as Digital Age. With the Internet being a huge part of our lives, more and more personal data is being made available, because of our ever-increasing dependence and use of the Internet on our phones, tablets, and computers. Some corporations such as Google, Amazon, and Facebook; governments, and other third parties have been tracking our internet use and acquiring data in order to provide personalized services and advertisements for consumers. Many American such as Nicholas Carr who wrote the article “Tracking Is an Assault on Liberty, With Real Dangers,” Anil Dagar who wrote the article “Internet, Economy and Privacy,” and Grace Nasri who wrote the article “Why Consumers are Increasingly Willing to Trade Data for Personalization,” believe that the continuing loss of personal privacy may lead us as a society to devalue the concept of privacy and see privacy as outdated and unimportant. Privacy is dead and corporations, governments, and third parties murdered it for their personal gain not for the interest of the public as they claim. There are more disadvantages than advantages on letting corporations, governments, and third parties track and acquire data to personalized services and advertisements for us.
To begin with, various websites are violating our privacy by selling our data to third party companies. Today accumulation of personal information is escalating using technology tools all over the world without permission of an individual. Precisely, social networking sites such as Facebook collects information actively while websites such as Google passively. Facebook allows strangers to view anyone’s profile and systematically eliminates privacy for those who choos...
Social media is everywhere and very popular all over the world. Social media is used on computers, tablets, smartphones, etc and along with the use of social media there are privacy issues that come along with it. Social media is part of everyone’s life and is hard to give up. Even though we might not think there is isn’t anything wrong with it, there is which comes down to our privacy. Our privacy is being invaded when using these popular networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, etc. Social media is here to communicate with others and build relationships not invade our privacy.
Facebook : Every single day we read the news ,and think that Facebook might be antiprivacy. It is also observed that people often think that social networking sites offer complicated privacy settings. The CEO...
Facebook collects a lot of information, which the users share, and the way it has used and protected this information has come under scrutiny quite a few times in the past. The purpose of this report was to find the ways in which the information is shared on the website and the control the user has over how the information is shared. Most of the data in this report was collected from Facebook’s official data use policy.
To begin, I strongly believe that social media makes use of surveillance to exploit its users by manufacturing desires, communities, and audiences. The goal of this type of media is almost entirely the generation of advertising revenue. Surveillance provides meaning of improving the efficiency of advertising and offering private information that can be exploited by these groups towards other ends. As Andrejevic (2002) suggests, this information is still private, and so it does not constitute the loss of privacy in the modern digital age. However, it place private information in the hands of private corporations. Such as, how it will be used, and how it can be used is a question of some debate. While Andrejevic’s work has proved remarkably prescient, he failed to predict the threats to privacy that might arise if these private corporations ever released their privately held information to other parties, such as the government (243). This has become a more crucial issues in recent years.
Perhaps the founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, said it best when he claimed that privacy is no longer a “social norm.” Virtually everyone has a smart phone and everyone has social media. We continue to disclose private information willingly and the private information we’re not disclosing willingly is being extracted from our accounts anyway. Technology certainly makes these things possible. However, there is an urgent need to make laws and regulations to protect against the stuff we’re not personally disclosing. It’s unsettling to think we are living in 1984 in the 21st century.
Social medias have become a big part of our society now, they are being used in all aspects of our life. We are connected twenty-four hours a day, at work, school, home, shopping etc. There is a necessity, a need to be connected to these social media’s, to feel like you are a part of society. With these growing numbers in being connected to social media’s on the web, there comes a growing desire for privacy and safety. In this paper I will discuss and analyze the social media’s themselves, the dangers that arise from them, and how all these correlate to privacy.
Social Networking sites play an essential role in today’s culture as they provide people with the ability to interact, blog, share pictures and videos, flirt, and date without having to move an inch. People pour their minds and hearts into the world of cyber communication; it is an easier way for them to clear their heads without having a face-to-face confrontation. Undoubtedly, this is advantageous to certain people. It helps establish connections with people, friends and family from any corner of the world, but one cannot ignore the extensive privacy breach that occurs in the universe of online social media.
The first aspect being addressed is the problem with social network sites exposing information. Social networking has created an environment where it is nearly a duty to expose oneself. Profiles on these social websites are updated everyday with personal information such as locations, status, and future plans. Anyone can search another’s name and find information about their history, pictures, and activity. With the help of social networking sites...
The growing popularity of information technologies has significantly altered our world, and in particular, the way people interact. Social networking websites are becoming one of the primary forms of communication used by people of all ages and backgrounds. No doubt, we have seen numerous benefits from the impact of social media communication: We can easily meet and stay in touch with people, promote ourselves, and readily find information. However, these changes prompt us to consider how our moral and political values can be threatened. One common fear among users is that their privacy will be violated on the web. In her book, Privacy in Context, Helen Nissenbaum suggests a framework for understanding privacy concerns online. She focuses particularly on monitoring and tracking, and how four “pivotal transformations” caused by technology can endanger the privacy of our personal information. One website that may pose such a threat is Facebook.
Technology has advanced tremendously over the past decade, and appears to be advancing at a rapid pace each and every day. The social media is growing just as rapidly. Social media is an interaction between individuals that want to exchange information, photographs, and ideas in different types of networks. Social media users include people of all ages. These people have various experiences, have different cultures, and have various technical skills. (Brandtzaeg 1008) The social media depend on net-based technologies to generate the network for users to share. Social media includes everything that has to do with the Internet. By using the Internet, users can communicate with people locally and worldwide. People are no longer required to travel across the world to experience another culture. This can be done with social networking. The types of social media today come with many different types of communication such as social blogs, wall-postings, songs, photographs, and podcasts. The communication between users is informational, interactive, and also educational. However, unfortunately, most social networking sites keep track of all the interactions that take place, and this is a concern about Internet privacy for Facebook, Twitter, Google, and other social media users. Not only do they keep track of all interactions by the users, they also own all the content, including pictures that the users upload. The social network keeps this information on the user, even if the user deactivates their account with that particular site. Most users do not have any idea that the operator of the networking service keeps this information, and has access to all pictures and tags. By not having adequate security...