How Social Media and Internet Violates Privacy - Annotated Bibliography Example

Social Media and Privacy Violations This paper is a combination of a five-source annotated bibliography and interview responses from Respondents A and B relating to subject of social media violation of privacies. Respondents A and B are experts in the field of communication, technology, and torts arising from privacy-related matters. The interviews involved open-ended questions about social networking and violations of privacies. Al-Deen, Hana, N. Social Media: Usage and Impact. New York: Lexington Books, 2011. Al-Deen (8) explored the levels of risk to individual privacy and the growing attachment of populations to social media. The study focused on the limitations of mechanisms established to ensure privacy and the manner in which groups and individuals expose themselves to the risk of privacy violations. Essentially, the central arguments of the study was built on the realization that social media such as Tweeter does not have sufficient safeguards that could protect users against privacy issues. The study examined incidences of privacy violations and the attendant issues that affect concerns and issues of privacy. Some of the issues involved include relate to cases where confidential information leaked from Tweeter accounts that had been protected by the system safeguards. Further, the study trains sufficient focus on the challenges involved in prosecuting privacy violation cases. Some of the challenges relate to the problematic issue of defining privacy and the establishment of thresholds necessary for determining privacy concerns. This resource is important in the understanding of matters of individual privacies because they engage closely with some of the central concerns of the study. The ideas and issues explored in this study are consistent with the responses obtained from field interviews from communication and legal experts. The information was corroborated with the opinions and an insight sourced from Respondent A. Respondent A is a legal practitioner with six years of experience in handling internet privacy related cases. The expert’s contention was that social media technology has evolved at a much faster pace as compared to the developments in the legal field. The structure of the law was not designed in anticipation of the nature of legal challenges that have followed the use of social media. The legal framework has remained largely rigid whereas the social media continues to grow in complexity over the times. As such, Respondent A observes that many legal structures as presently constituted lack the necessary details that could be used to engage matters of privacy violations. Zelezny, John, D. Communications Law: Liberties, Restraints, and the Modern Media. London: Cengage Learning, 2010. This book examined the privacy concerns in the social media from the perspective of communications law. The study focusses on the balance between matters of liberties in communication and the restraints involved. The author attempts to explore the problematic question of safeguarding liberties versus the right of access to information. Public interests versus individual privacies are some of the matters that engage meaningfully with issues of general interest. It is important to consider the fact that most of issues that relate to private matters often coalesce around the subject of safeguarding individual privacies within the context of public interests. It is important to determine the question of privacies from the dimension of a range of issues that regulate the discourse of communication. This book gives sufficient focus on the changes that have taken shape in the modern media and their corresponding impacts on the ethics of communication. The book is an important resource of establishing the challenges brought about by the social media within the context of communication. The arguments explored in this book are consistent with the views and opinions expressed by Respondent B on the matter of communication freedom. From this perspective, it might be necessary to appraise the value of the book in terms of its usefulness in establishing certain positions of fact as understood from the point of view of the study. It is necessary to consider the fact that the fundamental issues on communication have been captured from the ethical, legal, and moral dimensions. Leah, Yamshon. Mobile Apps Can Compromise Your Privacy. PC World. 2010. 28 (5). 41-42. This article focusses on the privacy and security concerns of social networking from a criminal point of view. The author brings forth multiple security threats that relate to the poor safeguards on the users security. The author identifies stalking and endangerments of minors as some of the criminal issues that have increased following the growth of social media usage in many parts of the world. The increasing sophistication of communication tools such as smart phones have increased the usage of social media by people of various demographic qualities hence leading to significant challenges by social media users. It would be important to consider the effects of social media usage from the perspective of some cybercrime and banking fraud, which have also developed within the context of social networking. This article corresponds with the opinions expressed by Respondent B who argued that social communication technologies have increased the vulnerability of minors to pedophiles, human traffickers, and other criminal elements. According to the respondent, some of the issues of privacy are caused by the fact that many societies lack workable regulatory mechanisms that could shield vulnerable individuals and groups from the perils of communication. It might be necessary to consider the issues that appertain to communication within the broad network of policy and technological advancement. The views expressed by Respondent B are important pointers to the fact that a majority of violations of privacy are not covered in the legal structures hence leading to technical challenges in safeguarding liberties and privacies of users. Zansberg, Steven, D, and Fischer, Janna, K. Privacy Expectations in Online Social Media- An Emerging Generational Divide? Communications Lawyer: Publication of the Forum Committee on Communications Law, American Bar Association. 2011, 28 (3). 26-33. Zabsberg and Fischer (26-33), examined the legal obstacles that limit any action on wrongful use of social media. The authors sought to bring out some specific challenges that refrain governments from reigning in on individuals who use social media in ways that are inimical to the interests of other parties. In this regard, it becomes important to consider the fact that some of the issues that concern matters of privacy have to be understood from the perspective of private actions versus the legal and constitutional protection of the actors and those affected. This article projects important insights into the issue of privacy by exposing the constitutional challenges that indirectly impinge on the powers of the state to act in decisive ways in protecting the privacy of social media users and punishing offenders. Respondent A argued that fragmented approaches of handling internet security concerns have made it difficult for law enforcers to shield social network users against the growing trend of internet abuse. O’Brien, Dierdre and Torres, Ann, M. Social Networking and Online Privacy: Facebook Users’ Perceptions. Irish Journal of Management. 2012. 31 (2). O’Brien and Torres explored the various ways in which Facebook usage contributes to the privacy threats. The study examined various features on Facebook in terms of their levels of efficiency in shielding users information from adverse exposure. The study also sought to examine some of the common shortcomings of Facebook users, which contribute to increased vulnerability to privacy violations. Some Facebook users provide sensitive information on Facebook profiles without regard to the possibility of hacking and technical compromises on the question of security. The study explored a range of opinions and perceptions of Facebook regarding the nature of usage of the internet resource. The opinions expressed in this study could be understood in terms of the manner in which they affect and are in-turn affected by various discourses that relate to virtual communication. Some of the issues that attend to the discourses of communication are necessarily affected by a range of concerns that involve the regulation of security concerns of the users. The opinions expressed by the authors on the question of privacy and social media could be associated with the views expressed by Respondent A, who argued that Facebook security features are not sufficient safeguards due to the high levels of connectivity between the users and the growing sophistication of hacking technologies. The opinions expressed by the respondents could be reduced into some major themes that are concerned with the issues of technological advancement, legal challenges involved, and some of the common mistakes that expose users to adverse disclosure of private and confidential information. Works Cited Al-Deen, Hana, N. Social Media: Usage and Impact. New York: Lexington Books, 2011. Leah, Yamshon. Mobile Apps Can Compromise Your Privacy. PC World. 2010. 28 (5). 41-42. O’Brien, Dierdre and Torres, Ann, M. Social Networking and Online Privacy: Facebook Users’ Perceptions. Irish Journal of Management. 2012. 31 (2). Zansberg, Steven, D, and Fischer, Janna, K. Privacy Expectations in Online Social Media- An Emerging Generational Divide? Communications Lawyer: Publication of the Forum Committee on Communications Law, American Bar Association. 2011, 28 (3). 26-33. Zelezny, John, D. Communications Law: Liberties, Restraints, and the Modern Media. London: Cengage Learning, 2010. Read More