FACEBOOK AND PRIVACY CONCERNS!!

Facebook is a social networking website on which anyone can open an account. Worldwide,
there are over 1.35 billion monthly active Facebook users which is a 14 % increase Y-O-Y (as
of 28 October 2014, zephoria.com). Although often seen as simply a convenient platform for
information sharing, it has been overlooked that the information puts Facebook in a powerful
and responsible position. Despite the benefits of connectivity, there are dangers connected with
Facebook. Its users are to a great extent subconsciously engaged in the process of publicizing
their private sphere. This research examines what negative effects, particularly with respect to
privacy intrusions, does Facebook have.

The privacy concerns are confirmed by several reports and studies on Facebook. In a report on
23 Internet service companies, the watchdog organization Privacy International charged
Facebook with severe privacy flaws (A Race to the Bottom, 2007). Already in 2005, Jones and
Soltren identified serious flaws in Facebook's set-up that would facilitate privacy breaches and
data mining. Recent attempts to make the profile restrictions more user-friendly and
comprehensive seem mostly PR-driven and still include serious flaws (Soghoian, 2008a). The
introduction of News Feed by Facebook led to the users feeling exposed and deprived of
their sense of control over their information (Boyd, 2008). Additional concerns like
manipulating user pictures, setting up fake user profiles, and publicizing embarrassing private
information to harass individuals are other frequently reported forms of malicious mischief on
Facebook (Kessler, 2007; Maher, 2007; Privacy Pilfered, 2007; Stehr, 2006).

Most of the previous studies have recognised privacy as a mere legal or a regulatory compliance
whereas it needs to be addressed as a more fundamental issue. For past several years researchers
have been concentrating on the existing privacy issues and hardly, if ever, has any researcher
suggested ways to resolve such issues. Another deficiency in the above studies is that they have
not provided any mechanisms to ensure that the Terms of Use and privacy policies are not only
accepted but also clearly read and understood by the users. The above studies have not
emphasized on Facebooks role in engaging with the public more generally on privacy issues
to increase education and awareness on the importance of privacy.

Recent experience of social networking has illustrated that the public is becoming increasingly
focused on not just sharing information but also protecting their privacy. In this research an
attempt has been made to analyse the existing and possible threats to online privacy posted by
entrusting Facebook with a huge amount of personal information. Further, it brings to light the
fallacies which exist in the present legal and technological measures to curb the violation of
online privacy and suggests some method to deal with the menace. The paper concludes with
looking forward at likely solutions and prescriptions designed to enhance user privacy.

The purpose of this paper is:

To investigate privacy violations on Facebook,

To study how users understand the potential threat to their privacy and explore Facebook
users' awareness of privacy issues,

Suggesting some routes which Facebook can take for safe use of personal data and
information disclosure.

References1. A consultation report (2007). A race to the bottom: Privacy ranking of internet service
companies. Privacy International.
2. Jones & Soltren (2005). Facebook: Threats to privacy.
3. Soghoian, C. (2008a). Flaws emerge in Facebook's new privacy controls. CNet News.Com.
4. Boyd, D. (2008). Facebook's privacy trainwreck: Exposure, invasion, and social
convergence. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into Media
Technologies.
5. Roosendaal, A. (2011). Facebook tracks and traces everyone: Like this. Tillburg Institute
for Law, Technology and Society.
6. Kessler, T. R. (2007). Internet joke lands UNH student in trouble. Citizen.com.
7. Maher, M. (2007). Youve got messages: Modern technology recruiting through textmessaging and the intrusiveness of Facebook. Texas Review of Entertainment and Sports
Law.
8. (2007). Privacy pilfered: When pole-vault champion's photo was posted all over web, she
felt violated. The Daily News.
9. Stehr, M. (2006). Unsafe Internet habits can lead stalkers to your door. Daily Nebraskan.
10. https://zephoria.com/social-media/top-15-valuable-facebook-statistics/