Privacy Issues in Social Media Essay

Privacy has become a prominent topic in academic and social debate throughout the country. In “Term of Service” by Jacob Silverman, Silverman argues that American citizens today are unaware that their private information is often shown and are no longer safe from the public eye. After all, the integration of social media such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter has made it impossible to keep anything private. Sharing life events on social media has become the new social norm in the United States. However, this new trend has left the online community with a false sense of security, leaving them venerable against data mining, profiling, and unknown surveillance issues by third party miners across the country. With no end to this threat, how can causal social media users defend themselves without any assistants? The federal government should adopt stronger privacy laws like they have in Europe. They should come up with a digital bill of reforms to help better protect the online community, better inform the public about data mining threats, and companies should get government approval for any data retrieval before they are used for financial gains.

"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.

Facebook. Instagram. Whatsapp. All which are categorised as social media, which we are all familiar with. Social media has been ingrained into our lives; we use them every day. Without social media, we would be lost for many reasons: It has encompassed both our personal and professional life, as its purposes ranges from using it for work purposes to simply having a chat. However, have we ever stopped and wondered at what cost? Little do we know that social media can be used as a tool to scrutinize our personal lives. We have been lied to about having freedom on social media, the Government has the ability to look at every single thing we are doing on it. This is a purely disgusting act, people deserve their privacy, and taking that away from them is – in the kindest manner- absolutely horrendous.

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.

Do you really have privacy when you send messages or post a picture on social media or is the government watching your every move? Social media has been around for over a decade and continues to grow. On social media people have the freedom to say what is on their mind, so why would the government need to overview everything said and done on the internet? The government wants control over its people. The first amendment gives us freedom of speech, but on social media the government overlooks every conversation you have. Although your privacy is being striped with the government breathing down your back, I do understand that sometimes it is necessary for them to check what people are doing online.

Privacy is a topic that has impacted this new generation more so than others, and more than likely will continue to do so. It has been the source to much controversy and issues in the past decade. Additionally, it seems like privacy is only becoming more of a hazard rather than a blessing to users of social media and modalities of communication. Therefore, underscoring this topic and examining its effects, will possibly lead to an understanding of the rise and potentiality of this sensitive subject. Moreover, in some form or another, people have stumbled across this topic and that is why it is crucial that it is addressed, so that people can have an understanding of the problem.

In the social networking arena, users voluntarily divulge personal information online that, prior to the digital age, would have been considered private and restricted. Without careful and fierce examination of information prior to submitting it online, users unwittingly and certainly unwillingly subject themselves to threat of privacy intrusion.

This paper describes how over time the Internet has changed the meaning of privacy. This paper explores how various social media websites along with the new generation have influenced how much we value our privacy. Although each social media website has its own outlook on human privacy, they all ultimately deem it as the most valued part of the website. The new generation uses Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat, etc. as ways to communicate and share their memories with others, while not understanding the risk it poses. This paper shows how the internet has transformed the meaning of privacy into a matter more serious because the information being “posted” has so much more value than it did in the past. Overall you will see how the feeling of needing privacy has been depleted, but also how the security of privacy has increased.

Social media sites have been around for about eighteen years now. The first recognizable social media site was in 1997, and it was called, “Six Degrees”. It allowed users to upload their own profile and make friends with other users as well; and starting in 1999, the first blogging sites became popular, which created a social media sensation that’s still popular today. After blogging was when social media really began to take off in popularity. In the year 2000, sites like MySpace and LinkedIn became prominent, and there were even sites such as Photobucket and Flickr that allowed people to share photos. By the year of 2006, Twitter and Facebook became relevant and available to users

In relation to privacy, social networking and many other genres of the internet are one of the main and easiest places to track down people, many naïve victims, posts up their details on their profile, making it easy to enable stalkers or strangers to have advantage of virtually meeting you. This problem has caused many families to live in fear, not knowing how vulnerable they are to the outside world, where

Pinterest- You own everything you posted originally. However, Pinterest reserves the right to modify any of your original content, making any modified version their property. Deleting content takes this right away from Pinterest. However, anything that has been repinned by others becomes the property of Pinterest.

Social media is more and more used to make presumptions and decisions about people. If I get to know someone I will go to Google and try to find out what can be found instead of waiting how all info itself will arouse by time passing. It’s debatable if it is ethical to spy about people in social networks because behavioral patterns witnessed there belong more to private sphere. But if person is willingly giving away his rights to privacy?  Also we seldom think of privacy issues when applying for “bonus” card to get 5% discount. It seems that sometimes people need to be protected against themselves and until there are no new and relevant social norms aroused, this is were policymakers should puzzle and offer solutions. Of course the balance is a key issue.

Do you ever feel like you are being watched or followed, feels a little creepy right? That is exactly what is happening every time you log into one of the many social media sites offered via the world wide web. Some users say that if you aren’t doing anything wrong, what does it matter if our every move is being tracked and recorded. It matters because our privacy is being violated, having privacy is one of our basic human rights. When we sign up on social media we knowingly give up that right as Kent Anderson, author of “People are Willing to Trade Less Privacy for Access to Social Media”, writes, “ Social networks are based on sharing information, so anyone using such a network is automatically accepting

Social media started becoming normal. Everyone was using it. Mainly for email, games, and business. But soon Social Networking sites would take over.

Privacy is referred to how an individual’s personal data and information about themselves and others is handled, portrayed and used in social and online settings. Privacy online and offline is such a sacred component to our current society; despite this, privacy can be very hard to conceal, maintain, and hide in the current digital media age (James et al., 2009). This is why privacy can be viewed as the biggest ethical issue regarding digital media through, social privacy issues and data privacy issues.