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-<!--#set var="title" value="On Facebook, Google+, and Ethical Social Networking" -->
-<!--#include virtual="/includes/header.html" -->
-<h2>On Facebook, Google+, and Ethical Social Networking</h2>
-<p>
- TO COME: An introduction and a section on Google+.
-</p>
-<h3>The Ethics of Facebook</h3>
-<p>
- Facebook shares their users' personal information with third parties.
- They use mere Web site design changes as an excuse to revert users'
- privacy settings to unsafe defaults. Their social platform has huge
- security holes that allow personal information to be leaked. One such
- hole made some users' private chats accessible to all of their contacts.
- Facebook also exposes users to malware and identity theft. [1] They
- make it easy for application developers to collect personal information.
- [2] The Wall Street Journal found that these application developers
- collect this personal information, link it with other information, and
- sell it to others. [3]
-</p>
-<p>
- In general, Facebook has always operated on an opt-out basis. In some
- cases, you can actually disable third-party access to your information.
- But you must always be on the lookout for new "features" or changes to
- privacy settings. Facebook always changes the way it collects
- information, and it catches many people unaware. But it's impossible to
- opt out of things you don't even know about. Recently, Facebook added a
- feature they call "tag suggestions". If you have photos on your
- profile, Facebook can pick out people's faces and suggest names for
- them. This may sound useful, but it's the tip of an almost nightmarish
- ethics iceberg in information systems. Facebook uses facial recognition
- software to make this work; they scan already-tagged photos and record
- distinguishing facial features and then find photos with similar faces
- and give them names. They maintain a database of people's facial
- features. They never notified anyone about this database. They never
- asked users if they could record this information. Instead, of course,
- they made it an opt-out feature; you have to explicitly disable this
- hidden feature to keep your facial information out of the database.
- This new feature has even sparked an investigation by the European
- Union. [4][5] But just imagine what Facebook could do with this
- information (and consider their track record with personal information).
- I suspect they may soon start selling facial data to other companies,
- law enforcement agencies, and oppressive governments (I've heard that
- the U.K. once used video camera footage to locate and arrest protesters,
- so imagine what they could do with facial data).
-</p>
-<p>
- Basically, Facebook is a business. And you are not their customer. You
- are their product. They are, in fact, selling their products to
- advertisers. That is, they use a person's face (without getting
- permission and without paying anything) to advertise things to that
- person's friends. Claim to like something, and you've given a product
- endorsement at a price advertising agencies would love. [6]
-</p>
-<p>
- And they also seem to like selling out their users to governments and
- limiting what their users can read and say. After their recent
- collaboration with Chinese partners, the Facebook platform was allowed
- into China under political censorship. At the time, Facebook lobbyist
- Adam Conner remarked, "we're allowing too much, maybe, free speech".
- [7][8] The Associated Press reported last month that Facebook sold out
- hundreds of peaceful pro-Palestinian activists who had been organizing
- events through the social platform. Facebook allowed governments to
- track its users' activities. As a result, more than 300 peaceful
- activists were added to airline terrorism watch lists and denied the
- right to leave their countries. International air travel was disrupted
- as planes from Geneva and Italy were diverted for security inspections.
- 310 people were detained after landing in Israel on their way to stand
- with Palestinians in a peaceful mission of solidarity and fact-finding.
- [9][10] Imagine what might have happened if Facebook (and widespread
- publicly-accessible computer networks for that matter) existed during
- the civil rights movement. Would there be racial equality in the United
- States today? Or would peaceful protesters organizing events have been
- sold out and arrested before they could even meet?
-</p>
-<p>
- But it seems you don't even have to use Facebook to get tracked by
- Facebook. Everyone who sees a "Like" button somewhere on the Web (as
- I'm sure you have) can be tracked. Facebook has the ability to map out
- the browsing behavior of a massive number (a number that grows by tens
- of millions each month) of Web users, even those who don't use Facebook.
- [11] Again, imagine what they could do with such vast amounts of
- information.
-</p>
-<p>
- Things like these gaping holes in privacy, devious information
- collection practices, abuse of users, censorship, and tracking inspired
- Matt Lee, campaigns manager, and John Sullivan, executive director, of
- the Free Software Foundation to write about Facebook's poor track record
- with privacy and create rather amusing "Dislike" and "not f'd" buttons. [12]
-</p>
-<h3>Ethical Social Networking</h3>
-<p>
- TODO: Move characteristic four into a note somewhere, as it is rare for a
- service provider to attempt to claim copyright on user-submitted works.
- Also, refer to the Franklin Street Statement.
