Facebook and People’s Privacy
Privacy is a fundamental human right.
Facebook users can share their information and personal images (Hull, Lipford, & Latulipe, 2011).
Many governments and companies gather useful information from Facebook.
Privacy is a major concern for every Facebook user.
Pros and Cons of Facebook
Benefits
Facebook makes it easier for many individuals to share their ideas and thoughts.
It supports effective communication and marketing (Wallbridge, 2009).
Disadvantages
Facebook exposes many people’s information.
The social site makes many employees less productive.
Facebook has destroyed the cultural practices of many societies.
Is Privacy Necessary?
The issue of privacy has forced Facebook to identify new changes in order to improve the privacy of its users.
Loss of privacy results in new problems and challenges (Govani & Pashley, 2014).
This issue explains why every Facebook user faces numerous threats (Debatin, Lovejoy, Horn, & Hughes, 2009).
Facebook Changes its Privacy Settings Without their Users’ Consent
Facebook “has removed a critical privacy setting that reveals users’ data in Graph Search Results” (Govani & Pashley, 2014, p. 6).
New “policy changes at the company have also affected the privacy of many users” (Hull et al., 2011, p. 298).
Facebook also manipulates its users’ information.
The company uses different information and data for advertising purposes (Govani & Pashley, 2014).
What Privacy Protections do Facebook Users Have?
Facebook users can use different Privacy Settings to regulate who views their profiles.
The “users dictate who can view their statuses and updates” (Beach, Gartrell, & Han, 2014, p. 6).
Third party users may not access such details.
However, Facebook introduced new privacy settings that reduced the choices of its users.
Facebook plans to become “the portal of the internet” (Beach et al., 2014, p. 7).
Reference List
Beach, A., Gartrell, M., & Han, R. (2014). Solutions to Security and Privacy Issues in Mobile Social Networking.
Debatin, B., Lovejoy, J., Horn, A., & Hughes, B. (2009). Facebook and Online Privacy: Attitudes, Behaviours, and Unintended Consequences. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 15(1), 83-108.
Govani, T., & Pashley, H. (2014). Student Awareness of the Privacy Implications When Using Facebook. Retrieved from
Hull, G., Lipford, H., & Latulipe, C. (2011). Contextual Gaps: Privacy Issues on Facebook. Ethics in Information Technology, 13(1), 289-302.
Wallbridge, R. (2009). How Safe is Your Facebook Profile? Privacy Issues of Online Social Networks. ANU Undergraduate Research Journal, 1(1), 85-92.