Social Networking Sites

Recent years have seen a surge in popularity of internet use and particularly participation in social networking sites. “10 million is the number of unique visitors nbc, abc and cbs get every month collectively, these businesses have been around for a combined 200 years. 250 million is the number of unique visitors youtube, facebook and myspace get a month collectively. None of these sites existed 6 years ago.” (Xplane & The Economist '09)

According to Dana Boyd social networking sites are attracting a lot of academic and industrial researchers intrigued by their power and reach. “In February 2008 John McCain raised over $11 million for his US presidential bid. Barak O Bama that same month attended no election fundraisers, instead he leveraged online through social networks to raise $55 million in those 29 days.” (McLeod, Fisch & Bestler 2009)

“With the growth of Internet usage, serious concerns about Internet security and privacy have arisen.” (Brignall’02)

I researched privacy concerns relating to Facebook in particular and found that media activist groups have been constantly criticising Facebook’s changing privacy policies. “The Electronic Frontier Foundation" published a timeline of Facebook's Privacy policy modifications over the years, and liberal activist group MoveOn.org launched a Facebook group called "Facebook, respect my privacy!" in response to its new "Instant Personalization" option that shares a significant amount of profile data.” (McCarthy ’10)

The Electronic Frontier Foundation’s timeline illustrates Facebook’s shift away from privacy in favour of helping itself and its advertising business partners to more and more of its users’ information while limiting these users’ control of the privacy of their information. When Facebook started, “it was a private space for communication with a group of your choice”. It then “transformed into a platform where much of the users’ information was public by default”. Since Facebook’s most recent change in April 2010 users “have no choice but to make certain information public, and this public information may be shared by Facebook with its partner websites and used to target ads”. (Opsahl ’10)

MoveOn.org are arguing that facebook is violating our privacy with its new program “Instant Personalization” which shares information about users and their friends with other websites without the users control.

Facebook’s goal in getting people to make their information public is that it will make its search partnerships with Google and Bing all the more valuable. Privacy settings now, by default, allow anyone on the internet to access users’ information and “if you make your information available to ‘everyone,’ it actually means ‘everyone, forever.’ Because even if you change your mind, it’s too late — and although Facebook say they will remove it from your profile they will have no control about how it is used outside of Facebook.” (Ostrow ’10)

An interview by Phil Wong for “The Rumpus” with an anonymous employee of Facebook unveiled a number of facts about privacy. All user activity is saved to the data employees have access to the database and can view the history of activity of any Facebook user at any time. Every click is tracked and saved.

The employee briefly discussed identity fraud which got me to thinking of internet privacy on the whole and how nothing on the internet is really private.

In Brignall’s paper he argues that the internet shares properties with the panopticon prison structure. This was conceived in 1785 by the social theorist Jeremy Bentham. The panopticon prison differed from the previous dungeon like prison cells in that it played on the human fear of surveillance. The prison was designed as a circular building with a tower standing in the middle. The cells had a large glass window facing the tower, this cut down on costs as only one prison guard would be needed as prisoners are under the impression that the could be being watched at any time. “Foucault states that “the major effect of the panopticon: is to induce in the inmate a state of conscious and permanent visibility that assures the automatic functioning of power” (Foucault, 1972: 201).” (Brignall ’02)

"The Internet is a structure that is inherently similar to the panopticon in that Internet service providers can observe their customers’ online activities at any time without the customers’ knowledge. The Internet is also inherently similar to the Bentham panopticon prison structure because the dissemination of power and control is in the hands of the “jailers”." (Brignall '02)

Brignall’s paper “provides examples of how Internet user’s privacy is being overlooked in order for certain corporations to provide declared necessary services such as security against terrorists and hackers, control over illegal content (pornography, pirated computer, music, and film files, and dangerous information on how to build bombs etc.) Still, it remains too early to say that any kind of organized conspiracy exists with the goal to strip Internet users of their rights and monitor every interaction…However, the panopticon might emerge as a desirable structure for the perceived need for the protection of national security Internet user safety. There are abundant warning signs of the potential for an organized movement to control the flow of information over the Internet.” (Brignall ’02)

I do not believe that the average internet user and online social networker is aware that their privacy is at risk, that they are subject to identity fraud and to surveillance in their activities on the internet. It is up the user to be cautious about what private information they share on the internet.


Bibliography

1. Brignall 3rd, Tom (2002) “The New Panopticon: The Internet Viewed as a Structure of Social Control” [Online] Available at; www.theoryandscience.icaap.org/content/vol003.001/brignall.html

2. McCarthy, Caroline (2010) “Activist groups launch new Facebook privacy offensive [Online] Available at; http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-20003928-36.html

3. Opsahl, Kurt (2010) “Facebook’s Eroding Privacy Policiy: A Timeline” [Online] Available at; http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/04/facebook-timeline

4. Ostrow, Adam (2010) “Facebook’s New Privacy Push Concerns Experts” [Online] Available at; http://mashable.com/2009/12/10/facebook-privacy-experts/

5. Wong, Phil (2010) “Conversations About the Internet #5: Anonymous Facebook Employee” [Online] Available at; http://therumpus.net/2010/01/conversations-about-the-internet-5-anonymous-facebook-employee/4/

Links

Video published by Mashable; “Facebook’s New Privacy Settings: What you need to know” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTpa3AS39uA&feature=player_embedded!

Xplane and The Economist’s Video on Convergnce: “Did You Know” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ILQrUrEWe8