Social networks have changed the way people interact and communicate worldwide. Today, the rise of social media platforms like Facebook has led to more user exposure. For instance, during signing up of the account, individuals are required to provide essential information like their name, date of birth, and other information like their phone number. It is the responsibility of the company to protect users’ information from misuse. In case of sharing such information, users should be informed to give permission.
Law protects users, and in case of such incidences of misuse of information, they have the right to sue the entity. According to the article, the Australian Facebook users are suing the company because it utilized the information for a purpose other than the intended hence breaching Australia's Privacy Act of 1988 (Lomas, 2020). This sharing of information has put the users at risk of being disclosed to other entities like Cambridge Analytical and use it for analysis without the consent of the owner.
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According to the three key aspects of privacy, internet users have freedom from any form of intrusion, the right to control their personal information, and freedom from being monitored ( Haas et al., 2011) . Confidentiality refers to having control over how one’s personal information is collected and used. In relation to the topic of information misuse, the privacy of Facebook users in the case was improved. The company's actions interfered with the users’ freedom to control information about themselves.
Usually, companies argue that they share information to build their profile by pushing the products and services. Often, large companies are always willing to pay a large amount of money to obtain data. In my opinion, companies should try their best to contact their users whenever they want to share information. They should also ensure that they understand how the company intends to use it and how it is likely to benefit them.
References
Haas, S., Wohlgemuth, S., Echizen, I., Sonehara, N., & Müller, G. (2011). Aspects of privacy for electronic health records. International journal of medical informatics , 80 (2), e26-e31.
Lomas, N. (2020). Australia sues Facebook over Cambridge Analytica, and fine could scale to $529BN. Tech Crunch. https://techcrunch.com/2020/03/09/australia-sues-facebook-over-cambridge-analytica-fine-could-scale-to-529bn/
