Facebook Is Using You Analysis

Discrimination comes in all forms and types, but who knew you could be left out or

So many users of the internet blindly browse and post on these sites without any thought to the online identity they are creating for themselves. Shares, tweets, hashtags, likes, and comments all combine to make up an amalgamation of marketable information. In November of 2016, an average of six thousand tweets were made per second, and ninety-five million Instagram posts were made per day (Sayce; Parker). Facebook “has become the largest database of personal information ever collected,” says Richard, and Facebook takes advantage of this. With almost two billion users, Facebook has no shortage of information to gather (Sparks). They do this mainly for targeted advertising. There is no small profit to be made in this. In 2011 Lori Andrews wrote, “Facebook made $3.2 billion in advertising revenue last year, 85% of it's total revenue.” However, Facebook and other internet corporations also relay data gathered on users to the

It is shown, that one of the most prominent sources that prove a danger toward privacy, is through social media, specifically Facebook. This site alone

Since there are no laws about what types of data aggregators can collect, they are able to make their own rules. We then learn the social implications of data aggregation, such as young people who reside in poor neighborhoods who are bombarded by advertisements for trade school, might be more likely to forgo college because of this. Women are shown articles about celebrities rather than stock market trends, which could make them less likely to develop financial expertise. By doing this, advertisers are drawing lines that limit people to the roles that society expects them to play. Andrews keeps applying the logos appeal throughout her essay by giving us the percentage of people that wanted the right to opt out of online tracking. “We need a do-not-track law,” she says, “similar to the do-not-call one.” It isn’t about something trivial, like a dinner that is interrupted by a telemarketer, she goes on to say, it is about whether her dreams will be dashed by the collection of bits that she has no control over and for which companies are currently

Something similar is happening with our cyber information. Internet service providers can collect information from users such as browsing information, location, financial, health information, etc. and sell that information to marketing and advertisement agencies. Sites such as Facebook can also track user’s online activity and sell that information to advertisers and third-party sites, an example of this is anytime a user logs into a site using Facebook it allows that company to track their online activity. Ultimately, people should be made aware of what is happening with their personal

The unknown author(s) of the article “Your Browser Is Selling You Out,” states how website advertisements, computer programs, and websites in general are collecting and storing private information. Andrea Rock, the author of “How Private Is Your Private Life?,” shows how her doing everyday activities puts her privacy at risk. Also both articles explain what cookies are and how they are used for ad networks such as DoubleClick. Andrea Rock’s article is put in sequence format to show what she does during the day that puts her privacy at risk, such as using a supermarket discount card, registering a car, or using an E-ZPass (Rock 683-685). In contrast, the article “Your Browser Is Selling You Out” goes through three different ways in depth on how privacy is being collected and

The words, “Arguing that you don’t care about privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don’t care about free speech because you have nothing to say” were said by Edward Snowden who is a computer professional in America. Similarly, the essays “Tracking Is an Assault on Liberty,” “Web Users Get as Much as They Give,” and “Facebook Is Using You” from Nicholas Carr, Jim Harper, and Lori Andrews respectively points out that the internet privacy is good and bad. However, the articles by Carr and Andrews are based on the negative side of the internet privacy, which means that the internet privacy is not good. On the other hand, Harper’s article is based on the positive side of the internet privacy, which means that the internet privacy is good and scary, but people need to be careful of their own information and browsing histories, and websites. Jim Harper’s essay is more relevant and reasonable than the Nicholas Carr and Lori Andrews’s essays. However, Harper seems more persuasive to readers because he believes that the internet is good if people use it in a right way, whereas Carr and Andrews believe that the internet is not good at all.

Lori Andrews, non-fiction, “Facebook Is Using You” (2012); laments that the United States is one of the few nations to lack data privacy laws and thus Google searches and Facebook activity can be used as data for purchase by companies and even the government. Andrew blends a variety of sources ranging from articles, to specific examples, hypothetical instances, and the details of particular pieces of legislation. Andrews’ purpose is to warn against the moral dilemma data mining presents in order to call the public to speak out and seek change in policy. Andrews develops a disgruntled and foreboding tone to clearly highlight how the lack of data privacy laws can affect the American public’s personal lives unless they choose to speak out against

Facebook is a well know social networking site that has taken all over the world with over 500 million people using the site. 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 July 2010 Facebook has more than 500 million active users, Users may create a personal profile, add other users as friends and exchange messages, including automatic notifications when they update their profile. As of December last year, Facebook called its 500 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 above mentioned example is one of many questioning the credibility of the social networking sites. The fact that anyone can go to a person’s profile and save his/her picture to be used as desired is uncomfortable and disturbing. Another method for the disruption of ethical boundaries in regards to these networking channels is their utilization to conduct predatory marketing. The level of discomfort is high when a product/service is offered to a user on the basis of the needs assessment done by the exploitation of personal information. Some employers are also the culprits due to the fact that they make hiring decisions on the basis of prospective employee’s social network activities. These and many other scenarios lead problem solvers to come up with alternatives and implement productive decisions.

