Facebook’s Private Policy vs. Personal Responsibility

Facebook is one of the most popular social networking sites today. It has over 400 million active users and a good majority of the users are students and Facebook has quickly become a key element in many students’ social lives.

They use Facebook as a means to share their lives with all their friends, such as posting pictures and comments so they can keep all their friends up-to-date with what they are doing– in all aspects of their life.  However, some students are ignorant to the legal ramifications of some of the things they post. Many students post pictures of themselves engaging in illegal activities because they think it’s a “cool picture”. While some write statuses and comments spelling out all the illicit shenanigans they are engaging in. Unfortunately, most of them are blissfully unaware that what they are posting is not only seen by their friends, but in fact, by someone they don’t even know.

That is because of some recent changes Facebook has made with its private policy, plus the fact that Facebook is essentially funded by third-party websites who in turn have access user profiles– even if they set their profiles to private.

Many students are unaware that future employers can now view their profiles without their permission, and if there happens to be any questionable content on said profiles, well, that student may end up missing out some employment opportunities; just because of a photo or a comment.

It’s important to raise awareness about what Facebook’s (and other social networking sites) private policy is so users can know that their information is not being sold to third parties and to keep their profiles as private as possible– whether they have incriminating pictures and comments or not.

Students need to become more informed with Facebook’s private policy and take into account that what they are posting can be viewed by third parties and future employers and they have to be cautious with what they post and become personally responsible for how their image appears on the web.

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http://ecreditdaily.com/2010/04/facebook-privacy-95-oppose-3rdparty-policy-poll/

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/ptech/04/01/facebook.developers.privacy/index.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/08/facebook-lawsuit-kid-sues_n_530710.html

http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/gigaom/big-tech/2010_04_06_facebook_users_still_confused_by_privacy_changes.html

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2009/10/29/1025211/hes-leading-facebook-revolt.html

http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=379388037130

Facebook Privacy Regulations

Through the last decade, Social Media has become a crucial tool for students at the University of Oregon. While students rely on Facebook, Twitter and other online services for communication and information, the line between what is public and private has become blurred. While there are still no strict rules and regulations on social media content, exposure of incriminating photos and text remains to be a problem for students seeking employment.

There have been many specific incidents regarding Facebook throughout the past year. Students who have set their privacy settings to keep photos and wall posts completely private have found that potential employers were still able to view the content. This raises the question – is Facebook allowing corporations to evade the privacy settings so that they may further evaluate job candidates? Are they doing this to continue to fund the growing social media empire? Are there any groups standing up for the privacy rights of students and other members of the Facebook community?

The Privacy Troupe is looking to answer these questions and explore how Facebook privacy regulations directly affect students at the University of Oregon.