-</p>
-<p>
- But social networking is not inherently evil. You can connect with old
- friends and discover new ones without sacrificing privacy, security,
- autonomy, and freedom. You just have to be careful about the platforms
- you use. I've identified four basic characteristics that a social
- networking platform must have for it to be an ethical one that doesn't
- abuse its users. The first two characteristics are universal; all
- viable platforms, whether running on your own computer or hosted by a
- service provider, must have these. The last two apply only if you
- choose to use a platform that is run by someone else as a service.
-</p>
-<ol>
- <li>
- Software freedom. You must be free to use the software that powers
- the social networking platform on your own computer without
- restrictions. You must be free to inspect the software and modify
- it. You must be free to share the software with others, with or
- without modifications. With these freedoms, you have full control
- over your social networking and you can decide who has access to
- which personal information. Without these freedoms, only the
- developer can decide what the software does, and you may not even
- be allowed to know what it does to you.
- </li>
- <li>
- Federation. You must be able to run the software on your own
- computer and still be able to communicate with other people using
- other copies of the software. If the software has protocols for
- communication between users across multiple installations, then the
- software is federated. For example, e-mail is federated; you can
- run your own mail server and still send mail to other people who
- use other servers. This is because all standards-compliant mail
- servers speak the same protocol.
- </li>
- <li>
- Privacy. If you choose to use a social networking service run by
- someone else, the service must offer a clear and agreeable privacy
- policy to which the service provider must strictly adhere. The
- service provider must not be allowed to give your personal
- information to third parties without your consent (unless required
- by law) or use your information in ways that threaten your privacy
- and autonomy.
- </li>
- <li>
- No claims of copyright. The service provider must agree that your
- personal information is yours, not theirs. There must not be any
- claims of copyright on the information you provide. The provider
- may, however, require you to license such information to them
- and/or to others for it to be published on the service; in this
- case, you should make sure you agree with the license terms before
- using the service.
- </li>
-</ol>
-<p>
- Let's look at some social networking platforms and see how they adhere
- to these criteria. We'll start with Facebook. Facebook fails criterion
- one; you cannot run, inspect, modify, or share the software that powers
- Facebook. This means it also fails criterion two; it is inherently not
- federated because you cannot run it on your own computer. Since
- Facebook is not federated and you're stuck with the hosted service,
- criteria three and four apply. Facebook has a terrible track record
- with privacy and therefore fails criterion three. According to their
- terms of service, you retain copyright on your information and give
- Facebook "a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free,
- worldwide license to use" your information. [13] This is standard
- licensing language that allows Facebook to publish information you
- submit, and with these terms Facebook seems to pass criterion four.
- (I've heard that Facebook claims or used to claim copyright on your
- information, but seeing these terms of service I'll give Facebook the
- benefit of the doubt here.) Facebook fails three out of the four
- criteria, and we can conclude that Facebook is an unethical social
- networking platform.
-</p>
-<p>
- Next we'll evaluate Twitter. Again, it fails criterion one since you
- cannot run, inspect, modify, or share the software. And again it fails
- criterion two since you cannot run the software on your own computer.
- Twitter has a clear privacy policy that describes what information is
- made public, what information you may optionally provide, what
- information is collected in logs, and what information is to be kept
- private except under certain circumstances. [14] I don't know of any
- occasion on which Twitter has failed to adhere to this policy, so if you
- agree with this policy then Twitter passes criterion three. Twitter's
- terms of service explicitly leave you with the rights to your
- information, but you must agree to grant Twitter "a worldwide,
- non-exclusive, royalty-free license (with the right to sublicense) to
- use, copy, reproduce, process, adapt, modify, publish, transmit, display
- and distribute [your information] in any and all media or distribution
- methods (now known or later developed)". [15] Again this is standard
- licensing language that allows Twitter to publish the information you
- post, and I conclude that with these terms Twitter passes the fourth
- criterion. In summary, Twitter passes two out of the four criteria;
- it's not completely ethical since it leaves you without important
- freedoms and at the mercy of a single centralized provider, but it seems
- it's not as bad as Facebook is in terms of privacy.
-</p>
-<p>
- Next up is Identi.ca. Identi.ca is an instance of StatusNet, a free
- software microblogging platform that is similar in function to Twitter.
