FACEBOOK: CONTROL YOUR DEFAULT PRIVACY
“If you have something that you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place.” - Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google
“Like”. “Comment”. “Share”. “Post”. “What are you doing now?” These are just some famous “clickables” in Facebook.
It was in middle of the 21st century, when a nerdy Harvard Student made and developed the most successful and commonly used social networking site, Facebook. Originally called thefacebook, Facebook was founded by former-Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg (while at Harvard) who ran it as one of his hobby projects with some financial help from Eduardo Saverin. Within months, Facebook and its core idea spread across the dorm rooms of Harvard where it was very well received. Soon enough, it was extended to Stanford and Yale where, like Harvard, it was widely endorsed. Before he knew it, Mark Zuckerberg was joined by two other fellow Harvard-students – Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes – to help him grow the site to the next level. Only months later when it was officially a national student network phenomenon, Zuckerberg and Moskovitz dropped out of Harvard to pursue their dreams and run Facebook full time.1
After its success for more than 6 years, Facebook has now almost 600 million users worldwide (according to Socialbakers - http://devilsworkshop.org/facebook-nearing-600-million-users/) . If the website were granted terra firma, it would be the world’s third largest country by population, two-thirds bigger than the U.S.. More than 1 in 4 people who browse the internet not only have Facebook account but have returned to the site within the past 30 days. 2 Facebook is fully loaded of intimate opportunities for example, you can celebrate your nephew’s first birthday or mourn the death of a close friend. The feelings you experience on Facebook are heartfelt but the date you are providing feeds a bottom line.
This bottom line is now called your privacy. Mark Zuckerberg said that the mission of Facebook is to make the world more open and connected. But is it really being realized? Are you sure you are protected on Facebook? Do you think you are sharing too much? Have you read the guidelines, the terms and agreement of the social networking site before signing up to it? Is it safe to include your location on every shout-out you post? Is Facebook redefining privacy since it was founded 6 years ago?
Face it-"Facebook privacy" is an oxymoron.It is a social network. The name alone implies a network of connected individuals who are social with one another. Asking a social network to concern itself with privacy is like asking a rock concert to try not to be so loud, or asking a swimming pool to not be so wet.3
We, as Facebook users have all the willingness to share and over share- from the descriptions of your new apartment (who cares?) to our bouts of food poisoning (disgusting) to some of our uncensored feelings about our bosses and colleagues (strictly a no-no!).
These kind of stuff are critical to Facebook’s success and as a result, it keeps on finding itself in the middle of intense and serious debates about privacy. Facebook is getting ready to unveil enhanced privacy controls. The changes are coming on the heels of the complaint filed with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on May 5 by the Electronic Privacy Information Center, which takes frequent policy changes and tendency to design privacy controls that are, if not deceptive, less than intuitive. 4
Facebook's privacy features give users a good deal of flexibility in who is allowed to see their information. By default, all other are allowed to see any information a user posts to the service. The privacy settings page allows a user to specify who can see them in searches, who can see their profile, who can see their contact info, and which fields other users can see. In addition, the privacy settings page allows users to block specific people from seeing their profile. As per the usage agreement, a user can request Facebook to not share information with third parties, though the method of specifying this is not located on the privacy settings page.
It is said that you should look before you leap, so think a thousand times before posting something on your wall or giving unnecessary comments on others’ posts, or even posting and uploading tacky and inappropriate photos. All of us want to share some photos online and let our friends view it. One of the features of Facebook is that other users or your friends can tag you on whatever photo they uploaded on Facebook. As a precaution, be aware that Facebook allows you to de-associate yourselves from unwanted data, but in the case of photographs, the data remains on the server. This is a problem even though you already un-tag yourself from a photo you would not want to associate yourself with, it is already there in the cyberspace. A better way is to ask or request your friends to delete the said photo/s or they can just upload necessary and decent photographs.
Users should be aware that there are effectively no access controls on pictures, and that they should only upload the pictures that they would feel comfortable having anybody on the Facebook viewing. In addition, realize that their high school friends or their family may view the photos that you upload of other people. Don't post anything of them doing anything that you wouldn't want your families, bosses, colleagues, friends, etc. to see you doing.
Zuckerberg believes that most people want to share more about themselves online. He’s almost paternalistic in describing the trend. 5
“The way that people think about privacy is changing a bit. What people want isn’t complete privacy. It isn’t that they want secrecy. It’s that they want control over what they share and what they don’t.”
- Mark Zuckerberg 6
It is vital that Facebook users everywhere appreciate the potential for use of the system by administrators. I advise strongly all Facebook users to restrict access to their profiles. Do not post information of illegal or policy-violating actions to your profiles and to be cautious with the information they make available.
This lasting change will only come with time and understanding. Nobody can fault Facebook for people making questionable decisions, but the environment that Facebook creates should be one that fosters good decision-making. Privacy should be the default, encryption should be the norm, and Facebook should take strides to inform users of their rights and responsibilities.
Notes:
2- 2- “Friends Without Borders” by Dan Fletcher, Time Magazine May 31, 2010 p. 17.
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4"Friends Without Borders” by Dan Fletcher, Time Magazine May 31, 2010 p. 18.
5- 5 “Friends Without Borders” by Dan Fletcher, Time Magazine May 31, 2010 p. 20.
6- 6 “Friends Without Borders” by Dan Fletcher, Time Magazine May 31, 2010 p. 20
Jessie-Marie
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