Social networking as an online area has raised fierce debate about privacy since users’ privacy is the key to guarantee safety. Facebook was one of the social networking sites that were very strict in the year 2005 regarding privacy issues. At that particular period, it did not allow anyone whatsoever to access some else profile and view their information without permission from the owner. As time went by Facebook started changing their rules. For instance, in the year 2006, they reinforced a new rule that was meant to prevent anyone no matter the part of the world one is form to access someone information. This rule, on the other hand, permitted only a few groups of people to access and view someone's information, particularly those from the same area as you. The change did not stop there since they again changed the policy the following year (Gross, & Acquisti, 2005). They made it easier for friends and the people in the group you belong can now access your personal information on the profile without any obstacles unless the user has changed the privacy on their settings. The free access power went on and on to a point where even non-Facebook users can easily access and use the information on someone else profile. This was in the year 2009, where they would search the information on the internet. Now the situation is worse for the users but profitable for the business and Mark Zuckerberg, who is only gaining profit at the expense of others.
Privacy policies should be an essential part of the networking sites and should be enhanced since they are essential to the uses. Social media users want to be sure of their safety when using these tools such as Facebook and others. Having all these facts about privacy policies in mind, this easy discusses some of the critical features of internet privacy as well as the politics that follow it. It will also analyze some of the tactics that are used by Mark Zuckerberg, who created Facebook on how he quietly changed the privacy policies.
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Personally, everybody is entitled to higher levels of privacy regarding their information no matter where they come from. The private policies should be equal to all users, and no one should benefit at the expense of others. The online site, as well as creators, should develop tactics that will emphasize the highest level of privacy protection for their users as possible (Barnes, 2006). I believe that social media users only sign up to reconnect and chat with their friends but not to have their information accessible and usable by the third party members. Someone with a creative mind to create Facebook should also have the same thought to develop privacy policies that will favor their users. The online creators should not assume privacy for their users to enjoy the vast profits they are getting out of that. For instance, when someone uses Google, for example, to search an item they want to buy, they will find that item being advertised in other sites search as Facebook. This means that they are tracking you, and that is an invasion of privacy.
The tactics that were being used by Zuckerberg before changing the terms and conditions that were original at the time of creation on Facebook use were both consultative and coalition. Zuckerberg, who is the creator of Facebook, incorporated a method of consultation through the usage of a place where users will share their ideas and thoughts to others. This method allowed the users of the particular tool to participate in debates that are related to the planning of the next action. The site was also able to use and incorporate coalition tactics (Madden, 2012). This meant that the creator, Zuckerberg was given the chance of using the feedback available on the site in helping him persuade others to support his decisions.
The definition of power can be seen as the ability to direct or influencing someone's behavior or a course of events to undertake a particular step or decision. I have a strong belief that the power belongs to the users and that they are the ones with power. It is clear that the power has been equally distributed among the various groups that are listed in the case study. Therefore this makes the users possess all the powers since they are the ones who have provided the jobs to the other groups. This means that the users employ the groups. In other words, the groups could not exist without the action of the users of posting their information on social networking sites. The fact that the user group is not well organized is the one that makes the powers of the user group to be very limited.
On the other hand, the social networking companies have the influence since they are the one that have the potential to access users (Madden, 2012 p8). The other group that has the power is the advertisement group since they provide funding section to the networking sites. In this kind of scenario presented in the case, technological companies have got less power since social media companies have already accomplished this task.
In conclusion, if given a chance to work with the Facebook creator Zuckerberg, his adviser, I would insist on internet privacy. This will be accomplished by providing an option for the users to be able to choose and give permission to the ones that they want the information to be accessed. This can either be their close friends or family members, but it will be their option to decide who views their profile (Barnes, 2006). This means that the power will be directed to the users. The other step that I would insist on is the identification details that include passport photos that match their identification cards when they are signing up for Facebook. This step will reduce the risk of signing terrorist and other militia groups that might use the information for bad intentions.
References
Gross, R., & Acquisti, A. (2005). Information revelation and privacy in online social networks (The Facebook case). ACM Workshop on Privacy in the Electronic Society (WPES). Retrieved on 17 May 2019, from https://www.heinz.cmu.edu/~acquisti/papers/privacy-facebook-gross-acquisti.pdf
Barnes, S. B. (2006). A privacy paradox: Social networking in the United States. F irst Monday, 11 (9-4).
Madden, M. (2012). Privacy management on social media sites. Pew Internet Report . Retrieved on 17 May 2019, from https://www.pewinternet.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/media/Files/Reports/2012/PIP_Privacy_management_on_social_media_sites_022412.pdf.
