Facebook Privacy: There is No Privacy (Page 192)

4-13 Perform an ethical analysis of Facebook, what is the ethical dilemma presented by this case? 

• Facebook serve the connection between all people around the world and Facebook wants more money and have many user’s.Facebook have more user’s privacy data and more Facebook knows about you it make Facebook serve more relevant advertisement that they are giving users data to the company as their research for the advertisement. Because the main revenue for Facebook it’s from advertisement.

• And Facebook servers would keep user information permanently whenever the user has deleted their account.The people or stakeholders involved in the ethical analysis of Facebook including the advertisers, data collection agencies, Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), individual users who uses Facebook and obviously Facebook itself.

• Facebook functions by collecting incredible amount of personal data from its users. By using all the personal data, Facebook is able to track the online activity of the users and so they could target their preferences and give them what they want to see online and it improve the quality and the accuracy of the advertisement to the correct group of person. However, Facebook gathers personal information about users, both with and without their consent, which can be used against them in other ways. Facebook’s goal is to get the users to share their information and data about what they like and what they do not like, so from the online activities of the users, they can serve more relevant advertisements and it helps the advertisers a lot, and at the same time Facebook can charge higher fees to the advertisers. Collecting personal data can be positive when it is providing advantages for the users to save time on searching for what they want as the suitable advertisement will popped up before they search for it, it can be one of the most effective way to build up the reputation of the business and attract more users. Nevertheless, collecting data without consent can be bad as well and it may bring trouble to the business if the user decided to sue them.

4-14 What is the relationship of privacy to facebook business model?

The relation between user’s privacy and Facebook business model is important because advertising is the mainly revenue of Facebook. 70% of its five million users log in every day and they all between 18 and 24 that advertisers want to collaborate with Facebook to make profits for both.

Talking privacy to Facebook is a bit ironic. Facebook’s entire business model is based on aggregation and sharing user information. They give people a free social media platform to use and in turn sell advertising and insights based on what they learn about user. Facebook has massive capabilities to collect, store and analyze data. This allows Facebook to sell very targeted advertising. Therefore, privacy is the Facebook business model.

4-15 Describe the weaknesses of Facebook’s privacy policies and features. What management,organization and technology factors have contributed to those weaknesses?

The weakness behind Facebook’s privacy issues was a lack of communication between Facebook and its users. Users were not aware that they were able to control what information was being shared with external parties. the introduction of the “news feed” was met with opposition from users because they felt it was too invasive. Instead of only sharing status updates the news feed shared additional information such as profile updates, adding new friends, and adding new applications. Incorrectly handling user information when deleting their accounts also caused a backlash for Facebook. Facebook servers would keep user information permanently, with the reasoning that it would be easier for the users to reactivate their accounts if they chose to.

Management:

Facebook assumed it had the consent of users to share information about them that it collected through the Beacon advertising service if they did not use the opt-out feature. Facebook changed Beacon to be an “opt-in” service and gave users the ability to disable it completely. The company utterly failed to grasp the extent to which the service violated its users’ privacy as well as the uproar such a service was likely to cause. The same thing occurred when Facebook introduced its News Feed feature.

Organization:

The personal information collected on the site represents a mother lode to advertisers, but one that will remain largely untapped if Facebook users do not feel comfortable enough or have sufficient incentive to share it. Users that attempted to delete their accounts were met with resistance and often required outside assistance from watchdog groups.

Technology:

Privacy and user controls over the information granted to Facebook are the biggest concerns most users have with the site. Facebook grossly miscalculated user privacy demands when it launched the company’s Beacon advertising service because it shared information about users that they had not explicitly intended or agreed to share. The service originally began as an “opt-out” feature. Even after users opted-out, the service continued to send information to Facebook regardless of whether or not the user was logged into Facebook at the time. The company’s servers maintain copies of information indefinitely in accounts that have been deactivated.

4-16 Will facebook be able to have a successful business model without invading privacy?Explain your answer.

Yes, Facebook may be able to have a successful business model without invading privacy. Facebook is depending on collecting the personal information about its users and sell it to the advertisers; this business might be hard to survive if they stop this function. Therefore, what they can do now is to improve the function but not eliminate it. Facebook could try to make up some of the lost revenue by charging users a premium fee for the company to not collect as much information and restore a higher level of privacy to those who are willing to pay for it.Facebook can also allow users to view all the data it collects on them and allow users to delete information that the users deem necessary. So if Facebook continues to wish to use the information that people post on their accounts a clear distinction must be made to the users about what they are using the information for and what information they will  be using in order to reduce the legal risks and solidify the legality of their advertising.