As we live our everyday lives day to day, data is being gathered from each and every one of us; often without our consent or realization. Data is being gathered constantly when we subscribe to magazines, when we use coupons, when we use our credit cards and when we browse the Internet. Following the 9/11 attacks, the government and law enforcement proposed to develop an airline traveler screening program that would consolidate these pieces of consumer data information. It was not implemented due to its controversial nature. However, privacy and civil liberty advocates are constantly questioned, “What are you afraid of? What do you have to hide? If you haven 't done anything wrong, what 's there to worry about?". They insinuate that data is harmless, but according to law professor, Jeffrey Rosen’s book The Unwanted Gaze, you are not your profile. These datasets can contain errors. Furthermore, its misuse and revelation of information to strangers can lead to misjudgment, wrong conclusions and violations of privacy rights. In this paper, I am working on the topic of privacy in data mining operations as it relates to Kaplan’s call to balance public interest and privacy rights. The 2011 U.S. Supreme Court case, Sorrell v. IMS Health Inc. was decided on the grounds of free speech, contrary to the presumption of health data confidentiality (Kaplan, 2014). Thus, this case aids us in the understanding that there is a need to protect sensitive information, along with

The marketing industry is an elaborate network that links companies to their consumers, primarily through written communication. The main objective of marketing is to identify trends and patterns in consumer behavior, and utilize the data to influence consumers to purchase more goods. From a macroenviroment standpoint, the general conditions of a market are heavily dependent on global environmental factors. The most significant factor that influences the markets today is technological advancements. Since the release of Facebook, Linked-in, Twitter, and Myspace in the early 2000s, the number of people using social media has increased to over sixty-five percent. The ever-growing dependency on social media platforms, has given marketers the tremendous opportunity to further market potential consumers. Social media marketing is a specific form of marketing that focuses on producing ad content that social media users will post on their own networks. This particular marketing technique is effective because ads and content are created, based on what personal information users post on social media. Firms and organizations that advertise their brands on social media are more likely to increase their customer base and annual revenue. By doing so, companies are able to increase exposure of their brand and widen previous hidden, customer bases. As a marketer, the fine line between right and wrong is often blurred. The amount and

Such information could cause organizations to make wrong conclusions on a user based on the wrongful information on the user.

People enjoy quizzes and interesting questionnaires on social media websites. It helps with keeping the social chatter interesting and the conversation moving along. The problem is, Facebook apps like the ‘Most Used Words’ game gathers a huge amount of personal data from the user and then sells it to whomever it can. (Griffin, 2015) This game app collects a person’s data from their statuses and then gathers the most common words to use as the largest in a graphic picture display. This app has been shared more than 16 million times, "That’s over 16 million people who agreed to give up almost every private detail about themselves to a company they likely know nothing about," (Griffin, 2015). The most alarming aspect of this popular app is that it asks for permission from the user to have access to everything the user has ever liked on Facebook. This includes information about that user’s Facebook friends and any tagged photos. People are now complaining that this very popular app collects more data about us than is necessary. In order to install and use this app, the user must give permission for the app to have the following data: Name, age, birthday, profile picture,

One thing Microsoft, Google and Facebook have in common is that they collect about as much data from each of their visitors as each other, according to an internet marketing research company (Alexa 2012). Users are concerned about the privacy of their personal information, even after the Facebook security expanded its efforts to reduce the risks to the users’ privacy. Facebook Beacon was launched in Nov 2007, a service that was ultimately a failed attempt at advertising specific products to a user’s friends depending on what known purchases that friend had made. As of last month, Facebook has begun to more closely examine the usage of its user data. Facebook accepted that it had deceived users by failing to keep certain promises regarding privacy, and agreed to settle charges laid by the United States Federal Trade Commission.