Social Media Privacy

This report discusses the importance of social media privacy and provides practical tips for protecting personal data online. It explores the risks and concerns associated with platforms like Google and Facebook, as well as other corporate entities that collect and store user data. The report also examines the future of data privacy and the Canadian perspective on the issue.

Running head: SOCIAL MEDIA PRIVACY
SOCIAL MEDIA PRIVACY
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Data privacy or Information privacy has been significantly identified
as one of the major constraints related to the modern world where each of
the information are stored in a digital manner thus making it prone to get
exposed. The main concept of the privacy is associated with the social
networking platforms that primarily adheres the data or the information of
the users that are accessing these platforms. In the modern world where
every digital form of data is exposed to vulnerabilities or threats there are
certain constraints that are to be adhered by the users for the
safekeeping of their data (Hargittai and Marwick, 2016). This report will
deal with the practical overview of the overall constraints which can guide
an individual for the safe keeping of their data as well as maintain the
data or information that us to be stored for the future purposes. The
concerns regarding privacy within the services of social networking is said
to be a sub set of the privacy of data. This adheres all the processes that
are likely to be storing of the data, re-purposing of the data, granting
access to the third parties and lastly the display of the information in
accordance to the information that are stored in the internet (Aitken et al.,
2016). This report will put a clear reflection of the various questions as
well as aspects that are to be acknowledged regarding the safety of the
data present in the internet, in the various social media platforms as well
as websites that are frequently visited by the internet users.
What does Google and Facebook really know about me?
The privacy of the data or information is depicted as the relationship
between dissemination of data as well as collection of data. The privacy of
the data is said to be the aspect of the information technology that
associates with the capability of an individual or organization, which
designates the quality as well as quantity of the information that is to be
shared within the internet or third parties. In this growing world, where
most of the information or the data is being saved or accessed online it is
observed that the social networking platforms are one of the significant
platforms among others (Mochon et al., 2017). The persons that
frequently uses the social media platform are exposed to data theft as
well as data misuse regarding which these social media platforms are
quite aware of and thus provides a level of safety to the data that are
being saved in this platforms. Moreover, there are certain constraints of
data that are always to be kept secured such as location, contact numbers
and many more. If the social media platforms are not aware as well as not
keeping, the data safe then safety of the data is disrupted and the
information of the individuals can be breached (Cadwalladr, 2016). This
may result in the case of cyber stalking further making a reputational
damage to the specific social media platforms.
This section will generally describe about the most use social media
platforms that are likely identified as Google and Facebook. These are
identified as the most used corporate internet platforms, which are used,
by maximum number of individuals to store data or access their data from
anywhere as well as from any machine that is connected to the internet.
There are various types of data that are accessed as well as stored by the
stated giants present in the internet (Kite et al., 2016). Many more

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corporate giants that persists within the environment of the internet are
also associated with the safekeeping of the data regarding the individuals
who access those platforms. Moreover, many of these platforms also
access the device location from which the data or information had been
accessed (Obar and Wildman, 2015). Google is also a platform, which
stores the location of an individual as well as stores the history of all the
accessed data from that platform. The corporate giant Google also stores
the information of the third party applications that are frequently used by
the individuals of those platforms. The data that is being searched by an
individual using the internet platform is also depicted as the information
that are saved in an enhanced manner within the database of this
platform (Voss, 2016). This data includes links, bookmarks, calendar
history, books or any effective information that is searched by an
individual using this platform.
The next corporate giant that is observed to be popular amongst the
individuals is Facebook. The individuals generally use this as a social
networking site in which the personal details as well as some important
data of the individuals are also stored within these platforms which can be
accessed by other person who are provided access to it. However, the
data security is needed in regards information that are stored in this
platform is very necessary. This is due to the cause that this platform is
very easy to be accessed by anyone present in the internet (Pingo and
Narayan, 2016). The individuals that access this platform store the
information provided in this platform but the information of this platform
can be accessed by anybody present within the platform. This platform
also possess the capability to store the device’s location through which an
individual access their profile associated with this platform.
Are there other corporate entities that are of concern, but tend to
go unnoticed?
Apart from this above-stated platforms there are certain other
platforms too that are associated with the data collection as well as
storage of the information regarding the individuals associated within the
environment of the internet. Some of these platforms are sometimes not
critically viewed for the assessment of the security regarding the data of
the individuals that are stored within it. The platforms may be identified
as Twitter, Instagram and many more (Schwartz and Peifer, 2017). These
platform stores the data of the individuals that accesses these platforms
with respect to the profile they possess on this platforms. These data or
information should also be provided with enhanced security so that the
data could not be hampered or misused. Some of these type of corporate
entities that store the data or information of the individuals sometimes
gets unnoticed regarding the safety of the data present within the
network.
There has been depicted many recent facts regarding the data
breach within many corporate entities. The most number of users that
were affected by the data breach of a reputed corporate giant is observed
as Yahoo. In the month of September 2016, Yahoo faced a severe data