- StatusNet is licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License,
- which requires that all users, including those who use the software over
- a network, have all of the necessary freedoms with the software. With
- this license, StatusNet, and therefore Identi.ca, pass criterion one
- beautifully. StatusNet implements the OStatus protocol, which allows
- users of other installations of StatusNet (or even other software such
- as GNU Social) to communicate seamlessly. With this, StatusNet and GNU
- Social (and instances of the software such as Identi.ca) are federated
- and pass criterion two. If you choose to use Identi.ca instead of
- running StatusNet or GNU Social on your own computer, then criteria
- three and four apply. Identi.ca has a very clear privacy policy that
- describes what information is made public, what information remains
- private, and how information may be used by Identi.ca, by users, and by
- other instances of StatusNet and GNU Social. [16] With this, Identi.ca
- passes criterion three. Identi.ca's terms of service make no claims to
- copyright on your information. The terms require that you grant
- Identi.ca "a world-wide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to
- reproduce, modify, adapt and publish the Content solely for the purpose
- of displaying, distributing and promoting your notice stream". They
- also require that you "grant all readers the right to use, re-use,
- modify and/or re-distribute the Content under the terms of the Creative
- Commons Attribution 3.0 [Public License]". [17] This license allows
- readers to share your notices, to modify your notices, and to
- incorporate your notices in larger works, as long as they give you
- credit for your words and do not misrepresent you. These are agreeable
- terms that leave you in control of your information and allow the world
- to share and build upon your work, so we can conclude that Identi.ca
- passes criterion four. Identi.ca, which runs the free social networking
- platform StatusNet, passes all four criteria. It is an ethical platform
- and service that protects your privacy, autonomy, and freedom. Because
- of this, I myself use Identi.ca. [18] Since the software is free, before
- registering I checked the source code to make sure that my password
- would be stored securely. And since the software is federated, I
- reserve the right, especially if Identi.ca in the future ever fails
- criteria three and four or ceases to exist, to move to my own
- self-hosted instance of the software without losing contact with other
- users.
-</p>
-<p>
- These three cases are just examples of popular platforms. There are of
- course many others. Google recently opened up their new platform,
- Google+, which so far is neither free nor federated. The Diaspora
- project began in response to outrage over privacy on Facebook; Diaspora
- itself is free and federated, and there are hosted Diaspora services
- with decent privacy policies. Finally, I don't claim that these
- criteria are perfect; they are merely the result of observations I've
- made. A similar set of criteria for "freedom in the 'cloud'" has
- recently been offered by Georg Greve, founder of the Free Software
- Foundation Europe. [19]
-</p>
-<h3>References:</h3>
-<ol>
- <li>
- "Five Hidden Dangers of Facebook". <span class="cite-title">CBS News</span>. CBS Interactive
- Inc. May 11, 2010.
- <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/0/08/earlyshow/saturday/main6469373.shtml">&lt;http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/0/08/earlyshow/saturday/main6469373.shtml&gt;</a>.
- </li>
- <li>
- Barnett, Emma. "Your data is Facebook's most valuable asset".
- <span class="cite-title">The Telegraph</span>. Telegraph Media Group Limited. January 17,
- 2011.
- <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/facebook/8264210/Your-data-is-Facebooks-most-valuable-asset.html">&lt;http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/facebook/8264210/Your-data-is-Facebooks-most-valuable-asset.html&gt;</a>.
- </li>
- <li>
- Steel, Emily and Fowler, Geoffery A. "Facebook in Online Privacy
- Breach; Applications Transmitting Identifying Information". <span class="cite-title">The
- Wall Street Journal</span>. Dow Jones &amp; Company, Inc. October 18,
- 2010.
- <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304772804575558484075236968.html">&lt;http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304772804575558484075236968.html&gt;</a>.
- </li>
- <li>
- Gannes, Liz. "Facebook facial recognition prompts EU privacy
- probe". <span class="cite-title">CNET News</span>. CBS Interactive Inc. June 8, 2011.
- <a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-20070148-93/facebook-facial-recognition-prompts-eu-privacy-probe/">&lt;http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-20070148-93/facebook-facial-recognition-prompts-eu-privacy-probe/&gt;</a>.
- </li>
- <li>
- Snyder, Bill. "Facebook Facial Recognition: Why It's a Threat to
- Privacy". <span class="cite-title">PCWorld</span>. PCWorld Communications, Inc. June 21,
- 2011.
- <a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/230790/facebook_facial_recognition_why_its_a_threat_to_privacy.html">&lt;http://www.pcworld.com/article/230790/facebook_facial_recognition_why_its_a_threat_to_privacy.html&gt;</a>.
- </li>
- <li>
- Tynan, Dan. "Facebook ads use your face for free". <span class="cite-title">ITworld</span>.
- ITworld. January 25, 2011.
