INTROSPEction into privacy & AcCess
case study: facebook
Theme IV: Digital Logging
by Michael X. Yue
July 25, 2020
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A Journey of Growth for a better you!
You have made it to the last digital citizenship blog of this series! In the past several weeks we learned about the internet, digital citizenship, digital awareness, netiquette, social media, and their interactions on a digital, personal, social, and environmental level. In this last post, I want to fester a lingering and sustain a conscious reminder of digital mindfulness when it comes to privacy and access as you continue your dynamic and idiosyncratic journey in the digital world.
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PRIVACY & ACCESS CASE STUDY: FACEBOOK
When was the last time you used Facebook? How does a half-a-trillion dollar enterprise keep your information private and secure (Celebrity Net Worth, 2020). You would think that a company that is intrinsically a social media platform would respect and proactively ensure the personal privacy of all sensitive information, right? Facebook along host over 2.5 billion , actively storing information and embedding algorithms to optimize their user experience (Clement, 2020; Curran, 2018).
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We all probably heard people pontificate that "Facebook sells your data," but that is not necessarily true. They do sometime that could be equally as discomforting; they access and target your information. Does that sound right to you? Does this make you uncomfortable? Any moment and every moment, there is an embedded algorithm that is accessing your information for commercial gain.
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Despite the false statement that "Facebook sells your data," Facebook does use your personal data to make money (Kurt, 2018). Have you ever noticed that your Facebook newsfeed is highly tailored to you? The ads that are embedded are always related to your personal preferences and activities, dynamic and aligned to your past and present digital activity on Facebook and beyond. In recent years, even unrelated searches such as Amazon purchases has directly affected your Facebook NewsFeed Ads (Dangerfield, 2018). Isn't that scary? They are watching you, but are they protecting you?
In 2018, the notoriety of Facebook-Cambridge data privacy scandal was known to the general public. This data breach of trust from 2014-2016 harvested the personal data of 87 million Facebook users for unethical political targeting, advertisement, and propaganda, without consent or authority (BBC News, 2018; Chan, 2019). Despite the application programming interface (API) and company terms and condition, little to no oversight of were in place to ensure the safety and good intentions of their user information (Chan, 2019). This is one of many data privacy leaks that compromises the digital integrity of all digital citizen and their associative digital ecosystems.
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In light of this case study, how do you feel?
Does it change the way you perceive your digital security and access? A recent 2020 International Business Machines (IBM) Corporation report has evaluated that their is a generational divide among Canadians on their privacy use, with a "defeatist" attitude. . Click below (on the poster) to access the summary of the National IBM Canada Survey.
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REFERENCES
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British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) News. (2018, April 04). Facebook Scandal 'Hit 87 Million Users'. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-43649018
Celebrity Net Worth. (2020). Facebook Net Worth. Retrieved from https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-businessmen/companies/facebook-net worth/#:~:text=How%20much%20is%20Facebook%20Worth%3F&text= Facebook%20net%20worth%3A%20Facebook%20is,have%20over%20900%20million%20members.
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Chan, R. (2019, October 05). The Cambridge Analytica Whistleblower Explains How the Firm Used Facebook Data to Sway Elections. Business Insider. https://www.businessinsider.com/cambridge-analytica-whistleblower-christopher-wylie-facebook-data-2019-10
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Curran, D. (2018, March 30). Are You Ready? Here is All the Data Facebook and Google Have On You. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/mar/28/all-the-data-facebook-google-has-on-you-privacy
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Dangerfield, K. (2018, March 28). Facebook, Google and others are tracking you. Here’s How to Stop Targeted Ads. Global News. Retrieved from https://globalnews.ca/news/4110311/how-to-stop-targeted-ads-facebook-google-browser/
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