Information Privacy Blog

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University of Nebraska, Omaha *

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Information Systems

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Oct 30, 2023

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Select one internet giant company (Google/Amazon/Facebook/Yelp/Twitter/Snapchat/Twitch etc). For this company:  Provide a detailed summary of key areas of their privacy policy  Include APA in-text citations from two authoritative articles (must be outside sources, dated within the last 5 years) that discuss how this company tracks and uses user information  Provide thorough discussion of two key pieces of information from outside articles that address how the company handles user information.  Include your opinion about one advantage and one disadvantage about how the company makes use of user information. Facebook is one of the greatest social media giants around right now, and one of the few social media sites I still actively use, so I was curious what, exactly, they do with information from users. Their privacy policy is highlighted on their website, letting users know what information is collected from users and how the website uses that data (Facebook, 2023). Not only does Facebook collect the personal information you provide upon signing up (full name, city, school, place of work, email address, etc.), but a plethora of other information: what ads you interact with and how you interact with them; whatever communities and other users you interact with; the device/software you access the site from; whether the app is running in the foreground or background of your device; GPS location and camera access when allowed; some information about your location even if Location Services is turned off on your device , such as your IP address which can provide your general location; and other apps you use or sites you visit on your device. Facebook claims to use the information to provide personalized experiences for every user, as well as improve their own products. Facebook uses the information they collect to decide what advertisements to show you as well as people you interact with. They might also use information from pages you have “liked” to recommend other pages you may be interested in. Facebook might also recommend a local business, artist, or activity based on interest in it from your friends. They collect information to improve their own products by getting feedback from users via surveys about their products which users might randomly be invited to participate in. Facebook uses location information (like your current city, or current location if you allow it to track that) to personalize recommendations like local businesses or local events. They may also access your location information to keep your account secure or trace suspicious activity on your account. They may also use information they’ve collected to conduct and support social research. This just scratches the surface of the many different ways Facebook can collect and use information about its users. An NBC News article also outlines the many times Facebook has been in hot water for privacy issues, and the way they responded to each from its creation in 2004 up to 2018 (Newcomb, 2018). Among the highlights are the December 2007 incident in which Facebook tracked purchases made by users and then alerted the user’s Facebook friends of the purchase without user knowledge or consent, a 2014 mood manipulation experiment done without user knowledge or consent, and a 2018 revelation that Facebook had known about a breach of user data and did nothing. The responses from the social media giant were the most surprising for me. Many times, they issue apologies without admitting the actions of their company were

wrong and often don’t hold themselves accountable by appealing court rulings against them. Having such huge influence over the social networking division of the web should inspire Facebook to set good examples of social networking sites protecting its users’ data and privacy, and so far, it just hasn’t done that. An article from the Washington Post, There’s No Escape from Facebook, Even if You Don’t use It explores privacy issues on Facebook, and how the site has partnered with other sites or convinced them to do the snooping for them (Fowler, 2021). According to the article, Facebook provides its partners with tracking software that they can ingrain into their own apps, websites, etc. Because the partners need the digital advertisement provided by Facebook has no choice, then, but to filter your data to Facebook. “Among the 100 most popular smartphone apps, you can find Facebook software in 61 of them, app research firm Sensor Tower told me. Facebook also has trackers in about 25 percent of websites, according to privacy software maker Ghostery.” (Fowler, 2021). Facebook responded to the author of the article when they inquired about how the tracking technology works, but declined the author an interview with chief privacy officers or etc. The biggest issue, according to the article, is Facebook’s failure to provide transparency about the many ways it might be tracking your data. Facebook has repeatedly stated that they use data only for advertising purposes, not to track people until 2014 when it announced it would allow advertisers to target users based on other visited sites. According to the author of this article, Facebook can get away with all the tracking they do because they do not have a competitive market. The next largest social media giant is Instagram, which is now owned by Facebook. In 2020, Facebook added a special section called “off Facebook activity” which allows users to see the last two years’ worth of surveillance done by Facebook. This is especially alarming to users who have an inactive Facebook account, as their data may still be tracked, and Facebook may even track data for users who have never had a Facebook account. In an email reply to a concerned mother inquiring about her 11-year-old son’s privacy, Facebook said: “When a person visits a site or app that uses one or more of these Facebook services, these sites and apps may send us information regardless of whether the person has a Facebook profile.” (Fowler, 2021). According to the article, there is little a person can do to stop Facebook from collecting data about you. Another article, How Facebook Secretly Collects Your Information Even if you Haven’t Signed Up examines how those who aren’t users of the social media giant could still be tracked by Facebook (Knutsson, 2023). Facebook has hidden accounts, called shadow profiles, which are created completely from gathered data. This means that even if you have never had a Facebook account, a friend who does use Facebook and has given the app access to their address book may have unknowingly given Facebook information about you. Shadow profiles are then made using this information (person’s name, email address, phone number, etc.) without the person’s knowledge or consent. The article then goes on to break down Facebook’s privacy policy, indicating that the three ways Facebook obtains information about users from other websites/apps are: providing their services to the website/app, improving safety/security on Facebook, and improving their own products/services, emphasizing that they never sell user data. The article also explains how you can remove your information from Facebook if you are either not a current user or have never been a user. It also outlines how to protect your own contact information if you are a current user of Facebook, as well as the way to toggle uploading contacts off.

