What Privacy?
For this blog post we were tasked with choosing a company’s privacy statement to analyze and discuss as well as interview someone to ask questions about technological privacy. I chose to analyze Facebook’s privacy policy as we have talked about it numerous times during class and I have had a personal interest in the social media company. With government allegations and civilian concerns the company has been under fire the past couple years. The amount of data the social media company collects and uses in some form is absurd. But is there any way to really monitor this? Can we stop the monopoly Facebook has in the world and change our way of lives?
We have read several articles about Facebook’s privacy for class and discussed them. One of the articles that I thought was most interesting was the New York Times article “Cambridge Analytica and the Secret Agenda of a Facebook Quiz” which is about the power of the little Facebook quizzes we take all the time on the social media. The article also discussed the data firm, Cambridge Analytica, which Facebook has been using as a tool to build profiles on every one of its users. The company uses these quizzes throughout the social media to gain data about each person to help build this profile which also includes your real name. This company helps sway public opinion by creating targeted advertising towards certain groups of people depending on their “profile”. We discussed in class how is even though it is allowed for companies to gain our data, is it really just that they can manipulate our beings using this data? Is there a way we can stop this? Facebook has been under fire, but with very little results by the government. I see it difficult for any immediate action to be made on the company because of its power.
What I decided to specifically analyze since Facebook has so many terms and conditions and policies is their “Data Policy”. The policy states how for Facebook to provide the best experience to the user and for the user to be able to utilize all of its features, the user must provide them with information. Which is true, to some extent. The policy states, “We collect the content, communications and other information you provide when you use our Products, including when you sign up for an account, create or share content, and message or communicate with others.” This pretty much means that Facebook collects data for everything and anything you do. There is no hiding. They go on to say how they also obtain “metadata” such as the location of a photo or the date a file was created. Every little thing is tracked by Facebook. However, they do mention that their are ways you can control who sees certain things and what is shared. But, no one knows or uses these features. Why would they if it doesn’t provide them with the best experience? Specifically, they collect data on “the types of content you view or engage with; the features you use; the actions you take; the people or accounts you interact with; and the time, frequency and duration of your activities”. What is funny about this is that they make it sound like a completely normal thing, that they can and should be allowed to track every little thing we do. Regarding Facebook’s “partners”, they “provide information about your activities off Facebook—including information about your device, websites you visit, purchases you make, the ads you see, and how you use their services”. This helps for their targeted advertising to help manipulate certain people based on their “profile” I spoke about before.
In reality, Facebook states pretty clearly in their policies what they do. However, no one truly reads it and also no one knows the depth that Facebook’s data goes into. We are educated on what they are doing, but are we even trying to stop it? Humans love the satisfaction they get from others which is all they see on Facebook through likes, shares, and comments. However, their is so much more depth to this social media website. After interviewing one of my good friend’s, Hudson Pokorny, I was able to see how most people are educated on big data being collected by these social media companies, however, not knowing what kind of action they can take to stop it.
Interview with Hudson:
In conclusion, Facebook’s power and control is unknown. If you only focus on Facebook and its problems, you can forget about the numerous other powerhouse social medias they own such as Instagram, WhatsApp, Oculus VR, and much more. Facebook is constantly expanding our individual “profiles” by gathering more and more data. Is there a way we can stop this? With the lack of privacy within the world today, will their eventually become a time where we no longer have any? What can we do?
