Most everyone knows that social
networking has become one of the biggest trends over the past few years. We
have seen social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn reach
milestone subscription marks in the millions. With all of the popularity, and
the huge rate of information spreading, some people are forgetting that other
people can see what you are doing. Sure, we have those people that say they
don't care who see's their information, but ultimately, they are outnumbered.
It's no secret that in the past, we've seen different stories arise about sites
such as Facebook, that have had to increase their user security because of an
outrageous demand by the subscribers. While many social networking sites have
kept security as a top priority, who is the blame for the information getting
into the wrong hands? Many are quick to blame the social networking sites, but
do we really feel like they deserve all of it? The biggest thing since the
emergence of social networking has been to simply not say anything that you
wouldn't want a stranger to see. It is really that simple. We have a lot
of people who constantly update their every move, to every place, every hour of
the day. If those people really are getting upset about their privacy, maybe
they need to learn to how control their posting habits and slow it down a bit.
What do you think about privacy?
15 comments:
I understand that people are concerned with their security which is justified. Social networking sites need to take as many precautions to insure the security of their users. But, as you stated, if people don't want a stranger to see what they are doing then don't post every move to every place every hour. Great topic.
I definitely agree with you. There is no one to blame but the person who constantly updates their whereabouts of every minute on their social network site. They are not considering the fact that there are "stalkers" or potential threateners who can view their social page and track their every move because of the detailed information that they write. I think people should learn how to not write their entire week plans on their page because that can lead to possible home invasions and such stuff.
I definitely agree that many people are posting information on social networking sites that they probably shouldn't be. Many marketers get on facebook and retrieve data such as phone numbers, age, nationality, race, favorite bands, clothing, etc. These marketers know exactly what people on the internet are interested in thus they market towards these ideas and thus make more money in the end. I also think that hackers can retrieve information on these sites and commit credit card fraud and steal identities. I think we all should be weary of what we post online, because like you said, everyone can see it.
I agree with the side that it is up to the individual to to watch what they post. If you post it online then you are putting it somewhere where it can never be deleted and anyone can potentially have access to it. I rarely use my facebook becasue of this fact and becasue I would like to leave my digital foot print to a minimum for many reasons.
Even knowing that everyone can see anything you do, how many of the social network users do you believe acknowledges the severity of the situation and would change their ways? Or would most people still be under the mindset of "I dont care who can see what I'm doing."?
It is very simple to keep your profile secure by limiting what you post and allow people to see on your profile. the real security issue is your own ability to filter what you update and upload to your twitter and facebook accounts. if you do not want others to see pictures of you it is easy enough to not upload pictures or simply turn off the feature that allows others to tag you in pictures.
I agree, it is not entirely the social networking sites' fault. I hate seeing posts where people talk about every situation they are in or who they are upset with. And then they have the audacity to fuss at someone for being all in their business??? Not to mention, social networking sites now allow you to post your EXACT location using GPS. If that's not bad enough, then what is? I, for one, may post up things that are going on in my life, but I post them in a random way where no one knows what I am talking about. I don't go into detail, I just post a phrase or something.
Privacy is something most people want, but now that social networking sites aren't allowing much room for privacy, we are getting less and less. I completely agree that it is up to the user's discretion to post what they want, but think about it from the other angle. There are people creating ways on Facebook and twitter that allow you to post your location etc. So those people must not think very highly of privacy. I think that because it is accessible to post your location people want to do it-they think it's cool. But I'm not so sure that people are completely aware of the complications and problems that can come of posting too much information on their sites. There are people out there that if they can get their hands on information like that, it could turn out very bad.
I agree that your privacy is only as secure as you make it. The only thing that makes security such an issue now is what the social networking sites may do with tracking your habits and what you search the most... "Data Mining", which quite a few sites sell to marketing firms to see what consumers truly want. In the end though, everyone could have great privacy... all we have to do is stop using the internet all together.
People have way too high expectations for their privacy when it comes to public networking. The whole point is to SHARE information not hide it. If people are so concerned with protecting their information then they shouldn't be putting it on a social network.
Obviously, whatever someone posts on a public networking site they really don't care about or they wouldn't have never posted it there in the first place. If a person is so tired of seeing a person post about their where abouts all the time then you can always DELETE or BLOCK yourself or that person. Simple as that.
I think the gist of what most people are trying to get at is that there *are* in fact ways to block, or at least privatize most, if not all information on the internet, or at least on the social networks that you or I inhabit. There are also companies that make their profits through controlling and eliminating private data that might be found through a google search of that individual, making social networking less of a threat to privacy if people choose to use that service. However, people will be people, and they like to share lots of things on the Internet that others might find offensive or might use to stalk that individual, such as the GPS tracking that was mentioned.
Also, even if you do "delete" yourself, most of the time search engines can crawl through your cache of data and find information that you *had* posted before, even if you think you deleted it. Scary no?
People definitely need to think before they hit the submit key on social network sites. There are too many people who can access this information. If you don't care what people see, then by all means type away. However if you type something and get upset because someone can see it, you only have yourself to blame. Even if something is labeled "private" there is always the possibility that someone you don't want to see it, will.
I was checking out yahoo the other day and I read an article where a criminal had escaped from jail and updated his facebook status to something like "just got out, on the run" or something along the lines. and his friends and relatives were commenting on it. not only is this just plain out stupid but this lead the police to interview the people that commented on his status to find out where the escaped prisoner had gone.
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