Privacy Violation on Social Media Network and Internet - Essay Example

Content sharing services have made social networking sites popular.  Followers of social media view their profile as an indicator of their social status and self-expression. It has commercial values also as many companies are using networking as a platform for promoting their business.

Users of network sites disclose their full information on their profile as “a matter of self-expression” by avoiding the choice of access restriction for social sites (Privacy Right Clearinghouse: Fact Sheet 35). To ally the fear of privacy violation, most of the social networking sites impose users with access control settings to place restrictions on who may access and view personal information in the profile. However, it is quite common that many of the users are not aware of the dangers of risk to privacy.

When people post personal information on their profiles, they probably expect certain “authorized person only be able to view and access information” (Privacy Right Clearinghouse: Fact Sheet 35). However, it may be visible to third parties also. Advertisers, who need user’s personal information in order to draft behavioral advertising on the social network page may be one such party. Third-party software developers also need personal information to develop personalized application software like games and appearances. In addition, anti-social elements collect “information for illegal purposes” including identity thieves and other online criminals such as people planning scams or harassing individuals by hacking, phishing, cyberstalking, morphing, etc, or infect computers with malware (Privacy Right Clearinghouse: Fact Sheet 35).

The third-party application seems to be the “major source of privacy” violation in the context of social networking (Privacy Right Clearinghouse: Fact Sheet 35). Other third-party applications include programs that interact with a social network without actually being part of such networks. The common forms of third-party application are Games, Online polls, etc. As a measure of making network platforms more attractive, social networking sites accommodate such third parties within their space. This makes the social networks more attractive to such users by facilitating the development of new and creative methods of interacting with contacts and the network.

To make applications effective and attractive, social networks also facilitate “automatic access” to public information to the developers (Privacy Right Clearinghouse: Fact Sheet 35). In addition to public information, there may be a chance of accessing some private information by third parties. A user may grant another person access to his or her profile “without realizing” the extent of its implications (Privacy Right Clearinghouse: Fact Sheet 35). Some users may also assume that third parties uphold the same standards as primary users.

This may result in the following implications:

• Sometimes the social network’s privacy policy may not “cover” third parties (Privacy Right Clearinghouse. Fact Sheet 35).
• Third-party sites may not be “guaranteed to be secure” (Privacy Right Clearinghouse. Fact Sheet 35).
• Most social “networks do not take responsibility” for third-party applications (Privacy Right Clearinghouse. Fact Sheet 35).
• They may gain access to more information than is necessary “to perform their functions” (Privacy Right Clearinghouse. Fact Sheet 35).  
• Sometimes applications are “designed only to gather information” about users (Privacy Right Clearinghouse. Fact Sheet 35).
• Some sources may contain malware “designed to attack” (Privacy Right Clearinghouse. Fact Sheet 35) the user’s network account and computer.
• It is also possible that some third-party developers may “report users’ actions back” to networking sites (Privacy Right Clearinghouse. Fact Sheet 35).
• A social network may enter into “agreements with certain websites” and applications that allow them access to information of all users (Privacy Right Clearinghouse. Fact Sheet 35).