Difference between revisions of "Facebook Privacy Policy"

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(Data Mining)
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== Data Mining ==  
 
== Data Mining ==  
  
Facebook has been collecting and analyzing site content without user consent or
+
Facebook has been collecting and analyzing site content without user consent or knowledge, frequently over a vast number of ways. Facebook put in an advertising system called Beacon. It took the activity users conducted on other websites and sent that information back to Facebook <ref> Computer World. "Lawmakers hit Facebook CEO with privacy questions" http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9191818</ref>. The idea was that all a user’s friends would see their actions on their page with a link so that the friends could follow suit—something very useful for advertising companies. This was very considered to be controversial since it monitored all user activity even when the user was singed out of Facebook.
knowledge, frequently over a vast number of ways. Facebook put in an advertising
+
system called Beacon. It took the activity users conducted on other websites and sent that
+
information back to Facebook <ref> Computer World. "Lawmakers hit Facebook CEO with privacy questions" http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9191818</ref>. The idea was that all a user’s friends would see
+
their actions on their page with a link so that the friends could follow suit—something
+
very useful for advertising companies. This was very controversial, especially since it
+
monitored all activity—not just when one was signed into Facebook.
+
  
 
=== Lawsuits ===
 
=== Lawsuits ===
A class action lawsuit was lodged against the company on behalf of all Facebook
+
A [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Class_action class action lawsuit] was lodged against the company on behalf of all Facebook users, claiming that the system was "too difficult" for users to opt out of and the site was not telling them the entire truth. In 2009, Facebook settled that suit out of court for a mere $9.5 million and also promised to shut down the Beacon system completely. Facebook set off complaints again in December 2009 by changing some of its default settings to “share-everything” <ref>PC World. "Facebook Hit With Privacy-Violation Lawsuit" http://www.pcworld.com/article/170402</ref> . In April 2010 the social networking company made another set of changes, one of which was the “instant personalization” program, where it shares users’ names and other data with Yelp, Pandora and Microsoft Docs. Users can opt out, but if they don't do so their information is shared by default.<ref>ESecurity. "Privacy Lawsuits Target Facebook, Google, Zynga" http://www.esecurityplanet.com/headlines/article.php/3910791</ref>
users, claiming that the system was too difficult for users to opt out of and the site was
+
not telling them the entire truth. In 2009, Facebook settled that suit out of court for a
+
mere $9.5 million and also promised to shut down the Beacon system completely.
+
Facebook set off complaints again in December 2009 by changing some of its default
+
settings to “share-everything” <ref>PC World. "Facebook Hit With Privacy-Violation Lawsuit" http://www.pcworld.com/article/170402</ref> . In April 2010 the social networking
+
company made another set of changes, one of which was the “instant personalization”
+
program, where it shares users’ names and other data with Yelp, Pandora and Microsoft
+
Docs. Users can opt out, but if they don't do so their information is shared by default
+
<ref>ESecurity. "Privacy Lawsuits Target Facebook, Google, Zynga" http://www.esecurityplanet.com/headlines/article.php/3910791</ref>.
+
  
 
In October 2010, Facebook was sued by users for applications or games that one
 
In October 2010, Facebook was sued by users for applications or games that one
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personal information".  
 
personal information".  
 
<ref>EPIC. http://epic.org/privacy/facebook/</ref>
 
<ref>EPIC. http://epic.org/privacy/facebook/</ref>
 
 
  
 
==See Also==
 
==See Also==

Revision as of 21:07, 21 April 2018

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Issue Facebook's Privacy Policy
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F
acebook Privacy Policy, or "Data Use Policy", describes the ways that Facebook collects, stores, uses and protects the personal information of their users. In the social media realm, Facebook is considered to have the most prevalent impact on users with relation to their private information. The policy details the information they receive, what is classified as public information, how to mange your own account, and what parts of your account you actually own.

History

Since its incorporation just over five years ago, Facebook has undergone a remarkable transformation. When it started, it was a private space for communication focused on college and university groups. Soon, it transformed into a platform where information is public by default. Today, it has reached a stage where you have no choice but to make certain information public. This public information may be shared by Facebook with its partner websites and used to target ads.

