This paper examines the privacy and security challenges posed by Facebook, one of the world's largest social networking platforms. It explores how personal data shared on Facebook exposes users—especially children—to risks including identity theft, fake accounts, defamation, malware, and financial fraud. The paper also addresses the tension between internet censorship and freedom of speech, the difficulty of managing multiple friendship tiers, and the persistence of posted content. Drawing on educator, legal, and technology sources, the paper concludes with concrete recommendations for parents, adult users, and Facebook itself to improve security and protect user privacy without eliminating the platform's social benefits.
We live in a time of constant influx of new ideas and concepts, made all the more rapid and impressive by advances in information technology. One area where the impact of technological invention has had unexpected and concerning effects is social networking sites. There are many wonderful advantages and benefits of social networking sites. They provide a great portal for people to communicate with one another, plan events and parties, and reconnect with old friends. However, there are also many potential problems. First, they can limit communication, since so much of human interaction is non-verbal. Second, they can lead people to spend all of their time in a virtual world instead of engaging with real people to accomplish real work.
These problems are minor, however, compared with two major concerns: privacy and security. No two issues cause greater concern and consternation than the lack of privacy and the lack of security. The question remains: "How can people achieve a high degree of privacy and security while also maintaining an enjoyable social networking experience?" The answer to this question is the subject of this paper. This paper discusses the critical issues of privacy and security on the social networking platform Facebook, and then examines ways for internet users to keep those concerns under control.
Privacy is an important issue to almost everyone, and specifically the privacy of children, family, and other personal matters. However, sites such as Facebook limit the level of privacy available to users due to the fundamental structure of social networking. For instance, many people do not want pictures of their children distributed widely on the internet for anyone to see, and almost no one wants pictures of their children paired with a corresponding city or place of residence. Such a situation is a nightmare to many parents who desire protection for their children. Yet it is worth noting that many parents allow this to happen constantly without even realizing it — and in fact, they are often the cause of the very situation they consider so dangerous. The reason is simple: parents post pictures of their own children on social networking sites where many people can see them. By tracing the location of the parent who posted the pictures, others on the internet can discover exactly where children are located.
This is just one example of the many ways social networking sites have created serious concerns about the privacy and safety of families. Because of this concern, many people want greater restrictions on social networking sites and better mechanisms for maintaining privacy. On the other hand, there are people who worry that censoring the web will create a whole new set of problems. Specifically, they raise the concern that censorship will limit freedom of speech and freedom of the press — both of which are important principles in democratic societies. Those concerned about internet censorship also argue that censorship laws requested by parents are hypocritical: if parents want the internet censored, it is inconsistent to post pictures of their children on social networking sites themselves.
Therefore, many people believe the double standard — rather than internet censorship — is the real problem. If parents were more careful and controlled what they made visible online, they could better protect the safety of their children. Flint (2009) captures this tension well: "If I choose to have a Facebook page on which I publish my name, address, bank details, PIN, mother's maiden name and the like, should Facebook have any responsibility to protect the integrity of that information from abuse?" (p. 8). In essence, how can we reconcile privacy with freedom of speech by demanding that Facebook solve the issue, and is it fair to ask Facebook to protect us from our own choices?
Others argue that social networking sites still bear significant responsibility for the safety of what they display, pointing to the alarming number of children and young people who use Facebook. Fodeman (2009) notes that an estimated 60–70% of seventh graders have a Facebook account, with the number even higher among eighth graders, and a growing number of fourth graders also maintaining accounts. It is a very difficult task to explain to young children the privacy concerns that accompany posting content online. Fodeman (2009) also documents the damage caused when young people do not realize how accessible their content actually is:
"Students and their families have been sued for slander and defamation of character. Students and their parents have been arrested. All because of the content they have posted in their 'private' social network accounts. People are trolling their accounts. Hackers, scammers, reporters, police, high school and college admissions officers, employers, parents, and summer camp directors.... Adults ARE looking and the kids do not get it!"
Because of the trusting, naïve nature of children and teens, there are literally thousands of scams on Facebook alone aimed directly at exploiting young people. Third-party apps, for instance, are so common and appear so innocent to children that they often perceive no danger. However, these apps are a haven for adware and spyware, and frequently result in serious problems. In addition, teens accepting Facebook friend requests from strangers is a major issue. Research indicates that somewhere between 47% and 87% of teens will accept friend requests from total strangers — a deeply troubling proposition for parents trying to maintain the safety of their children (Fodeman, 2009).
One of the major factors affecting privacy on Facebook is the existence of many different levels of friendship. A friend could be an "acquaintance" — someone you have just met or almost never see — a "casual friend" whom you see on a semi-regular basis, or a "close friend" whom you know very well and welcome into your home without hesitation. The difficulty arises because Facebook makes it very hard to keep people compartmentalized within their respective friendship tiers. For instance, an individual might not mind at all if close friends see a picture of them at a party, but may strongly object to a relative or a prospective employer seeing the same image. On a platform such as Facebook — which is also connected to professional tools like LinkedIn — it is difficult to keep different levels of friendship separate. As a result, very private information intended only for close friends can end up posted online for all to see, often impossible to erase from the permanent record of online data.
A recent controversy surrounding Facebook concerns just how private photos and accounts truly are. Many users have claimed that, by following certain steps, it is possible to view photographs marked as private by bypassing Facebook's security measures. Although Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has staunchly defended his platform's privacy protections, in December 2011 individuals following instructions posted online were able to retrieve private pictures from Zuckerberg's own Facebook account — including photos of him holding a dead chicken, eating chicken, and with his girlfriend (Kennedy, 2011). This incident cast further doubt on the reliability of Facebook's security.
The persistence of posted content compounds these concerns. Whatever people post on Facebook can be stored indefinitely, making anything ever placed on the site potentially subject to reappearing later in life. Even after an individual closes their account, Facebook may retain all stored information. This issue has become so prominent that, according to the Telegraph article "Barack Obama Warns US Teenagers of the Dangers of Facebook" (2009), even the President of the United States weighed in, stating: "I want everybody here to be careful about what you post on Facebook, because in the YouTube age, whatever you do, it will be pulled up again later somewhere in your life."
Another important and closely related issue is security. Everyone agrees that security matters, but few people realize how vulnerable they are to online threats. Facebook is a prime example of something that may appear secure from the outside but is not as safe as it seems.
Consider first the issue of identity theft. Although we often think of identity theft in terms of stolen financial information, another form is becoming increasingly common on Facebook. Because anyone can create a Facebook account with only an email address, people sometimes create accounts impersonating others — a practice that constitutes a form of identity theft. As a result, a user may befriend someone they believe is a real-life acquaintance, when in reality that person is a stranger, who then gains access to all manner of private information shared by the user and their mutual connections.
"Difficulty separating friend levels and erasing data"
"Fake accounts, hacking, and financial scam cases"
"Practical steps to improve safety for all stakeholders"
Mamoun, Fred. (2010, July 7). Facebook identity theft scam. Retrieved December 14, 2011, from http://www.nbclosangeles.com
Sullivan, Bob. (2009, January 30). Facebook ID theft targets 'friends.' Retrieved December 14, 2011, from
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