Gene-Marielle Cereno & Tatjana

Leung-Kei

Privacy of the IndividualPrivacy is defined as the state of being private or the condition of being concealed or hidden. In terms of Facebook, the privacy of the individual is how much information, personal or not is seen but other users than the creator or provider of that information. Social networking sites such as Facebook share information about the user over the internet, where it can be freely accessed by anyone. This is where issues of privacy to the individual arise.

As of December last year, Facebook called its 350 million users to review their privacy settings at the launch of its new user control tools which allow the user to control their information easily depending on the content, reasons for sharing and who they are viewed by. The link to the article below is from Facebook’s official blog instructing users on how they can improve their privacy level settings.

Privacy of the Individual

http://www.facebook.com/press/releases.php?p=133917

Security of Data & Information

http://www.neowin.net/news/main/10/01/12/facebook-employee-interview-reveals-security-issues

The security of data and information refers to how private the information on a Facebook page can be and if it can be accessed by others and the extent they can edit the information on that page.

Below is a link to an article about Facebook’s master password which has the capability to access ANY Facebook account. Although this password is kept solely to the site’s engineers, it raises privacy questions with the possibility of the password being leaked.

Accuracy of Data & InformationWith the internet being a free environment, there are no set rules about who you can be or act as whilst on it. This also applies to users on Facebook, because who’s to say they are who they really are? Or that the information on their profiles is accurate? The only way of having a clue if the person is really who they claim themselves to be is by their mutual friends, if any and their photos or video, pending their privacy settings allow the user to view them.

The link to the article describes a US teen who posed as a girl on Facebook and tricked more than 30 male classmates into sending him naked photos of themselves, then using the photos as blackmail.

http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/us-teen-jailed-for-facebook-sex-scam-20100225-p4pv.html

Data QualityData quality refers to the level of trustworthiness that information is susceptible to. For example data quality affects the large amount of games and applications on Facebook, where the level of trust for the game or application is not known. For all the user could know it may be misleading and result in identity theft or fraud through the use of the user’s information.

Changing Nature of WorkBusiness’ and traders are shifting in the way they operate as they have now come to embrace technology such as the internet and are embracing its advances and innovations. Social networking sites such as Facebook which see more than 350 million people using the site proves to businesses that this can be seen as a great opportunity for marketing over the internet through ads to be displayed on Facebook. This hence changes the way market advertisers work, having to also adapt to using the internet as their tool.

Changing Nature of WorkThe link refers to an article on the latest way that business’ can use Facebook for marketing.

http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-technology/paypal-to-become-a-way-to-pay-for-facebook-ads-20100219-oj88.html

Appropriate Information UseAppropriate information use refers to the correct usage of information and the adherence to privacy policy if any. Appropriate use of information on Facebook can refer to applications accessing the user’s information and correctly using it without distributing it to any external sources or companies.

An example of how Facebook applications incorrectly use user information is located in the link to the article below. It outlines how application “mines” a user’s information and uses it to spam the user’s friends and networks spreading like wildfire and almost impossible to stop.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/click_online/7375772.stm

Health & SafetyHealth and safety on the internet applies to the mental health of an individual rather than the physical. For example the use of social networking site Facebook is associated with issues of cyber bullying and peer pressure.

The link to the article below describes students who have been suspended from school for the cyber bullying of their peers via Facebook and Facebook groups.

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/1017586/students-suspended-for-facebook-bullying

Copyright Laws

http://www.facebook.com/legal/copyright.php

Copyright laws on Facebook refer to the copying of original pieces of music or art, just as MySpace music works, where bands can post their tracks and pieces online, arises the issue of copyright and how much of the available information can be reproduced. Although this wouldn’t really apply to Facebook itself but rather the user who posted the information on a Facebook page.Although Facebook does have options to claim intellectual property infringement if the material is not copyrighted and report copyrighted information.

The link outlines Facebook’s copyright policy.

Gene-Marielle Cereno & Tatjana Leung-Kei