Social Networking Privacy

Michelle Manning

Into today’s high tech world more and more people are going to the Internet to find friendships, love and jobs. Social networking sites are at an all time high because people can find what they are looking for in one spot. Generation Y has been hearing how to be safe on the Internet since they were young but how safe are the social networking sites, do the sites provide privacy polices for what is acceptable and do the policies work and is there really privacy on the sites people are using to network, to find friends, love and jobs?
Privacy on the net or at least on the social networking sites is based on trust. When an individual creates a page on Myspace, Facebook or Twitter it is for the whole world to see. If the individual puts their page on private as a security measure, the individual has used one of the privacy settings the site offers. But when the individual goes looking for a job the manager will be looking at these sites. Businesses have agreements with social networking sites to see what the individual has put on the sites for the world to see and hiring the individual are in the best interest of the company. There is no such thing as privacy on the networking sites because people can try to hide their information from the world but it will come out eventually. This is why social networking sites record every transaction one individual makes to another while online because offline there is no trace of any interaction. (Dwyer, Hiltz, Passterini, 2007) That’s why these sites need explicit policies and data protection mechanisms in order to deliver the same level of social privacy found offline. (Dwyer, Hiltz, Passterini, 2007) That’s the only way one can have privacy one online in a social networking site.
Social networking sites present a privacy policy stating what is acceptable and what is done with the information given to them by the masses that use the site. For instance, Facebook has an eight section privacy policy in the introduction they state they are a certified licensee of the TRUSTe Privacy Seal Program. Truste is an independent organization that reviews privacy policies that networking sites and retail companies use to protect the information the client gives the site. Then there are other networking sites that are not certified by truste such as Myspace, Myspace’s privacy policy does not say how they protect the contents of the clients information but rather the client has voluntarily given the information to the site but will ask the clients permission before giving the information to a third-party. Myspace is one of the unsafe social networking sites. Twitter’s privacy policy is unrealistic because it doesn’t protect their clients. Twitter states in their policy they may share or disclose your information with your consent with a third-party client when accessing your twitter account from a third-party. For the most part privacy policies work off of trust with the individual and site because if an individual is to benefit from entering information into a social networking site they will do so without questioning the site. This is because the individual wants to connect with others and find something more than friendship.
Safety on the Internet in social networking sites is hard to tell but no one is safe. There are always people out their willing to prey on young unexpected individuals. In the past we have all heard about the sexual predators on Myspace and how the site is a sexual predators heaven because of all the young girls and boys that think it is safe. In a study about sexual predators on Myspace by Dr. Larry d. Rosen explains who is likely to be contacted from those are will not be contacted in study one shows females were approached more than males, those who started on MySpace more than a year ago were approached more than, those who joined more recently and those who spend more hours on MySpace were contacted more than those who spent less time.(Rosen , 2006) This is not the only unsafe thing about social networking sites. Young individuals can be used in commercials without consent, just like Alison Chang from Texas. Her friend uploaded a photo to a social networking site and Virgin Mobile in Australia used her photo in their ad. The photos people put up on online are always going to be on the Internet because the Internet is a public domain even if the page the individual is using is private. There will always be hackers that pride themselves on hacking into a site and taking what is not theirs. Facebook users are more with the information they have provided on their pages compared to those on Myspace.(Dwyer, Hiltz, Passterini, 2007) The Internet will never truly be a safe place but there are ways to make sure the information individuals put on will be secure. One way is to look for Truste symbols. This company gives tips about on to keep your information safe and if a web site that is Truste certified is not responding to emails from a user how to file a complaint with Truste using the watch dog form on the truste site.

Social networking sites have become popular over the years and the willingness of individuals about what they put on the Internet has changed. The sites have tired to keep up with the new fad with the privacy policies being updated to adhere to the changing dynamics of the individuals using the sites for a number of different things. Privacy policies on sites like Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter will always be based on trust between the individual and the site. The Internet is a dangerous place and no one and nothing is safe even for the individual creating the page that they can only see it is a public domain no matter what the sites say.