Right to Privacy on Facebook
Privacy on Facebook: A Background
A Chronology of Privacy Breaches
Dissenting Views
The Need to Protect the Privacy of Members and the Way Forward
Today, millions of people continue to join dozens of social networking services including but not limited to Facebook, MySpace and Twitter. However, these services have been accused of neglecting the privacy of their members either for economic gain or otherwise. In this text, I concern myself with the right to privacy as well as the need for the same and how the social networking services are handling the privacy issue. In so doing, I will limit myself to Facebook.
Privacy on Facebook: A Background
Facebook according to Tavani "is a popular social networking service (SNS) founded by Mark Zuckerberg in 2004, when he was a student at Harvard University" (155). According to the author, this service allows members to not only make new friends but to also share information about themselves with those they regard as their friends on this platform. In the past, Facebook has been accused of invading the privacy of its members.
It is important to note that the amount of information Facebook has on any of its members is particularly immense. Indeed, when signing up, a user is provided with the option of filling our approximately 20 pieces of personal data including but not in any way limited to birthday, name (s), education and employment history, sex, relationship status, views on religion and politics etc. From a casual observer's point-of-view, this information is not particularly revealing. However, filling out such information avails to all who care to view an individual's profile with a comprehensive snapshot of a person. Hence from a critical point-of-view, the kind of information currently stored in Facebook's severs regarding its individual members can be considered rather sensitive. With that in mind, there is an existing need for Facebook to guarantee users of efficient safeguards as well conditions tailored to protect such information from manipulation. Does Facebook have these conditions and safeguards?
In the past, Facebook has also had to contend with user concerns over what happens to the information stored on Facebook's servers once members chose to deactivate their accounts permanently. As Tavani points out, users in this case were afraid that such information could in future be sold to third parties (156). Although Facebook recently amended its provisions allowing users to request for the permanent deletion of all information pertaining to an account on the deactivation or termination of the same, there is an existing need for the service to explicitly reassure users that it does not retain any of the said information on its servers.
In recent times, the social networking service has been criticized heavily for its facial recognition feature. This feature facilitates tagging of photos by suggesting names of those to be tagged based on a comparison of recently uploaded photos with those of the uploader's pals. The privacy debate in this case was sparked by Facebook's move to roll-out the feature without the issuance of an advance notice to users especially given that some members may not be comfortable with having their names suggested in this arrangement. As an indicator of the seriousness of the issue as far as user privacy is concerned, James points…
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