Privacy on Social Media
Introduction Since the introduction of the Web 2.0 there became a rise in social networking sites. Companies like Facebook, LinkedIn etc. collect data about their users and use without their knowledge. Social Networking sites collect the date of its users to customize to their user’s interests and by selling that data to advertising agencies. By posting information on these sites, users are automatically giving up their private information to these companies. Privacy on social networks have been a concerning issue but any information given out onto these sites, is then consider public.
Web 2.0 The Web 2.0 name was founded by Darcy DiNucci, an information architecture consultant in her 1999 article, “Fragmented Future”. In 2004, Tim O’Reilly industrialized the idea during a conference in which was dealing with next-generation Web concepts and issues. (Rouse, 2015) Today the Web 2.0 is the current state of online technology. The differences between Web 2.0 and the World Wide Web is the ability to connect users, content providers and companies. The Web was a source in which date was available online to be viewed but today users are able to collaborate their knowledge onto the Web. Social interaction on the web has had a major impact. Websites now days allow and encourage community sharing and input, particularly through social media sites. (Rouse, 2015)
Social Media Sites Once something is on the internet it can’t be taken down. Users might think that only your selected friends can see this but those friends can share your information with their friends and so forth. Social networkers take that information you have voluntarily given up and use it to personalize your searches. User privacy concerns establish from sharing content on social media sites, more specifically how they reveal themselves online. All information is permanently collected, even after your account is deactivated, any information you might have shared is accessible from sharing to links to comments on made on other user’s posts. (Commissioner, 2016)
Privacy Privacy is a hard term to define, as many people have their own definition of what they consider “private”. In 1960, William L. Prosser a leading American scholar on tort law separated privacy into four torts:
1. Intrusion on one’s seclusion or solitude or into one’s private affairs
2. Public disclosure of embarrassing private facts
3. Publicity that places one in a false light in the public eye
4. Appropriation of one’s name and likeness
Australian’s are protected under the Privacy Act 1988 sets out rules called Australian Privacy Principles (APP) that outline how to contain your personal information and what is allowed to be used. However, regarding what social media website may not be covered under the Privacy Act. If there has been a breached and are unable to go through the Privacy Act, users can take legal action through copyright or defamation law. (Commissioner, 2016)
Privacy Concerns There are certain aspects of our life we are willing to share with people we hardly know, like a doctor and there is private information we’d only share with a close circle of friends and family. We are human beings and we rely heavily on social interaction, we allow ourselves to publish information about ourselves to have the feeling of connecting.
If you were to tell a secret to a group of friends, you would trust that that group of friends would keep that secret. If one of those friends breached that trust you’d be upset? The same goes for online.
Concerns with privacy breaches are identity theft, loss of financial data and data taken from social media. Identity theft involves stealing money or other benefits by taking over someone else’s identity. A study conducted by the Centre for Internet Safety showed that Identity theft is the highest concern amongst Australian citizens at 86%, with loss of financial date at 83% and social media at 42%. (MacGibbon & Phair, 2012) Identity thieves who obtain personal information either based on information a user posts or that others post about the user. (Clearinghouse, 2010)
Privacy and the Internet – Australian attitudes towards privacy in the online environment
Financial loss via scams to gain access to bank account information, credit card numbers and social security numbers. These scams can be in the form of false connection requests, malware, pop-up messages/advertisements and emails with suspicious wed addresses.
Third-party applications are programs that interact within social networks without interacting on the social network, for example; Games to play with contacts, online quizzes, apps that use social media profile via mobiles. Social media developers allow companies access to user’s information. However, most social networks do not take responsibility when third-party applicants interact within these sites. (Clearinghouse, 2010) These third-party applications may not by covered by that social media’s privacy policy and are not certain to be safe. They can gain access to more information than required. These third-party applicants are difficult to contradict what information they are taking and what it will be used for. (Clearinghouse, 2010)
1984 George Orwell
The novel 1984 by George Orwell set in London where the main character of the story Winston Smith is a low ranking member of the ruling Party, who is run by a secretive leader called Big Brother. The Party controls everything and see’s everything. Winston describes living under this security system as; “At any rate, they could plug in your wire whenever they wanted to. You had to live, did live, from habit that became instinct, in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard…” The novel is based on that every action we do is being monitored. The same idea controls what we post on the internet, in our minds we all have something to hide. (Orwell, 1950)
Surveillance on the Internet
Ted Talk’s Glenn Greenwald’s speech on “Why privacy matters” stated that “Equally critical is that the measure of how free a society is, is not how it treats its good, obedient, compliant citizens, but how it treats it dissidents and those who resist orthodoxy. But those most important reason is that a system of mass surveillance suppresses our own freedom in all sorts of ways. It renders off-limits all kinds of behavioral choices without our even knowing that it’s happened” Restricting what we post on social media websites due to fear of being monitored. (Greenwald, 2014)
Criminal and Civil Trials
Any information posted online can and will be used in a criminal or civil court trials, regardless of previously deleted posts. These can include child custody battles, divorce, insurance lawsuits, criminal trials etc. (Clearinghouse, 2010) Judges define “private” and “not public” different concepts. If you share any content with anyone it is then no longer considered private. Therefore, becoming publicly available. Facebook and Twitter are the easiest to access any information shared. The severity of the case will define how much information can be access. (Velasco, 2014)
Precautions for Privacy
Jason Wilson, a lecturer in the digital communication at the University of Wollongong, says “Rather than thinking about restricting people from these services, which I don’t think is realistic, we need to think about educating people perhaps about the importance of protecting their information more effectively”
Users blame social media sites for their lack of privacy settings but in fact it is us who need to be more vigilant on what we share on social networking sites. Users should think before volunteering information about themselves like their name, age and address. There are precautions users can take to increase safety such as strong passwords and security questions that use information only you will know. Have a social email account and a work email account.
When using social media sites become familiar with the privacy settings the site offers and be alert when settings are updated. (MacKillop, 2011)
The Future of the Internet
Tim Berners-Lee the creator of the World Wide Web, gave a talk of the future of the Web in 2009 and his idea was that the Web as a whole can be designed more intelligently to be more intuitive about how to serve a user’s needs. (Berners-Lee, 2009) Today, our searches are customized to what we have previous searched. When scrolling on a website, advertisement pops up catering to our past searches. Berners-Lee classified this as the Web 3.0 in that it will involve the publishing of web resources in languages intended for date to supplement them with metadata that will allow software to analyze, classify and deliver content for more personal relevance. It is a beneficial way for user’s in that their searches are customized for them; some may argue that is a breach of privacy. (Rouse, 2015)
Conclusion Social media isn’t good or bad, it depends on how it is uses. Social media websites have privacy policies in place to protect users but it all comes down to what users post online. The notion of privacy isn’t dead it’s how we see define privacy that separates us from others.