Facebook is considered to be a website that allows people to connect with one another without picking up the telephone or texting them. To many this is a harmless website to keep in touch with friends that they were once close with, and have now drifted away from. Or possibly even a family member who lives across the country and plans to come home for the upcoming holidays. But with these harmless connections, Facebook comes with some serious potential dangers that the website does not clearly announce when registering to become a member.
Facebook asks for the following when signing up to become a member: name, email, generate a password, birthday, and gender. None of this information is verified and Facebook takes the future members word for it, and allows them to gain access to the website as long as their email has not already been taken. Underneath the registration process in very small print users are requested to view the “Terms” and “Data Use Policy”. The website does not require a user to even click on the links to proceed with registration, which means a user has the option to bypass the useful information all together. Inside these “terms” Facebook states “We do our best to keep Facebook safe, but we cannot guarantee it” (Facebook). By posting the Terms and Data Use Policy, Facebook is taking absolutely no legal responsibility for what happens on its website.
Due to Facebook not verifying every single one of its members the danger of a sexual predator is not that uncommon on this type of social networking website. Young children that pretend that they are at least thirteen years of age could end up being a victim of a sexual predator due to “not knowing any better”. Also the parents who allow their children to obtain...
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...ge of, Is Facebook really worth keeping in touch with family and friends when it may be safer to just call them in the first place.
Work Cited
“Cybercriminals Use Personal Information on Social Networking Websites to Commit Crimes.” Cybercrime. Ed. Louise I. Gerdes. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2013. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. From “Online Exposure: Social Netowrks, Mobile Phones, and Scams Can Threaten Your Security.” Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web 14 Nov. 2013.
“Facebook quietly unveils ‘stalking app’.” CNN Wire 26 June 2012. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.
Foxman, Abraham, Cyndi Silverman, and John Kreiser. Are Social Networking Sites Harmful? Ed. Stefan Kiesbye. Detroit: Greenhaven, 2011. Print. National Center for Victims of Crime.
"Welcome to Facebook - Log In, Sign Up or Learn More." Facebook. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Nov. 2013.
Who would have thought that in a few years facebook will become the main social meeting place for millions of people around the world? Facebook, is a social phenomenon with a dimensionless scale effects both positive and negative. Facebook has also generated interest among scholars and researchers who study its effects on the different layers of our life. As many studies suggested and my own life experience, Facebook can have some negative impact on romantic relationships, self-esteem, identity theft and other dangers to safety that result from an invasion of privacy. There are ways to minimize these negative outcomes, which we should be aware of.
Facebook collects a lot of information, which the users share, and the way it has used and protected this information has come under scrutiny quite a few times in the past. The purpose of this report was to find the ways in which the information is shared on the website and the control the user has over how the information is shared. Most of the data in this report was collected from Facebook’s official data use policy.
Social networking is relatively new in the technology world. It was introduced in 1997 and several popular sites are: MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter. These sites have attracted millions of users, many of whom have incorporated these sites into their daily practices (Boyd). Of these millions of users, the heaviest are young people. One study suggests that 81 percent of teenagers from the ages of 12-17 use social networking sites (Sterling). These sites allow users to express themselves through a personal profile. Once a profile is created, the user can then make cyber friends. These friends are other users who can now access the original user’s profile information, which in turn, could have negative results. However, many people find these sites to be extremely useful. From showcasing one’s interests to connecting with friends and family, social networking sites are a great way to communicate. Even people who are normally shy in person are able to comfortabl...
YouTube, a video sharing site, contained one billion monthly users, Instagram shared 600 million monthly visitors, and Twitter with 313 million monthly users (“Social Media”). Overall, Facebook remained the largest online social network, with about 1.86 billion active users worldwide (“Social Media”). The immense number of social media users is overwhelming.Though social media can be used positively by connecting friends and families around the world, it also comes with drastic consequences and dangers. With the amount of information that can be shared online, criminals can easily use this to target specific people, and can also use the information for identity theft (“Social Media”). Many networking shows have introduced the growing issue with a pedophilia and how social media can enable acts of violence against children, and not only that, but the new, easier accessibility to child pornography online (“Social Media”). Relationships between a pedophile and an underage person can easily be formed behind screens, as these attackers can be manipulative and often lie about their identity and
James, B. Stewart. “Facebook Has Fifty Minutes of Your Time Each Day. It Wants More.” The New York Times,
Originally, Facebook was started in 2003 by a man named Mark Zuckerburg in his college dorm room at Harvard University. It began as a social network for Harvard students and then quickly expanded to universities across America. Facebook as we know it today started in the year 2004 and now does not only include college students but ages ranging from teens to middle-aged individuals. The social network site has quickly developed into one of the most trafficked networking websites which runs thousands of databases. By building a network that has spread across various countries, Facebook has successfully created a form of technology that allows people to connect with friends across the seas with different cultures.
