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Privacy on

Facebook: Truth or
Illusion

Research by Zeina Moussa Sheet


Student ID: 10115282
Al Maaref University
Submitted to Mrs. Marwa Osman
By 18 January 2017
Course: JDM 220 Reporting Practices
Abstract
As Social Media sites are becoming more advanced, many consequences are threatening us.
Not always what seem good for you is really good! This content analysis research is done to see
if there is privacy on a social media networking site, which is the Facebook. I found out that
there is privacy somehow, but according to a certain perspective. That is to say, the privacy is
from whom? Well, you are going to find out by the end of the research.

Introduction
We are in the era where everything is about digital media. From the 5 year-old child to the
6o year-old grandpa, they all can’t live without social media with all its sites like Facebook,
Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn and many other. Social media is becoming an essential
part in our lives and most frequently Facebook. Facebook has become the top social networking
site. With it offering amazing facilities for all of its users, Facebook is now “the King of Social
Media” according to the Top Ten Review Staff.
But, besides that, the users have a big concern with the increasing approach on Facebook which
is the issue of “Privacy”. Now
first, what is Privacy?
“Privacy concerns with social
networking services is a subset of
data privacy, involving the right
of mandating personal privacy
concerning storing, re-purposing,
provision to third parties, and
displaying of information
pertaining to oneself via the
Internet. ... It made it easier for
people to lose their privacy.”-
Wikipedia
It is a human right to secure his
privacy that includes his personal
information that he doesn’t want
to share with others. So the Facebook users concerns here is that:” Is there really Privacy on
Facebook or it is just an Illusion created by the Big Heads??
Literature Review:
Before we start our discussion, let us know more about Facebook. If you are reading this
research and you don’t know what Facebook is, then I am sorry to tell you that you shouldn’t be
here! “Even my grandma has a Facebook account”. It is impossible that nowadays, I will not say
that anyone doesn’t have a Facebook account, but most probably doesn’t know what Facebook
is.
What is Facebook?
Facebook is a social networking site that makes it easy for any user to connect and share with
his family, friends, and now with people that he knows or doesn’t know, online. Registered
users can share photos, videos, links, thoughts and other information with each other.
Facebook has a lot of features such as allowing you to maintain a friends list and choose privacy
settings to tailor who can see content on your profile, supporting interactive online chat and
the ability to comment on your friend's profile pages or walls, supporting group pages, fan
pages and business pages that let businesses use Facebook as a vehicle for social media
marketing, and being a developer network that delivers advanced functionality and
monetization options. Not to forget, Facebook
Connect allows websites to interact with it and
to be used as a universal login authentication
service. Also what is new and trendy nowadays is
that you can stream video live using Facebook
Live. Website: https://www.facebook.com/
History of Facebook
Facebook was originally designed for college
students in which it was created in 2004 by Mark
Zuckerberg along with Edward Saverin while they
were enrolled at Harvard University. It soon
expanded beyond Harvard to other colleges and schools. Facebook accessibility also expanded
to select companies such as Microsoft and Apple. (“What Is Facebook?” article by Daniel
Nations https://www.lifewire.com/what-is-facebook-3486391 ) By 2006, anyone over the age
of 13 with a valid email address could join Facebook and be a member. Today, Facebook is the
world's largest social network, with more than 1 billion users worldwide and 1.19 billion users
actively visiting it each month.
What’s New?
Facebook has changed from being only the online publisher. It has become a branded utility
with a prophet motive. Also it is preternaturally addictive in which you no longer log in
Facebook just to “check Facebook”, instead you do so to check for updates. Adding to that, it is
magnetic as a function of its social engagement. Google’s own data tell us: Google’s top search
term was “Facebook.” (“What is Facebook, really?” article by Jeffrey F. Rayport
https://hbr.org/2011/02/what-is-facebook-is-becoming)
Discussion
{Note that, in order to discuss more the extent of “Privacy on Facebook” we are going to state
some paragraphs from articles and analyze their content.}
Getting back to Privacy on this networking site, people in this issue are divided into two. Some
believe that there is privacy on Facebook and others believe the opposite. But who right
eventually? Well, let us see.
To start with, some people consider that privacy is one of the amazing features on Facebook.
Not to forget the effect of new technologies on developing more privacy.
An article by Victor Luckerson published on January 5, 2016 stated what follows: “Managing
Facebook’s labyrinthine privacy settings is an ongoing challenge, not least because the options
available to users are constantly changing. The social network has given people increasingly
granular control over where their posts are shown and what pieces of personal data are used to
serve ads. But these additional options have also made managing Facebook privacy even more
confusing.
Here, we’ve put together a six-step guide to locking down your Facebook account as best as
possible.”
And then the writer stated the 6 steps and explained each. The six steps are: See What Your
Public Profile Looks Like, Decide Who Can See Your Posts, Get Rid of Intrusive Apps, Make
Yourself Harder to Find, See Ads That Don’t Leverage Your Personal Data (As Much), and finally
Block Troublesome Users. Well with these steps I think I am kind of convinced that there really