- <a href="http://www.itworld.com/internet/134677/facebook-ads-use-your-face-free">&lt;http://www.itworld.com/internet/134677/facebook-ads-use-your-face-free&gt;</a>.
- </li>
- <li>
- Williamson, Elizabeth; Schatz, Amy; and Fowler, Geoffery A.
- "Facebook Seeking Friends in Beltway". <span class="cite-title">The Wall Street Journal</span>.
- Dow Jones &amp; Company, Inc. April 20, 2011.
- <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703789104576273242590724876.html">&lt;http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703789104576273242590724876.html&gt;</a>.
- </li>
- <li>
- Crovitz, L. Gordon. "Facebook's Dubious New Friends". <span class="cite-title">The Wall
- Street Journal</span>. Dow Jones &amp; Company, Inc. May 2, 2011.
- <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703567404576293233665299792.html">&lt;http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703567404576293233665299792.html&gt;</a>.
- </li>
- <li>
- Higgins, Alexander. "Facebook Now Helping Governments Spy On And
- Arrest Peaceful Activists". <span class="cite-title">The Intel Hub</span>. The Intel Hub. July
- 9, 2011.
- <a href="http://theintelhub.com/2011/07/09/facebook-now-helping-governments-spy-on-and-arrest-peaceful-activists/">&lt;http://theintelhub.com/2011/07/09/facebook-now-helping-governments-spy-on-and-arrest-peaceful-activists/&gt;</a>.
- </li>
- <li>
- Last, Jeremy. "Israel uses Facebook to blacklist, detain or deport
- Tel Aviv-bound travellers". <span class="cite-title">thestar.com</span>. Toronto Star. July 8,
- 2011.
- <a href="http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/1022008--israel-uses-facebook-to-blacklist-detain-or-deport-tel-aviv-bound-travellers">&lt;http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/1022008--israel-uses-facebook-to-blacklist-detain-or-deport-tel-aviv-bound-travellers&gt;</a>.
- </li>
- <li>
- Roosendaal, Arnold. "Facebook Tracks and Traces Everyone: Like
- This!". <span class="cite-title">Social Science Research Network</span>. Social Science
- Electronic Publishing, Inc. November 30, 2010.
- <a href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1717563">&lt;http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1717563&gt;</a>.
- </li>
- <li>
- Lee, Matt and Sullivan, John. "Mark Zuckerberg is TIME Magazine's
- Person of the Year? Where's the "dislike" button?". <span class="cite-title">Free Software
- Foundation</span>. Free Software Foundation, Inc. February 3, 2011.
- <a href="http://www.fsf.org/facebook">&lt;http://www.fsf.org/facebook&gt;</a>.
- </li>
- <li>
- "Statement of Rights and Responsibilities". <span class="cite-title">Facebook</span>. Facebook,
- Inc. April 26, 2011.
- <a href="http://www.facebook.com/terms.php">&lt;http://www.facebook.com/terms.php&gt;</a>.
- </li>
- <li>
- "Twitter Privacy Policy". <span class="cite-title">Twitter</span>. Twitter Inc. June 23,
- 2011.
- <a href="http://twitter.com/privacy">&lt;http://twitter.com/privacy&gt;</a>.
- </li>
- <li>
- "Twitter Terms of Service". <span class="cite-title">Twitter</span>. Twitter Inc. June 1,
- 2011.
- <a href="http://twitter.com/tos">&lt;http://twitter.com/tos&gt;</a>.
- </li>
- <li>
- "Privacy". <span class="cite-title">Identi.ca</span>. StatusNet Inc.
- <a href="http://identi.ca/doc/privacy">&lt;http://identi.ca/doc/privacy&gt;</a>.
- </li>
- <li>
- "Tos". <span class="cite-title">Identi.ca</span>. StatusNet Inc.
- <a href="http://identi.ca/doc/tos">&lt;http://identi.ca/doc/tos&gt;</a>.
- </li>
- <li>
- McDermott, P. J. "P. J. McDermott (pehjota)". <span class="cite-title">Identi.ca</span>.
- StatusNet Inc.
- <a href="http://identi.ca/pehjota">&lt;http://identi.ca/pehjota&gt;</a>.
- </li>
- <li>
- Greve, Georg C. F. "Freedom in the 'Cloud'?". <span class="cite-title">freedom bits</span>.
- Free Software Foundation Europe e.V. July 30, 2011.
- <a href="http://blogs.fsfe.org/greve/?p=452">&lt;http://blogs.fsfe.org/greve/?p=452&gt;</a>.
- </li>
-</ol>
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