The
Responsibility of Privacy on Facebook
Alice Chen
National Central
University
Abstract
Facebook has swept the globe in recent years and has
already had more than one billion users in the world. But this kind of social
network service also reveals severe problems of privacy. In this paper, the article
starts from an opposition to the controversial statement from Facebook’s
founder, Zuckerberg, who said that “privacy is no longer a social norm” on an
interview. Then the article will discuss privacy issue from individuality,
arguing the mass neglect of leaking privacy according to Acquiti’s study in
2013, following by the analysis of the entire commercial environment. Based on
these ideas, the article will conclude a possible future for Facebook and
suggestions of optional settings at last.
Keyword: Facebook, privacy
The
Responsibility of Privacy on Facebook
The
privacy has been discussed since the first day Facebook launched to the
Internet, and it has been closely evaluated by users especially after Zuckerberg’s
interview, saying that “privacy is no longer a social norm” (Johnson 2010.) As
more and more people use Facebook, privacy problem no longer exists in person
but a worldwide occurrence with severe potential problems.
The Opposition toward
“Privacy is No Longer a Social Norm”
Facebook
has revealed more and more functions for its customers, but what really lies
behind these conveniences are fatal to users’ privacy. To ease the anxiety of
the users, Zuckerberg, the Facebook founder, tried to convince the
public that people nowadays tend to share themselves on the Internet, and
privacy had to be evolved. But according to Johnson’s (2010) argument: when Facebook
decided to redefine the meaning of privacy, it changed the original goal of
establishing a social network between the Ivy league, and also the function of
building an open and transparent world.
Also, Johnson (2010) mentioned the launching of
the “contentious advertising system”,
which allowed advertisers to track Facebook users to search and collect
potential buyers. Although this system made Facebook lose a large amount of
money in its lawsuit, the business behind the system might bring more than
people can imagine.
Emphasizing
that Facebook had revealed more and more functions for the public, it was not
surprise to see some naive users happened to do embarrassing things, only
because they thought they launched information in private, which is actually
reaching to the public.
Privacy Norm Doesn’t Change －The Misunderstanding of Young People
We also
need to rethink the attitude of privacy in young people, which could be
misunderstood. The sharing of young people doesn’t mean that they do care about
strangers invading their private. Instead, they tend to share themselves on the
Internet because they think they could have their own space without disturbance,
especially when teenagers do not feel the secure of privacy in their rooms due
to their parents. And Facebook offered this illusion. When they think that they
create a private social circle and put everything on Facebook, they are
actually exposing themselves to the craving advertising company.
Facebook are Failing User’s Trust
The success of Facebook is established on users trust and
reliance. When it starts to transform or even sell out user’s information to
advertisement, only explaining that they are following world’s trend and
breaking social norms, it cheats on the users and also betrays the original
trust at first. Some online users even say that all we need is a new social
network to embrace rather than exposing ourselves nakedly to others.
Why
Privacy on Facebook matters?
My former
section takes an opposite side from the Facebook founder’s talk. And I give
several examples from my resources such as the craving advertising system to
support my argument. In this section, I will proof how Facebook may interfere
our life and privacy to correspond to it.
They
hold more information than you think
Some
people may think that one shouldn’t put information on Facebook if they do care
about the possibilities of lacking privacy. However, according to the privacy
expert, professor Acquisti (2003), you are actually exposed to the danger ever
since you had a Facebook account. Strangers can reach your Facebook account by
one single photo, and then collect personal information to figure out your
life. They can even get your ID numbers through specific government websites!
In this
experiment, professor Acquisti
performs several interesting examples to show the privacy problem on Facebook.
The first one indicates how Facebook might leak our personal information even
from the most negligible part. This experiment emphasizes the potential crisis
on Facebook－an indirect
way to invade our privacy. The second experiment links your Facebook’s friends
with the advertising companies. Here, Acquisti suggests a new promoting way.
The advertisements can mix two faces of your most intimate friends into one,
creating and replacing the salesman face that you won’t recognize but familiar
with. By doing so, you may have greater chances to pay for their products.
Although it seems a little funny and ridiculous, one should admit that this
kind of advertisement will catch you at the first sight, not to mention the
higher possibility to pay for their products.