is privacy. You can feel while reading this article that the technological development is seeking
to make you more comfortable and secure with all the technological devices and applications.
What the article claims is that you can determine who can see your content, what content you
want others to see and how he could see it. That is probably relaxing!
You can also find a lot articles that
talk about the privacy settings and
how they are becoming more and
more advanced. You will be
surprised by the huge number of
articles on Google that support such
claim.
Continuing with the discussion if
you go to YouTube and write: There
is privacy on Facebook or something
that is close to that, you will find
hundreds and hundreds of videos
that talk about the new privacy settings and how much you can be private on YouTube. Nice!!
You can control your privacy by these videos easily. Also in the YouTube case you will find a
very big number of videos that talk about this issue positively. But to what extent that is true?
Many questions come to our mind especially in a sensitive issue like our own privacy. Is there
really privacy? Are these new technologies, that are supposed to be facilitating our lives and
seeking to let us be more secure and safe, really attempt to have more privacy??
To come to the other group, these believe that there is no such thing as privacy and especially
on social networking sites like Facebook. They ratify that this is all a conspiracy theory applied.
But what is this conspiracy theory anyway?
“Conspiracy theory is an explanation of an event or situation that invokes a conspiracy without
warrant, generally one involving an illegal or harmful act carried out by government or other
powerful actors.”- Wikipedia
To relate this to Facebook, they these group of people confirm that there is no privacy on
Facebook and this thing that is called “privacy” is just a conspiracy or a machination in which
they create an illusion that there is privacy to get to know more information about people.
There is an article published by Shiny Shiny website (http://www.shinyshiny.tv/2012/10/top-
facebook-conspiracy-theories-privacy-scares-and-reasons-to-freak-out.html ) that states a lot of
rumors said about Facebook and discusses if they are fact or fiction. One of the rumors is that
Facebook is selling our photos for advertisers and they said it’s a fiction. Also, they stated that
the rumor saying that Facebook was set up by the CIA to find out more about you is just a
fiction and there is nothing as conspiracy theory. The author wrote:” Yeah, sounds like
something out of a crazy thriller movie, right? But Google it. There are LOTS of people out there
who don’t buy into anything Facebook stands for and are convinced it’s been set up by the CIA
to find out all kinds of things about us. We’re not sure what it hopes to achieve by learning we
get drunk a lot and take photos of our cat, but SRSLY some people seem to take this conspiracy
theory really, well, SRSLY.
FACT OR FICTION: FICTION. We’re totally willing to be proved wrong here (and we’re sure many
people out there will try to), but we just don’t buy it. Sorry.”
Honestly, I was not convinced by the content of the article because the way they falsify the
rumors is not scientific or in a way that brings facts to support their claim. I didn’t feel that it is
credible enough to convince the reader that there really is privacy on Facebook.
Another article by “Positively Present” illustrated that:” Facebook offers the opportunity to
meet new people -- and connect with old friends -- but it also offers you the lovely opportunity
to take your privacy and throw it out the window. Yes, I know there are settings and Facebook
does work on creating the most privacy for those that want it, but, no matter what, information
about you is still available on the internet and even if only your very best, best friend is allowed
to see it, there's still a chance that someone, somehow, will see it too. Some people are very
careful with what they put online and I'm sure they have nothing to be private about...but
others... well, there are plenty of people who have suffered from a lack of privacy due to
Facebook and that makes it a really hard site to want to be a part of.” In this part of the article,
where the author stated the negative sides of Facebook, he summarized all about the privacy of
Facebook. I believe that this is more likely to be true. In here the writer states that there is no
privacy because all people are opened to each other and there is no chance not to spread the
information (even if it is maybe a little but it is still considered as lack of privacy). Sharing the
information will put your privacy at risk. Over disclosure is a crucial issue for information
seeking on social media sites especially Facebook.
Others believe that the CIA used Facebook to collect data. And by this we can see the article
written by Lee Arnold. The author said:” So when information arises that connects government
intelligence gathering organizations directly to Facebook on an investment-level at the
company’s infancy, it immediately raises concern. As mentioned earlier, conspiracy theorists
often point to investments totaling nearly $14 million by James Breyer in 2005, through a
personal investment and an investment by Breyer’s venture capital company, Accel Partners, as
being a connection between the government and Facebook.” (I didn’t copy the whole paragraph
that talks about the issue, but if you want to look at it, it is in the article titled:” Was Facebook
founded by the CIA just to be a data collection tool?” The article is so important in which it
shows how intelligent government agencies are taking advantage of Facebook for their own
needs and gratifications.
Go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iyEVq4uH5c to watch an interview of Laura
Emmett from RT with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in which the latter claimed that
Facebook is a CIA spying machine.
However, if you want to read more about how the negative side of Facebook, go to WikiLeaks
and read. You will find rich articles.