Infographic on the evolution of privacy on Facebook (2005-2010): http://mattmckeon.com/facebook-privacy/

Statistics

Over 20,000 new accounts are registered each day and 90% of college students have an active Facebook account.[1] 90.8% of users have a profile picture, 87.8% choose to show their birthday, 39.9% display a phone number, and 50.8% list their current address on their profile. Additionally almost all profiles fully identify people with their first and last names.

Facebookstats.jpg

Development of Privacy Policy

In 2005 their policy stated, “No personal information that you submit to Facebook will be available to any user of the Web Site who does not belong to at least one of the groups specified by you in your privacy settings”.[2] In the next year, their policy moved to users having control of the information and having the ability to limit or allow what is displayed. As the website grew and gained more members, they felt it was in their site’s best interest to make information available to others in the close networks around you. They stated, “Profile information you submit to Facebook will be available to users of Facebook who belong to at least one of the networks you allow to access the information through your privacy settings e.g. school, geography, friends of friends”.[2] By 2010, the site defaulted to an opt-in instead of an opt-out model and made everything available unless the user has specified not to. “Information set to the “everyone” option is publicly available information, may be accessed by everyone on the Internet [including people not logged into Facebook], is subject to indexing by third party search engines, may be associated with you outside of Facebook, and may be imported and exported by us and others without privacy limitations”.[3] Viewed together, the successive policies tell a clear story. Facebook originally earned its core base of users by offering them simple and powerful controls over their personal information.

Fbprivacy1.jpeg

Data Mining

Facebook has been collecting and analyzing site content without user consent or knowledge, frequently over a vast number of ways. Facebook put in an advertising system called Beacon. It took the activity users conducted on other websites and sent that information back to Facebook [4]. The idea was that all a user’s friends would see their actions on their page with a link so that the friends could follow suit—something very useful for advertising companies. This was very considered to be controversial since it monitored all user activity even when the user was singed out of Facebook.

Lawsuits

A class action lawsuit was lodged against the company on behalf of all Facebook users, claiming that the system was "too difficult" for users to opt out of and the site was not telling them the entire truth. In 2009, Facebook settled that suit out of court for a mere $9.5 million and also promised to shut down the Beacon system completely. Facebook set off complaints again in December 2009 by changing some of its default settings to “share-everything” [5] . In April 2010 the social networking company made another set of changes, one of which was the “instant personalization” program, where it shares users’ names and other data with Yelp, Pandora and Microsoft Docs. Users can opt out, but if they don't do so their information is shared by default.[6]

In October 2010, Facebook was sued by users for applications or games that one can join as a member on Facebook and play with other members of the social networking website. Popular applications made for the social network, such as FarmVille, Texas HoldEm Poker and FrontierVille, have been sending users' personal information to dozens of advertising and Internet monitoring companies [7]. Makers of Facebook applications were sending user ID numbers to outside firms. These numbers then could be used to look up people’s names and in some cases other information.

EPIC & FTC Complaints

The Electronic Privacy Information Center and 14 other consumer protection groups lodged a formal complaint against Facebook with the Federal Trade Commission. The groups take issue with Facebook's privacy policies and accuse the site of unfair and deceptive trade practices that "violate user expectations, diminish user privacy, and contradict Facebook's own representations”. [8] The main concerns are Facebook's Instant Personalization feature; the inability of Facebook users to make the 'Likes and Interests' section of their profile private; and the fact that Facebook discloses user profile information in certain ways even if a user has elected to keep that information private. They essentially called for Facebook to "restore privacy settings that were previously available and give users meaningful control over personal information". [9]

See Also


References

  1. World Stats. "Facebook Statistics" http://www.internetworldstats.com/facebook.htm
  2. 2.0 2.1 Facebook Privacy. https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/your-info
  3. Facebook's Site Governance. https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=+322194465300
  4. Computer World. "Lawmakers hit Facebook CEO with privacy questions" http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9191818
  5. PC World. "Facebook Hit With Privacy-Violation Lawsuit" http://www.pcworld.com/article/170402
  6. ESecurity. "Privacy Lawsuits Target Facebook, Google, Zynga" http://www.esecurityplanet.com/headlines/article.php/3910791
  7. Guardian Article. http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/
  8. http://epic.org/privacy/facebook/
  9. EPIC. http://epic.org/privacy/facebook/