Commerce
and Facebook
To analyze why such a great
company can’t figure out efficient ways to protect privacy, let’s look back to
the source of this profitable business river. It’s obvious that Facebook is not
a charity, and they need to gain money from its users. So how do Facebook
profit? According to the article (Johnson 2009), Facebook not only provides
precise advertisements to users, but also creates virtual gifts or properties
to catch people’s attention. As a result, Facebook mainly collect information
according to the reaction of its users and sell it to advertising companies.
That is to say, they earn money by trading user’s privacy. But what if the
users are unhappy about it and they don’t want to be the bargaining chips of
Facebook? Do they have power to control it? The answer is no because of
Facebook’s inefficient settings.
Inefficient
settings
Research finds out that up to 36%
of information share with default privacy settings, and only 37% matches to
users expectation (Liu,
Krishnamurthy, Gummadi & Mislove, 2010.) It shows that although some are
aware of their privacy, they are not allowed to have enough ways to manage and
even protect. Also, as we
put information on the Internet to share with friends, do we really want these
trivial dates be collected? In the research paper of professor Qi, “we might
offer personal information voluntarily to several separated data base. For
example, we leave scores in schools and medical records in hospital. But it
doesn’t mean we allow others to collect them and further reveal our
undiscovered side.” So is it right for Facebook to memorize our behaviors and
collect every click we made without noticing us? The answer might be wrong.
The
possible future and suggestions for privacy on Facebook
With the rapid growth
of technology, we can say it decisively that more and more social online
websites like Facebook may pop out in the near future. But what kind of online
privacy will we have in the future? And how can Facebook improve?
Complicated due to new
technologies and advertising companies
The possible future
for privacy on Facebook can be concluded to one word: complicated－not only is it
difficult in reaching balance, but also problematic in dealing with the
varieties of technologies. Just like what professor Qi
mentions: “Privacy is not a new issue. However, due to the growth of
information technology, it appears with different kinds of formation in all
levels, which is more severe and urgent to focus on.”
As more and more people recognize the privacy
problem, Facebook has already noticed and tried to find ways to content their
customers. However, not only Facebook, but also Google and other social
networks have faced the dilemma between advertisers and customer’s
privacy. According to the statistics, Facebook makes more than 84% in revenue
by online advertising (Kelly, 2013.) They are mostly lived by selling
information to advertisers. But it doesn’t mean that the users can’t fight
back. Facebook definitely don’t want to lose their users, and they also
understand that users can stop using it and embrace new websites just in a few
clicks. Besides, with the rapid growth of technology, privacy problems will
only become more complex. From the small sensors that can track your location
to smart cars which are not yet common place, the more we attach to the
Internet, the more we expose ourselves to the public. “Privacy is increasingly
becoming a feature,” said Brendon Lynch, Microsoft's chief
privacy officer (Kelly, 2013.) In short, the balance between privacy
and profits will only become more and more difficult to reach.
Solution:
optional settings
However, Kelly (2013) suggests
a core idea that “not everyone will want the same levels of privacy”, and
Facebook should make user’s privacy optional with higher transparency.
According to the author’s example, “personal data such as location have
many potentially positive uses, such as food recommendations,
social apps and dating services.” (Kelly 2013) Balancing privacy
and customized service may become possible when the settings are optional
and easy-to-check. Another way Facebook can use is the “Do Not Disturb”
system, which has been adopted by major browsers such as Google
and Firefox. This system allows users to choose whether they accept the
websites to provide online tracking. Some describe this system as
a nuclear bomb in advertising (Kelly, 2013.) while others consider it
as a good way to protect their privacy. Moreover, privacy settings on Facebook
should be more active to the customers. For example, when a new account is
introduced into Facebook, the website should actively illustrate how Facebook
works on their personal data. And Facebook can integrate private
information only if the user agrees to receive personal services.
Conclusions
We
might change our thoughts and tend to put more information on the Internet
someday in exchange for customized servings. However, as long as people feel
uncomfortable about sharing themselves, Facebook should respect and offer more
options for them. Facebook unpacks a gift for people: a new platform for
social. But in another aspect it could be poison with a sugar coat, making most
of the people vulnerable when they choose to embrace the world naively. Based
on the mutual trust and business ethics, it is obvious that Facebook should
take care of our privacy more carefully.
References
