Facebook & Privacy Concerns: Are You Revealing More Than You Think?
The latest debacle in the Facebook/privacy debate has sparked new concerns, with some users even deleting their profiles altogether. Others wonder if Facebook encouraged users to make their profiles public as a way to glean additional information about likes and dislikes for advertisers and marketers.
It’s an interesting debate, but problems with Facebook’s privacy policies have really stirred up a lot of concern over the past few months. What began as a social networking site has turned into a raging firestorm over privacy.
In the early days, Facebook was just a way to connect with like-minded people. Now, with its worldwide appeal, advertisers, marketers, and even criminals are trying to use the site to their advantage. And the problem is, Facebook is making it easy.
Instead of mandating that all information be made private whenever it is input into their system, Facebook requires that its users manually choose which information is publicly available. And, it’s not an easy process. In other words, if you aren’t very technically savvy, anyone, anywhere, can see all of the information that you put on a Facebook page. This alone should be enough to raise suspicion, but other privacy concerns are creating even more controversy.
For example, the fact that every click you make on the site is being recorded somewhere is really frightening. With Facebook installed Apps that track what you do whenever you access a page, what you read, the links you choose, everything that you access from their servers, it’s simple to build profiles about your behavior. And, when you combine this with the fact that people freely expose many aspects of their personal lives on their Facebook pages, their location, interests, even when they are going out of town (criminals love this one), it’s easy to see how advertisers and marketers would want this information.
Now, you may wonder how this affects you. The short answer is, it’s all about your privacy and what people can do with information. For example, the following scenarios illustrate how information on Facebook can be used against you.
Sample Facebook Privacy Concerns
- Employers routinely use Facebook and other social networking sites to get information about you and your habits. And, many will discount a potential candidate based solely on what they see.
- Credit card companies can look at profiles to determine the creditworthiness of their customers. If they see from your profile that you’re going through a lifestyle change, they can perceive you as a risk and take appropriate measures.
These two examples are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the repercussions of putting too much information on sites such as Facebook. Just as you have privacy concerns about giving out your personal information to a stranger on the street, you should be wary about what you put online.