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breach that affected around 3 billion users. This data breach compromised
the original names of the users, their email addresses, birth dates as well
as telephone numbers of the users. This breach estimated an amount of $
350 million of the Yahoo’s sales regarding its prices. This type of issues
also started to gain concern regarding the data that are being stored in
these type of corporate giants where there is a huge collection as well as
access of data is present (Martin and Murphy, 2017).
Are we too fearful of the likes of Facebook and Google?
The likes of the Facebook or Google provides us with a threat
regarding the data being hampered. The various ways in which the data is
exposed to the other users present in the internet via these platforms,
there always remains a risk regarding the breach of the data or misuse of
the data (Zell and Moeller, 2018). This fear regarding the breach of data
can only be mitigated if the organization update its privacy policies as well
as data security methodologies that tend to provide better security in
respect to the data stored within the organization. This type of website
tends to provide security regarding the data that they store as well as the
sources regarding the collection of data of the individuals within the
website. The data that is to be shared by the users within these platforms
are to be securely encrypted so that it will not be easy to be breached.
Is privacy, as we know it dead or perhaps no longer a social
norm?
According to the founder of Facebook, the rise in the usage of the
social networking fields indicates that the individuals does not expect
privacy of data anymore. This is because it has been observed by M.
Zukerberg that the people using the platform of Facebook has become
more and enough comfortable to share more and more data as well as
personal detail with people in a wide manner (Mulligan, Koopman and
Doty, 2016). There are different kinds of data too that are being shared
within the environment of this type of social media platforms. He further
depicted that the sudden growth in the usage of the social media it is
observed that more and more persons are tending towards the usage of
these platforms irrespective of the thinking regarding the breach of the
data. The statement by Zukerberg is adhered to justify the decision that is
being taken by the organization regarding the change of the overall
privacy settings of the application that will approximately benefit around
350 million users (Tuten and Solomon, 2017). There has been a constant
conflict in between the private as well as the public information, which led
to various bad incidents in which many individuals laid the information
within these platforms that sought to be private depicting that it would
only be available in public mode. Thus, the platform of Facebook made a
decision to introduce a new feature that is “news feed” which is said to be
an update regarding the activities that the individuals perform to add
something to their profiles within this platform. One year later Beacon was
launched that is depicted as a continuous system of advertisement, which
allowed users to track the activities of the Facebook users via online. This
gradually led the organization to settle a lawsuit of around $ 9.5 million.