After reading through all this information about how Facebook collects and uses data from users (and non-users, apparently) I am honestly shocked that some of these activities aren’t illegal. Facebook has had its own legal troubles throughout its lifetime and ordered to pay fines countless times by courts, with the social media giant ordered to pay $5 billion by federal courts for violating users’ privacy just last year. I find it unbelievable that Facebook would use address book contacts from users to create hidden profiles. While scouring articles about this fact, I could only find information about the fact that Facebook does this, but no explanation for why. I also found it extremely interesting and questionable that Facebook might track your location even if your device has location services turned off. The only instance I could see this being ethical is if someone was either breaking the law or in danger. Doctors, therapists, etc. have confidentiality when speaking with patients, and are only allowed to break that confidentiality if someone is a danger to themselves or others; I cannot see why we wouldn’t expect the same for social media, or anything else that might be tracking data. Transparency also seemed to be a huge issue when it comes to Facebook and privacy. They are notorious—especially in their early years—for making changes, using information, or conducting research without users. I went into my own Facebook settings after reading this article and discovered that I had been tagged with several ad-choices to be targeted at me—several of which I’d never even heard of. The app didn’t tell me why I was assigned any certain tags, and it was relatively difficult to navigate. When I looked at my Off-Facebook activity, I was again surprised to find tags for things I haven’t heard of. I am incredibly glad I chose Facebook as the company to explore (I almost went with Amazon) because I learned a ton and will be trying to investigate my own privacy settings more in depth after this! Obviously having targeted ads can be beneficial because you can see products similar to things you’ve recently purchased, or sometimes score a coupon code from a site you’ve recently purchased from. Clicking on ads will be tracked, feeding the algorithm further to your preferences. You can also get suggestions for people you might know. I remember when I started my job and many of my co-workers popped up in my own “People You May Know” section on my Facebook. It’s convenient, sure, but I also see my high-school ex-boyfriend on there at least once a week, and that can be annoying. The biggest disadvantage in all of this, to me, is the lack of transparency. People deserve to know how their information is going to be used and there should be more restrictions on data privacy, which I believe will come in the future. I don’t see any reason Facebook needs to create hidden profiles for users that don’t want to use the site. I also think they should set a better example for the protection of user information. Using peoples’ information or manipulating peoples’ News Feeds for experiments without their knowledge or consent is extremely unethical and I think the company should strive to do much better in the future.

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References Facebook. (2023). Privacy policy . https://www.facebook.com/privacy/policy/ Fowler, G. A. (2021). There’s no escape from Facebook, even if you don’t use it . Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/08/29/facebook-privacy-monopoly/ Knutsson, K. (2023). How Facebook secretly collects your information even if you haven’t signed up . FoxNews. https://www.foxnews.com/tech/how-facebook-secretly-collects-information-you- havent-signed-up Newcomb, A. (2018). A timeline of Facebook’s privacy issues – and its responses . NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-media/timeline-facebook-s-privacy-issues-its-responses- n859651