From 72615d4a02c8f3a271e6f0200a5be194c1a86ee9 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: P. J. McDermott Date: Thu, 03 Nov 2011 16:01:46 -0400 Subject: Begin Facebook essay. --- (limited to 'essays') diff --git a/essays/social-networking.html b/essays/social-networking.html new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c87810f --- /dev/null +++ b/essays/social-networking.html @@ -0,0 +1,97 @@ +

On Facebook, Google+, and Ethical Social Networking

+

+ TO COME: An introduction, a section on Google+, and a section on ethical social networking. +

+

The Ethics of Facebook

+

+ 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] +

+

+ 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). +

+

+ 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] +

+

+ 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? +

+

+ 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. +

+

+ 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] +

+

References:

+
    +
  1. + "Five Hidden Dangers of Facebook". CBS News. CBS Interactive + Inc. May 11, 2010. + <http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/0/08/earlyshow/saturday/main6469373.shtml>. +
    2. +
  2. TODO: Add the rest.
    3. +
-- cgit v0.9.1