Facebook is considered to be a website that allows people to connect with one another without picking up the telephone or texting them. To many this is a harmless website to keep in touch with friends that they were once close with, and have now drifted away from. Or possibly even a family member who lives across the country and plans to come home for the upcoming holidays. But with these harmless connections, Facebook comes with some serious potential dangers that the website does not clearly announce when registering to become a member.
Facebook asks for the following when signing up to become a member: name, email, generate a password, birthday, and gender. None of this information is verified and Facebook takes the future members word for it, and allows them to gain access to the website as long as their email has not already been taken. Underneath the registration process in very small print users are requested to view the “Terms” and “Data Use Policy”. The website does not require a user to even click on the links to proceed with registration, which means a user has the option to bypass the useful information all together. Inside these “terms” Facebook states “We do our best to keep Facebook safe, but we cannot guarantee it” (Facebook). By posting the Terms and Data Use Policy, Facebook is taking absolutely no legal responsibility for what happens on its website.
Due to Facebook not verifying every single one of its members the danger of a sexual predator is not that uncommon on this type of social networking website. Young children that pretend that they are at least thirteen years of age could end up being a victim of a sexual predator due to “not knowing any better”. Also the parents who allow their children to obtain...
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...ge of, Is Facebook really worth keeping in touch with family and friends when it may be safer to just call them in the first place.
Work Cited
“Cybercriminals Use Personal Information on Social Networking Websites to Commit Crimes.” Cybercrime. Ed. Louise I. Gerdes. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2013. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. From “Online Exposure: Social Netowrks, Mobile Phones, and Scams Can Threaten Your Security.” Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web 14 Nov. 2013.
“Facebook quietly unveils ‘stalking app’.” CNN Wire 26 June 2012. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.
Foxman, Abraham, Cyndi Silverman, and John Kreiser. Are Social Networking Sites Harmful? Ed. Stefan Kiesbye. Detroit: Greenhaven, 2011. Print. National Center for Victims of Crime.
"Welcome to Facebook - Log In, Sign Up or Learn More." Facebook. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Nov. 2013.
When using Facebook, users are able to perform many different tasks while connecting with various individuals. Some of the functions and applications that are available for users include: the ability to create a profile, become friends with individuals, send private messages, post comments on friend’s walls, and share pictures on your profile page. Along with these functions, there must be a level of protection that guards the Facebook account holders. However, according to Facebook’s privacy principles, the network states that “People should have the freedom to share whatever information they want, in any medium or any format, and have ...
Facebook is an online social networking service and became very popular within years. It was found on the 4th of February in 2004. As of now you must be 13 years of age to register and make an account. Facebook has been updating almost every year to make improvements such as the layout of your wall, the layout of your messages, and most importantly your privacy and security of your account. In 2010, the security team of Facebook has begun to expand its efforts to reduce risks to users’ privacy, and it was successful but still leaves some privacy concerns behind.
The Internet is an immense database that provides users with a tremendous amount of information on research, commerce, and entertainment. Unfortunately, as the internet keeps advancing, online predators continue to become more successful in what they do. The internet is an ideal network for pedophiles to pursue their interests and fixations with young children. It enables them to locate and interact with adolescents more rapidly than ever before. Although the idea of pedophiles luring children in on the internet is a horrifying image, it is happening. It is through the internet’s easy accessibility that children continue to become vulnerable to these internet predators while engaging in social networking sites.
The 21st century has brought a lot of modern ideas, innovations, and technology. One of these is social media. The invention of Facebook has completely changed the way we communicate with one another. Instant messaging, photo sharing, and joining online groups have created a way for families and friends to connect. Some argue that Facebook is the greatest invention however, while it is seemingly harmless, Facebook has created an invasion of privacy. The accessibility of Facebook and its widespread use has created privacy problems for users, teens, and interviewees by allowing easy control to viewers.