Generally, social networking provides online sexual predators with an easy gateway to youths. Users of online social media services tend to share copious amounts of personal information on online profiles, these same users control who can or cannot see their information by utilizing privacy settings. The problem with these “privacy settings” is that they are often hard to manipulate, leaving a multitude of online profiles vulnerable to often explicit offers from online sexual predators. Lacking the ability to protect their information properly, users are in jeopardy of being contacted by sexual predators. In fact, “[d]uring the years prior to the explosive expansion of social networks, most online sexual predators attempted to contact youths through chat rooms and message boards. In recent years, however, predators are increasingly targeting minors over social networking services”, showing that social networking directly puts youths in peril (Guo, 626). This sheds light on the fact that social networking is basically a way to herd youths and display them ...
The 21st century has brought a lot of modern ideas, innovations, and technology. One of these is social media. The invention of Facebook has completely changed the way we communicate with one another. Instant messaging, photo sharing, and joining online groups have created a way for families and friends to connect. Some argue that Facebook is the greatest invention however, while it is seemingly harmless, Facebook has created an invasion of privacy. The accessibility of Facebook and its widespread use has created privacy problems for users, teens, and interviewees by allowing easy control to viewers.
Facebook is the perfect social networking site. It connects you with people from all around the world. Family and friends can use it to keep in touch and share with each other. But now, it has become a dark place full of things that seem fake but are all too real.
Facebook had originally advocated for privacy, claiming that they wanted as much information as possible private, in order for people to share more information (Kirkpatrick, 2009). However, in the past year or so, Facebook has changed its privacy policies, making information more public, and making it impossible to change some of that into more private information. However Mark Zuckerberg has made a U-turn regarding privacy, claiming that people now want to share more information and that society is changing and these new policies are a reflection of that change (Kirkpatrick, 2010). However given that Facebook has so many users, and it has such an impact on our society, they are more than mere bystanders, they are not reflecting a social change but rather imposing it (Kirkpatrick , 2009). This privacy change affects many since their information is now available to anyone who wants it as opposed to just a small circle of trusted friends, this leaves a window open for people like stalkers (Singel, 2009) who can find out all about a person, or to theft, since a lot of a person’s personal information can be accessed, personalized scams would be easier to pull off.
Facebook, being the world’s largest social networking site, it is in a danger zone. The privacy and security is biggest issue. Sharing personal information on Facebook is very danger as third parties are seeking information. Third parties collect the data from Facebook, which could easily lead to cybercrime. Users are not confident on sharing information and contents on Facebook. Facebook is required to spread the privacy and security awareness to the world. It should conduct the privacy programs to protect its users from being victim of cybercrime. Facebook information can be used for various purposes such as identity theft, advertisement or other negative intention. Facebook user should be connected real life identities only. User shouldn’t accept or send friend request to the unknown users.
In Betty White’s opening monologue to Saturday Night Live, she said, “I didn’t know what Facebook was, and now that I do know what it is, I have to say, it sounds like a huge waste of time. I would never say the people on it are losers, but that’s only because I’m polite.” Originally intended for the use of students at Harvard University in 2004, Facebook grew exponentially to be an online phenomenon in the years following. In 2006, it became accessible to anyone and everyone with internet connection. Aside from the advantages that give the site its popularity, creating a profile comes with a number of significant disadvantages inherit to online social networks. What do more than 500 million active users use their Facebook for? Communicating with long distance friends and spreading awareness of causes are common responses. Unfortunately, Facebook has it flaws, from limiting the privacy of relationships to creating a form of almost unmanageable bullying, making one reconsider their involvement and think, “do I really want my Facebook account?”
The growing popularity of information technologies has significantly altered our world, and in particular, the way people interact. Social networking websites are becoming one of the primary forms of communication used by people of all ages and backgrounds. No doubt, we have seen numerous benefits from the impact of social media communication: We can easily meet and stay in touch with people, promote ourselves, and readily find information. However, these changes prompt us to consider how our moral and political values can be threatened. One common fear among users is that their privacy will be violated on the web. In her book, Privacy in Context, Helen Nissenbaum suggests a framework for understanding privacy concerns online. She focuses particularly on monitoring and tracking, and how four “pivotal transformations” caused by technology can endanger the privacy of our personal information. One website that may pose such a threat is Facebook.
The first aspect being addressed is the problem with social network sites exposing information. Social networking has created an environment where it is nearly a duty to expose oneself. Profiles on these social websites are updated everyday with personal information such as locations, status, and future plans. Anyone can search another’s name and find information about their history, pictures, and activity. With the help of social networking sites...
The popular site, Facebook.com, has amassed more than one billion registrants since it started in February 2004. It is another social networking site, just like MySpace.com and Xanga.com, which is common to High School and College students. But this is no ordinary site; people’s lives literally revolve around Facebook. I have a Facebook account and log in at least once a day. I personally believe that Facebook is a fun and interactive site. However, some students may not feel that same way because they have encountered some negative aspects, aside from Facebook’s legal problems.