online policy primer: facebook

NET 303 – Policy Primer

By using Facebook, you agree to the Statement

of Rights and Responsibilities that is updated from time to

time.

You grant Facebook a

non-exclusive, transferable,

sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide

license to use any IP content that you post.

Once your pictures or videos are out there

on Facebook,

it is difficult to

have control of

them

All videos, pictures and other information

disclosed on Facebook becomes its property.

Facebook can use your content in any way it sees

for profit.

When you delete content, it remains in backup copies for a reasonable period of

time.

An application you join, can access

your content and information and

what others have shared with you

Facebook receives data when you look at another person’s timeline, send or receive a message, search

for a friend or a page.

Facebook

has 14,000 word terms of service and data use police …

Few people really read the “terms and agreement” of the sign-up

page nor the Facebook’s privacy policy.

Facebook users are concerned with privacy.

They either:

1. Leave the site

2. Configure their privacy setting that are complicated to understand

Changes in the layout

and privacy settings are not always easy and fast to understand.

Users have to choose among a lot of

different settings and options to

modify Facebook’s default settings.

Although Facebook has developed

options to control their information,

few users have the technical ability to manage well their privacy settings.

Facebook Privacy Policy in 2005:

“No personal information that you submit to the

Facebook will be available to any users of the Web Site who

does not belong to at least one of the groups

specified by you in your privacy settings.”

Current Facebook Privacy Policy:

“When you connect with an application or

website it will have access to General

Information about you. The term General

Information includes your and your friends names, profile picture,

gender, …”

According to Facebook, users personal information…

In 2005

In 2006

In 2007

In 2009

… belonged to specified groups

… belonged to user’s schools , local area and other “reasonable” community.

… belonged to friends of friends

… belonged to “everyone”

Facebook has begun to delete personal privacy at an accelerated pace

Facebook users do not know

where their private and

public spheres

should be drawn.

Protection of personal privacy is

fundamental to an

individual’s autonomy and

to control what is

disclosed to others.

“A man without privacy is a man without dignity; the fear that Big Brother is

watching and listening threatens the freedom of the individual no less than the

prison bars.”

Zelman Cowen

Economy is dependant of the

free flow of information on

social networking sites that affects personal privacy.

Facebook tracks its

users’ activities and

develop profiles of

consumers.

Facebook users are concerned about the loss

of their anonymity

and about the sale of their

information to third parties for multiple purposes.

Surveillance has become the social norm of this century and it is a form of social control.

Facebook provides online visible interaction available among many people.

“Control of information and communication has been a major source of power throughout history. The advent of the Internet and of

wireless communication allows the development of many-to-many and one-to-one

horizontal communication channels that bypass political or business control of communication.”

Manuel Castells

Facebook has gained bad press:

1. Users are easily being tracked

2. Users’ information is shared without any

consent.

1. Users disclose too much

2. Personal Privacy is not well protected

3. Third parties are looking to take profit of users’ information

Facebook privacy problems:

For example, Facebook users’ may not be aware that Facebook default settings for

photo albums is “global”

Why Personal Privacy is not well protected?

Personal information is exposed to strangers on

Facebook

Your Facebook “friends” own your personal content and can give it to a whole

range of other people.

The amount of users’ disclosed

information on Facebook is highly

valuable for companies for

marketing issues.

We are free Facebook labourers, that profits

from us.

The old adage “Knowledge is power” speaks

about the power Facebook has

gained recollecting information about over a billion users.

Knowledge is key to the exercise of

power

“The world is embracing new standards of conduct, enforced not only by surveillance

and coertion but by willful disclosure: regulation by revelation.”

Ann Florini

Transparency as a public good might become a public

bad that infringes on personal

privacy.

Despite the disadvantages of having a Facebook account,

deleting a Facebook account may also be a disadvantage for our

social and professional matters.

The use of Facebook is very useful for freedom of expression especially in countries that use some

form of oppression for dissidents.

Facebook represents a public space, where the

power is exercised

References

Virtual Threat. [Image]. (2013). NSA-Surveillance. Retrieved October 10, 2013, from http://www.virtualthreat.com/2013/08/03/nsa-surveillance-tool-allows-real-time-access/

The Guardian. [Image]. (2009). Facebook Surveillance. Retrieved October 10, 2013, from http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/libertycentral/2009/jun/18/villain-bozeman-city

Dailysquib.co.uk. [Image]. (2011). Facebook Big Brother. Retrieved October 10, 2013, from http://www.dailysquib.co.uk/sci_tech/2806-facebook-wants-every-user-fingerprinted.html

Cheeteye. [Image]. (2011). Surveillancebook. Retrieved October10, 2013, from http://www.cheeteye.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Surveillancebook800.jpg

Forbes. [Image]. (2013). Facebook. Retrieved October 10, 2013, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2013/08/27/facebook-first-report-on-government-data-requests-shows-it-denies-u-s-surveillance-demands-more-often-than-google/

Diary of a Workcovervictim. [Image]. (2013). Facebook Surveillance. Retrieved October 10, 2013, from http://aworkcovervictimsdiary.com/2013/02/how-does-social-media-and-other-surveillance-prejudice-an-injured-workers-case/

Bitdefender. [Image]. (2013). Facebook, Google, Yahoo and Microsoft Fight for Data Transparency. Retrieved October 10, 2013, from http://www.hotforsecurity.com/blog/facebook-google-yahoo-and-microsoft-fight-for-data-transparency-7023.html?sm_id=H4S_Posts&utm_source=SocialMedia&utm_medium=Post&utm_campaign=H4S

Voice of Russia. [Image]. (2013). Facebook. Retrieved October 10, 2013, from http://indian.ruvr.ru/2013_09_21/Mass-exodus-Facebook/

Révolte Numérique.[Image]. (2012). Facebook Surveillance. Retrieved October 10, 2013, from http://www.revoltenumerique.herbesfolles.org/tag/fichage/

Dooneyscafe. [Image]. (2013). Big Brother is Watching. Retrieved October10, 2013, from http://www.cheeteye.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Surveillancebook800.jpg

Genius Media Group. [Image]. (2013). Facebook Privacy. Retrieved October 10, 2013, from http://news.rapgenius.com/Facebook-proposed-changes-to-statement-of-rights-and-responsibilities-lyrics

SocialFish. [Image]. (2013). Data Use Policy. Retrieved October 10, 2013, from http://www.socialfish.org/2013/06/a-little-privacy-please-your-rights-and-social-media-policies.html

QualityStockPhotos. [Image]. (2013). QualityStockPhotos. Retrieved October 10, 2013, from http://www.qualitystockphotos.com/