Limited Privacy on Social Networks

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Social networking sites are used by millions of people in today’s world. With reasons varying from connecting with a few old friends to sharing photos and videos, it is plain to say that social networks are a part of many individual’s lives. Sometimes the usage of social networks areusage of social networks is required for business and other times, it is just for leisure. With various individuals constantly sharing personal information or even photos from a wild party on the Internet, exactly whose hands does all of this end up in? Although many privacy rights exist for individuals on and off of social networking sites, networkers are not well aware that government agencies, police officers, and many decision makers legally have access to their online data.

The Fourth Amendment and the Electronics Communications Privacy Act

The Fourth Amendment

According to the Fourth Amendment, “unreasonable search and seizure is absolutely prohibited” (Sasso, 2013, para. 5). However, if an individual has committed a crime, the government is able to place their hands on all of the individual’s information all through social networks. As a result of this, many networkers information could be gathered without the individual even knowing.

Electronics Communications Privacy Act. In 1986, the existence of social networks were obsolete. This very same year was the year that the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) was passed. This law protects the privacy of every individuals’ electronic usage. “Since 1986, technology has stretched and has made an incredible breakthrough. While technology continued to advance over many years, the electronic law has become outdated” (“Modernizing the (ECPA),” n.d., para.3). The ECPA allows the government to gain access and gather massive chunks of information about an individual such as where a person goes, who a person is with, and what a person does. All of this information is collected by cell phone companies such as AT&T and Verizon, search engines such as Google and Yahoo, and the biggest social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. With this being said, the Fourth Amendment and the Electronics Communications Privacy Act are very similar.

Data Collection and Mining

Digital security has become a major concern in today’s world. The United States and British intelligence agencies are officially finding a way around encrypted privacy and security settings offered online to prevent the collection individuals’ information known as data mining (Michael, 2013, para. 1).

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