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Moreover, this did not prevented the organization to bring changes in
their privacy policies in the month of December. In respect to this
conversation, Zukerberg proposed that organizations like his, for
reflecting the change in the social norms are important for the
maintenance of the relevancy as well as competitive in the growing
market of the digital data transmission (Kitchin, 2016). Zukerberg
emphasized in the sector regarding the data privacy of the individuals are
very necessary to keep the individuals aware of the fact that their data is
protected within their organizational premises.
Is the public really that concerned over privacy?
According to the various public decision polls, it has been identified
that the many countries are found to be supportive in accordance to the
implementation of the privacy rights that will tend to protect their
personal information from government as well as commercial entities
(Obar and Oeldorf-Hirsch, 2018). The polls also describe that most of the
individuals want that the companies that deals with the data or
information puts extra focus on the privacy protection of those data.
Moreover, the users want a website or a social media platform to be built
with a consent form regarding the sharing as well as collection of
individual data. This consent will be taken even before asking for the user
name, phone number, address as well as e-mail addresses. In addition to
this report of the individuals, also states that they want to have the
capability for obtaining the redress regarding the privacy violations
(Hoanca, 2016). In certain polls that are carried out much further depicts
that the individuals want to have the laws to be upgraded that adheres
the privacy policies regarding the protection of the data. Individuals
desires that the websites must upgrade their data protection
methodologies by making an update in the privacy laws.
Thus from the above stated survey polls it can be depicted that the
present modern world is very much conscious regarding the protection of
information that are present all over the internet.
What might the future hold?
Through various researchers it has been depicted that there might
be 3 possible future aspects regarding the data safety of the individuals
that access the internet frequently as well as the information of the
individuals that are collected and shared in various social media platforms
(Beardsley, 2017). These three areas are stated briefly below:
 Consumer Activism: The awareness to the consumers and their
involvement may lead the future to amplify the concept of data
privacy to be clear to the individuals and this awareness will also
clear the applications of the data privacy within these platforms. It is
the due responsibility of the government as well as the
organizations to provide consumers with the overall sources from
where an organization or a website collected the data of the
persons. This will provide the individuals with transparent
information regarding the privacy policies and the resources that

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are used by the companies, which will further lead to a strong and
trustworthy bond relationship of the consumers with the
organization (Bennett and Raab, 2017). Various incidents of data
breaches and information thefts has lessen this trust among the
consumers, hence it is very important for both the government as
well as the organizations to regain this trust for a better and secure
future of the data present all over the internet.
 International Co-ordination: Another great aspect that is
identified to be implemented in future for the better protection of
the online data or information is depicted as an international
standard regarding the data privacy (Spiekermann et al., 2015). This
states that the policies that are to be adhered by the overall
internet websites as well as the organizations like Facebook, Google
and many more are to be a single and effective one. This will surely
take some effort to put the right things or policies at the right place,
but with the help of this the overall data privacy methodologies can
be handled easily and effectively.
 Ethical questions surrounding automation: There still persists
some ethical discussions regarding the usage as well as storage of
anonymous data within the environment of the internet. There are
many anonymous data of the individuals that are used by
organizations for their business profit (Allen, 2016). This creates an
ethical dilemma regarding the data that are present within the
internet. Thus more stringent methodologies must be adhered by
the organizations itself to keep the data of the individuals safe.
What is the Canadian perspective?
The situation of data privacy is becoming a bit harsh in many of the
countries all over the world. Moreover, the data privacy policies that
persists in different countries also needs update for the better protection
of the information within those countries. In accordance to this, it is
viewed that country like Canada needs to have update in their legislative
approaches regarding the data privacy of the individuals. The federal
system of Canada persists a specific data protection legislation, which
encompasses certain information practices regarding the data privacy.
The country with its data Privacy Act continues to investigate the different
data breaches as well as data theft issues all over the country including
some major provinces that are likely to be Quebec, Alberta, Ontario and
many more. The specific law that the country follows is The Personal
Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act – PIPEDA. The
government encourages the organizations to focus on the potential
consumers, whose data are being processed in some other countries, thus
providing a suggestion to the consumers, which depicts the assessment of
the risk regarding the data privacy by themselves (Townsend and
Wallace, 2016). This act provides an adequate as well as intensive level of
protection of data thus enhancing the country to be facilitated by the
personal information data security.
What is your personal perspective?

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According to me the data or information that are being stored within
the environment of the internet or the individuals that share the data
within the social media platforms tends to expose the data to a lot of
factors which could hamper the information. I observed that the data
security policies that are adhered by the organizations to the protect the
data of the individuals are stated to be one of the most important aspect
in this modern world. The data security policies that are adapted by
different countries or business organizations are to be implemented
effectively so that the information of the individuals may be safely stored
within the database of the organization or website. In my own perspective
I would like to say that with the increase in the number of the data that
are collected as well as shared within the environment of the internet, the
data privacy policies must also be updated with respect to more advanced
security features that would help to keep the data or the information of
the individuals safe within their database. Moreover, in this modern days,
the data privacy awareness is to be provided to every individual who are
trying to access the internet via any search engine or social media
platforms. This awareness tends to provide the detailed information to the
individuals for the safe keeping of the data as well as states the consent
of the companies that are trying to collect the data of the individuals.

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