Prominent Social Media Websites

Private information that was previously segregated now becomes easily accessible to employers, colleagues, recruiters, and clients, among other perhaps unintended audiences” (Abril, 2012, para. 4). Yes, most social media sites attain privacy settings but one must always remember there are hiccups in everything on the internet and no guarantees leaks will not occur.

On the one hand, some argue that social media is a main factor of the disturbance of privacy. Social media, especially popular ones such as Facebook or Twitter are known to leak and collect personal data without the user even knowing. Despite the fact that there are large amounts of privacy settings that are offered on these sites, they are not much help to protect a user’s privacy. A great deal of job applicants, students, and employees are being demanded to hand over their Facebook and other social media passwords over. The American Civil Liberties Union, which is an organization whose stated mission is "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country” claims that “The privacy line should

"We collect the content and other information you provide when you use our Services, including when you sign up for an account, create or share, and message or communicate with others” (Hachman). Each day people live with a false security that they are protected and maintain a sense of privacy. Citizens misplace their trust in social media and technology, and divulge their personal information in ignorance of the repercussions that may arise. Users say the advances in technology and social media will not affect their privacy; however, it is proven that these advances can be a harbinger of both danger and discontent.

However, for some teenagers, even adults users, identity management poses a threat for their privacy. In a series of case study by Mary and Aaron (2010) reveals that the majority of SNS users(77%) have altered their privacy setting. At the mean time, it is also the case that only 6% users have bad experiences owing to their privacy exposure, which causes them feel embarrassed. Moreover, there are 12% social networking users feeling regret the content that they have posted and shared. As a result of analyzing case study, there are increasing number of people realized the significance of identity management on social networking sites. In the view of the

Acquisti and Gross point out that the unprecedented growth of online social networks including but not limited to Facebook and MySpace has brought with itself serious security and privacy concerns. In this particular study, the authors found out that privacy issues do not discourage individuals from being members of the network. Further, the authors also found out that even individuals who happen to be rather concerned about their privacy reveal a great deal of their personal information after joining the network. This study is highly relevant to my research as it clearly demonstrates that individuals do not take privacy issues seriously on joining Facebook. As the authors point out, the study in this case secured its support from the "CMU Berkman Faculty Development Fund, CMU CyLab and the Data Privacy Laboratory." Thus in addition to being relevant, the study can also be regarded credible.

Numerous individuals use social media to upload their favorite moments, judgments, or just a night out with friends, but a lot of people do so without truly understanding the problem behind showing too much information online. For instance, everyone has the option to enter in all kinds of information on your profile like name, birth date, and place of living, but according to Mike Hard castle’s article, he wrote that “you should not list your birth date or phone number” (Hardcastle). Social media is an impressive tool that our generation uses each and every day, but like everything else, it comes with a price. The risk of sharing too much information leads to attracting attention from certain online predators. In Mike Hardcastle’s essay, he certainly lists many cons on why someone should not list every detail about themselves online. I indeed agree with what he says in the article because it is true that “predators will always choose a readily available target over one that takes work to find” (Hardcastle).

There is a rising dominance of social media sites that allows users lives to become increasingly transparent. With full information about ones activities available for everyone to see, it blurs the line between personal and impersonal information. Personal information like where you were, and your private life information are now things that everyone feels free to share, and by doing so dismantling the boundaries of personal information.

Furthermore, the tendency that it will be fine even if you do not keep privacy is getting stronger year by year. One of the reasons is because technology is developing rapidly in the world. This evidence is that a lot of people bring with them their smart phones and computers to the evidence of this. Stefano Taddei said, “The results suggest practical implications for online social network providers, most of all with regard to privacy policies in online environments” (2013). In the future, the providers will develop and affect us positive and negative through using technology.

Social Media is a current way in which people are using to interact with one another daily. Since the launch of various Social Networking Sites (SNS) its been a huge attraction in a new way to share information with others and correspond with interests of your choice in many different forms. Although social media sites allow users to share information with friends and other sites on the internet, many people are unaware of how their privacy is getting out. Now that the expansion of global connection through these social media networking sites are so highly present in todays society, giving us easy access to information, the lack of one's privacy is being diminished. Everyday peoples privacy rights are

Though the media is a great source for information, reconnecting, and updates, it has spiraled into a pile of irrelevant and unimportant drama. In the 21st century, we spending the majority of our time in social network websites. For example, apps, such as Facebook, MySpace, Instagram, Viber, Tumblr, SnapChat, Ask.fm and Twitter, have become incredibly popular in recent years. And on that site, the information that we providing are not safe because our personal information can be available to anyone and they can access the site anytime they want to steal our

When signing up for a social media platform, do you ever read those labourious pages of terms and conditions? According to an article published by The Guardian, a whopping 73% of people do not read the fine print when registering themselves for these information seeking platforms. These platforms are instruments of communication, which people all around the world use to exchange ideas, information and facts about themselves. While sharing this information people tend to believe that they are communicating on a secure platform however these people have not read the fine print. Individuals, who believe this, believe that they are communicating with in a private environment. They are obviously wearing blinkers. There is no such thing as privacy in the 21st century in which we are living, even though it should be our right. In reality we are being

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

Geolocation data can reveal significant information about people spend time with and to view of their social network. The smartphone has produced a huge increase in uniquely identifiable data can be used for tracking anyone in the individual social network. A constant stream of geolocation by a person gathers data through the mobile carriers. This information is generated from cellular triangulation, geolocated IP address, and GPS units can send down to 10 meter accuracy. (Gross, B. 2011)

Geo-location and social media services are becoming the way of the future online. These services are redefining the way we find and connect to interests and hobbies. Through the expansion of Geo-location and tagging mobile social media services, user’s privacy online will continue to be exposed without their knowledge and risk being victims to potential criminals.

Due to the variety and richness of user information disclosed in social network services, users may put themselves at high risk which may lead to range of cyber-attacks. Social media network services such as Facebook, Twitter have grown exponentially over the years while the users share unprecedented amount of personal information on the Internet. Ubiquitous use of mobile devices and a latest development in technology and access to social media networks through mobile devices has furthermore increased the privacy breach risks and lack of a protective infrastructure has turned them into convenient targets for different perils. In this paper, we investigate location cheating attacks, the amount of information revealed in social networks and their associated potential attacks. Through this paper, we comprehend possible defending mechanisms.