With the level of exposure that teens are facing today by joining the social networking trend, they often forget the dangers of social networking such as stalkers and pedophiles, who may use the sites as a major tool of the trade. Said dangers can befriend naïve teens and lure them into dangerous situations. For example, Raymond Wang had a friend being stalked by an unknown person through one of the social networking sites. This stalker acquired private information about her via Facebook, and it got to the point where the stalker was sending her threatening or perverted letters to her actual mailbox detailing what he would do to her. “This has really affected her a lot because now she’s scared other stalkers might do the same and she doesn't want that to happen or have anything happen to her.” (Wang 19) Even though users are given the option to make one’s profile private, there is still the looming threat that stalkers are able to gather enough information about the person’s whereabouts. Another similar incident happened to Regina Chau, a member of a social networking site catered to the raver lifestyle, Plurlife. When she first joined with her offline friends she liked everything about the SNS, but “[where] most of the people you accept to your friends list would probably be strangers.” (Chau 18) she had befriended a person she did not know offline and one these “friends” got a little too friendly with her; “he would keep asking over and over if I wanted to meet up with him at the next event. I found this a little creepy and did not message him back after that.
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...
In Betty White’s opening monologue to Saturday Night Live, she said, “I didn’t know what Facebook was, and now that I do know what it is, I have to say, it sounds like a huge waste of time. I would never say the people on it are losers, but that’s only because I’m polite.” Originally intended for the use of students at Harvard University in 2004, Facebook grew exponentially to be an online phenomenon in the years following. In 2006, it became accessible to anyone and everyone with internet connection. Aside from the advantages that give the site its popularity, creating a profile comes with a number of significant disadvantages inherit to online social networks. What do more than 500 million active users use their Facebook for? Communicating with long distance friends and spreading awareness of causes are common responses. Unfortunately, Facebook has it flaws, from limiting the privacy of relationships to creating a form of almost unmanageable bullying, making one reconsider their involvement and think, “do I really want my Facebook account?”
Boyd, Danah, and Eszter Hargittai. “Facebook Privacy Settings: Who Cares?” First Monday. University of Illinois at Chicago University Library, 2 Aug. 2010. Web. 12 Nov. 2013. .
Just as MySpace has online predators, Facebook may have some too. Some Facebook users have profiles with personal information that are visible to everyone. AOL screen names, phone numbers, and even addresses are posted on the site. Police are now looking into Facebook because a few convicted sex offenders have registered on the site.
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.
Social media is described as content created and shared by individuals on the web using freely available websites that allow users to create and post their own images, video and text information and then share that with either the entire internet or just a select group of friends (Affilorama, 2012). They are more like a website allowing you to express your daily activities, beliefs, locations, likes, dislikes, photos, music, etc. They are used by creating a profile, and logging in through either the website, or apps now used on smartphones, or any portable device with Wi-Fi connection. Although most social media networks are directed towards adults and young adults, young children are getting into these websites as well. There are usually age limits but there isn’t a certainty that all the users provided their actual age, allowing whoever wants to be a member of these sites to bypass an age limit “security” procedure. Facebook and MySpace require users to be at least 13, but they have no practical way to verify ages, and many young users prete...
Cybercrime and social media are two major global problems that impact society. Today, are more accessible to computers and the Internet than in years prior. Nonetheless, perpetrators attack social media with illegal activity to facilitate their crime. There are different strategies or practices by various countries to combat cybercrime. However, identity theft, cyberbullying and phishing are three major type of cybercrimes which are impacting social networking websites.
First of all, Facebook is a social network, which means it connects people around the world, allows us to make new friends around the world, builds more relationships, brings some new colors to life. It is very beneficial for
On the internet, crime is everywhere. Sometimes, it’s something as relatively harmless as an email telling you that you have just received “free money” after you give your credit-card information. On the other hand, “internet-predators”
Facebook is beneficial to one's social life because they can continuously stay in contact with their friends and relatives, while others say that it can cause increased antisocial tendencies because people are not directly communicating with each other. But some argue that Facebook has affected the social life and activity of people in various ways. With its availability on many mobile devices, Facebook allows users to continuously stay in touch with friends, relatives and other acquaintances wherever they are in the world, as long as there is access to the Internet. Users can upload pictures, update statuses, play games, get news, add people, like and share photos, videos, memes