Week 12 Essay

As Internet technology advances and permeates every aspect of our daily lives, some have argued that the benefits of its use are diminished by threats to personal privacy (Balachander & Wills, 2009). Lance Hoffman defines information privacy in terms of three distinct rights: the right of individuals to determine what information about themselves to share with others; the right of individuals to know what is being collected about them and; the right of individuals to access data in order to maintain society and regulate government (Sheehan, 2002). I will be referring to these three key rights as the basis for my argument. Privacy has become a contentious issue for Internet users because of the desire for privacy versus over-regulation of the flow of information verging on censorship / freedom of information. The rising popularity of online social networking sites (OSN) like Facebook has placed governments in an awkward position on how to deal with the privacy issues without risking censorship. For the first time in our history, there is a disconnection between our assumptions about privacy and the means of linking up through networks and technology. Tension is growing between privacy regulators, users and internet companies and with the Australian government set to release a new version of the Privacy Act later this year it is only a matter of time before new laws will make this business even more complicated (Gettler, 2010).

Online Social Networking (OSN) giant, Facebook began when Mark Zuckerberg launched the site as a Harvard undergraduate in 2004 (Carlson, 2010). The site was an instant success and it is estimated that there are now well over half a billion people utilizing the online social networking site. Facebook started out as a form of communication for students, friends and colleagues but has now become a way for individuals to form their online identity and is a marketing heaven for advertisers. Facebook users are able to control their information by limiting and disabling other’s access to their wall posts and personal information but they are unable to control others’ access to their photos feature. Facebook users are able to upload, store, view and ‘tag’ themselves and others in photos. Once ‘tagged’ in a photo posted by another user the only control a user has is to either ask them to remove the photo or ‘un-tag’ themselves, although this will not remove the photo from the OSN (Jones & Soltren, 2005). There have in fact been cases when photos posted online have been used or altered without the user’s permission. This was the case with twenty-one year old Lara Jade Coton when US porn company Hustler used a photo of her as a fourteen year old on the cover of one of its X-rated DVDs – ‘Body Magic’. Horrified, Coton went on to win $132,000 in damages based on misappropriation of her image, invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress (Staff, 2010). The right of individuals to determine what information about themselves to share with others is abused by Facebook because of the lack of control that users are allowed to have over their photos.

A vast amount of personal information has been made available via OSN’s such as Facebook. Although the amount of information required to create a Facebook account is minimal, the total amount of information a user can post by their own will is relatively large (Jones & Soltren, 2005). The only data fields required to create a Facebook account are name, e-mail address and user status but the willingness of users to supply unnecessary personal information has contributed to the growing concerns over privacy. The ability to personally control information about oneself is fast becoming one of the most important policy issues facing the Internet (O'Neil, 2001). It is not only the willingness of Facebook users to disclose unnecessary personal information but also that third parties are actively seeking out end-user information (Jones & Soltren, 2005). Facebook acknowledges that individuals have the right to know and control what information is being collected about them and provides settings on the privacy page that allows users’ to control who has access to certain information. However, the privacy settings that allow users’ to control third party access to their information is not as easily accessed as it is not located on the main privacy settings page. According to Jones and Soltren, Facebook is able to disclose any personal data to advertisers and even if a user requests that certain personal information is not shared, there is no evidence that one’s request will be honored (Jones & Soltren, 2005).

In research commissioned by The Daily Telegraph it was found that a staggering number of Facebook users were willing to ‘add’ people they did not know to be their ‘friend’ and volunteer their personal information, including their date of birth, workplace, e-mail address and location. Some even volunteered full addresses and phone numbers. Providing this amount of private information makes the crime of identity theft a walk in the park. Brian Hay of the Queensland Fraud Squad said, “Some people have surrendered almost all the information a criminal needs as the foundation to represent those people and take out financial instruments in their name” (Tabakoff, 2009).

Regulators and users around the world are struggling to work out the boundaries of online privacy and as these concerns continue to increasingly be a contentious issue for Internet users, Facebook and other OSN’s have a lot of pressure to increase their privacy settings and to make the means of controlling ones personal information more transparent. It will be increasingly important in the future for companies such as Facebook to allow individuals access to data such as who is accessing their information and what they are using it for. This will be important as Hoffman outlines in the final key right of information privacy in order to maintain society and regulate governments. Although it is extremely important for users of OSN’s like Facebook to practice intelligent information sharing, ultimately lasting change in online privacy will only come from a gradual development of common sense regarding what is appropriate to post in social networking forums (Jones & Soltren, 2005).

Lara Jade Coton's photo used on porn DVD cover without permission

Identity theft has become an issue 

Creator of Facebook - Mark Zuckerberg

Reference List:

·      Balachander, Krishnamurthy, Wills, Craig E On The Leakage Of Personally Identifiable Information Via Online Social Networks, (2009)

·      Carlson, Nicholas At Last – The Full Story Of How Facebook Was Founded, (2010)

·      Gettler, Leon How secure is that site?, (2010)

·      Jones, Harvey, Soltren, Jose H Facebook: Threats to Privacy, (2005)

·      O’Neil, Dara Analysis of Internet Users’ Level of Online Privacy Concerns (2001)

·      Sheenhan, Kim Bartel Toward a Typology of Internet Users and Online Privacy Concerns, (2002)

·      Singh, Anita Facebook users put themselves at risk of identity theft, (2007)

·      Tabakoff, Nick Facebook users are sitting ducks for identity theft, (2009)

·      Xueming, Luo Trust production and privacy concerns on the Internet. A framework based on relationship marketing and social exchange theory, (2000)

·      Staff, ninemsn UK woman sues after photo used on porn cover, (2010)