Evaluation
I want to light up on some points for this issue. I read more articles, that I am going to provide
you with their links in the reference section, but I just stated these because others have almost
the same idea and because of time. Seeing how there are a lot of positive feedback on
Facebook by the Google, I think maybe Facebook in funding Google. Usually for any topic you
will have pros and cons, and you see the two points of views but in this case on Google you can
find few that admits that there is no privacy on Facebook. Just think why?
Second, there is no privacy because people are opened on each other and information is shared
from one person to another so this will definitely put privacy in risk. Also, more evidence has
shown that the CIA is using the Facebook to get more information about the person. This was
an advantage for them of course.
Third, although there are a lot of new technological developments and Facebook is becoming
more and more advanced, which will make us predict that this will provide us with more privacy
and security but unfortunately it is the opposite. With more advance, they are becoming more
able to get into details and know more about us. If you go to the search engine you can find
that it became more targeted and that will definitely help them know more about what you
want and need. Don’t you ask yourself why your newsfeed differs from you friends although
you may have the same friend list somehow?? Facebook track what pages you visit, what posts,
or photos you like, what videos you view and a lot more which will help them distribute
information according to this in a more specific and personalized information. The ads that
appear on your news feed are different from ones that appear on your friend’s. The pages that
appear so that you can like them differ. Everything that appears to you on Facebook is
customized just for you. Imagine! They truly have control on hoe the information is shared.

Conclusion
To sum up, people may differ if there is privacy on Facebook or not. It is really a controversial
issue. What I have concluded is that there is privacy from exposing your information to people
you know or you may not know. You have to take advantage of any new skill that you can do to
increase your privacy more. With the advancing in technology, each year there are new options
that you can do or go to so that you can make your Facebook account more private. So you can
surely have a private account from users on this
social networking site, but don’t ever be fooled
and think that your private information is not
exposed to the Facebook Corporation. They
know what you like and what you dislike, what
you enjoy and what you not….Trust me they
know every single thing and with the
technological advance they are able to know
more details. So get along with that. Then to where we are going in this cycle of nowhere??
“I grew up with the understanding that the world I lived in was one where people enjoyed a sort
of freedom to communicate with each other in privacy, without it being monitored, without it
being measured or analyzed or sort of judged by these shadowy figures or systems, any time
they mention anything that travels across public lines.” Edward Snowden
References
1. “What is Facebook?” article by GCF: http://www.gcflearnfree.org/facebook101/what-
is-facebook/1/
2. “What is Facebook?” article by Daniel nations: https://www.lifewire.com/what-is-
facebook-3486391
3. “What is Facebook, really?” article by Jeffrey F. Rayport https://hbr.org/2011/02/what-
is-facebook-is-becoming
4. The freedom of speech on social networking cites :
https://www.law.kuleuven.be/jura/art/50n3/steppe.pdf
5. Shiny Shiny website article: http://www.shinyshiny.tv/2012/10/top-facebook-
conspiracy-theories-privacy-scares-and-reasons-to-freak-out.html
6. https://www.law.kuleuven.be/jura/art/50n3/steppe.pdf study for Richard steppe
7. article by positivity present: http://www.positivelypresent.com/2010/07/is-facebook-
positive.html
8. “Make Your Facebook Profile More Private in 6 Easy Steps”
http://time.com/4166749/facebook-privacy-settings-guide/ by Victor Luckerson
9. “Why your Facebook News Feed is full of conspiracy theories” article By Patrick Howell
O'Neill: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2015/04/23/why-
your-facebook-news-feed-is-full-of-conspiracy-theories/
10. Government Intelligence Agencies Built Facebook, Corporations Adopted it, Both Love
Collecting ‘Likes’ article by Mysterious Universe :
http://mysteriousuniverse.org/2014/05/government-intelligence-agencies-built-
facebook-corporations-adopted-it-both-love-collecting-likes/
11. “Using Facebook Gives You No Privacy, Not Really” BY STEVE MASTERS :
https://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/advisor/using-facebook-gives-no-privacy-not-really-
215002021.html
12. Quote: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/privacy.html

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