Privacy Problems Part 3

Even though Facebook appears to have conducted the change to it's privacy settings in a bit of an underhanded way, at least we can appreciate that the internet is the biggest, and indeed the most profitable platform for making money today.

It was ironic then that on the 5^th of May, TechCrunch posted an article on how Facebook’s privacy options could be manipulated so you could see your friend’s chats. TechCrunch alerted the people at Facebook who promptly changed it so that by the time I tried it at around 2pm, chat was down and they had fixed it within a couple of hours.

Evolution of Privacy

Although this hole was not permanent, it did get me thinking about how privacy on the internet has evolved over the years. It is really only with the invention of web 2.0 where interactivity could be fully explored that privacy became an issue at all. But the evolution from web 1.0, to web 2.0 was not as closed as it sounds. The web is still evolving and before we’ve had a chance to think about it, web 3.0 will be upon us.

Back in the day before social networks were hot property, email was the most interactive you could get. Your web searches didn’t need to be private and static web pages couldn’t offer you the kind of computer mediated interaction that social networks now can. When Facebook arrived on the scene and opened its doors in 2006, it was as private as face-to-face communication; but this didn’t make Zuckerberg much money – in fact, Facebook was hemorrhaging money. The in 2009, Facebook reported its first positive cash flow.  


Bubbles of privacy

Interesting; in 2009 Facebook allowed the entire internet to see your name, picture, gender and networks.

This brings me to how we, as social networking users should see the web. If the internet were a glass of champagne, whatever we set as ‘private’ on our social networks should be seen as the bubbles; our emails and private chats (most of the time) are bubbles too. We have to create them ourselves bearing in mind that the internet is essentially a money-making platform and we are the unique selling point.

In the search for the next big money maker, developers will be looking to draw you in by promising privacy and an “emotional connection”, but it’s all about the profit. It's not all about Facebook though. Luckily, the company provided a wonderful case study of the ways in which your privacy can be experimented on for the sake of profit. 

Keep your bubbles safe! Reading the small print when you sign on to any social media is worth the ten minutes of exhausting legal jargon. The terms and conditions have to tell you, for instance whether the photographs you upload become legal property of the corporation and whether they can use your content for whatever they like. 

You can't argue unauthorised use if you haven't read the fine print, but if you can't see yourself doing so, then change all your settings to the maximum security. Also, avoid uploading any content which you feel you might want to use commercially in the future or might want to remove entirely at a later date.

The best way to protect yourself is to imagine that everything you put online is being broadcast to a potential audience of millions. Then think about who those millions  might be. If you don't mind them seeing your photos from your night out, then press 'upload'. 

Thanks to bb_matt for the wicked pick. Follow bb_matt's photostream at http://www.flickr.com/photos/bb_matt/