Draft of Final project: "The Best social engineer the world has ever seen."

Mark zuckerberg created a website that allows users to create there profile and share it online with other users. The users will enter their information (full name, address, pictures, workplace, phone number and even birthday) and share it online in there profile page, the question here is how did Mark convinced them to do that? Simply because it’s the only way to be recognize by their friends online and that way they can send them friend requests, other users may have deferent purposes to use Facebook , but at the end of the day they all do what Mark wanted them to do, share their personal information with him and the world, but also sharing their personal preferences, what they like and don’t like and there online activities.

The main morale questions in this case in not related to Mark getting people’s data, because they agreed to share it with him in the first place, but to what does he do with their data after he gets it. It seems that after the data is stored in Facebook’s servers, it’s no longer the property of the user, from that point on Facebook owns it. What does Mark do with that data? In this part I would like to refer to the article that I want to use for this case: ” 7 Controversial ways Facebook has used your data” By time.com. In this article the author pointed out several controversial actions done by Facebook which harms the privacy of their users. The first example that the author gave us was that Facebook keeps the user’s data forever. As users and owners of our own information, aren't we suppose to have full control of our Identity online and offline? In the term of service documents from Facebook in Statement of rights and responsibilities section under Sharing your content and information, it says: “When you delete IP content, it is deleted in a manner similar to emptying the recycle bin on a computer. However, you understand that removed content may persist in backup copies for a reasonable period of time (but will not be available to others).” I think it’s interesting how they don’t specify the period of time that they will keep your data.

The second privacy issue that I want to point out is the use the user behavior on Facebook to advertise products. In Facebook terms of services, under section number nine “about advertisements and other commercial contend served or enhanced by Facbook” it says : “You give us permission to use your name, profile picture, content, and information in connection with commercial, sponsored, or related content (such as a brand you like) served or enhanced by us. This means, for example, that you permit a business or other entity to pay us to display your name and/or profile picture with your content or information, without any compensation to you. If you have selected a specific audience for your content or information, we will respect your choice when we use it.”  In the article the author talked about this issue and used as example The “Sponsored Story” ad format in 2011. Facebook was using names and pictures in ads without compensating the users. Is it morally acceptable to use someone’s picture and name to advertise a product without asking for their authorization, and if they agree don’t they deserve to get paid for it?

The last controversial issue I want to talk about is tracking the user’s movements across the web. According to time.com Facebook tracks the websites that we visit for 90 days. They use cookies to get data like time, date, URL, and IP address every time you visit a website that has a Facebook plug-in as a like button. Don’t we have the right of privacy in every aspect of our life as free citizen, does Facebook has the right to track their users just because the accepted the agreement, what about if I don’t want to be a Facebook user because of this issue, will canceling my account be enough to stop it, or not since they will keep my data anyway?

I assume that the point of view of Mark about these issues will be that if you don’t like his terms then don’t use his web site. Also is the fault of anyone who was shocked or offended by the use of their data because they didn’t read the agreement when they signed up and become Facebook users. Most of the time Facebook didn’t do anything illegal and when they did and got cut like in The “Sponsored Story” ad format in 2011, there reaction was to apologize, pay the fee, and find another way around it or come up with a deferent idea that will allow them to make money out of the users information.

I have a lot of respect for Mark Zuckerberg, but I disagree with him about the way his company use our data, I understand that he didn’t make Facebook to be nice to people but to make profit out of it. I think he can be more selective of the way he will use Facebook to make money. The reason behind my opinion is that it’s not ethical to use someone’s privacy or propriety with out there consent, and also its even worst to use someone’s profile in ads to advertise for product, or keeping a their information stored even after they stopped using Facebook, I think that Facebook can be a better company if they trade some of their profit with respect of the privacy of their users because at the end of the day they rely on their users to be successful.

Privacy is a foundation of our civilization as Ayn Rand said: “Civilization is the progress toward a society of privacy. The savage's whole existence is public, ruled by the laws of his tribe. Civilization is the process of setting man free from men.” As a society we need our privacy as free human but also we need companies like Facebook to respect it. Privacy is extremely valuable, and Billy Grham had a very clear view about the value of privacy when he said:” Once you've lost your privacy, you realize you've lost an extremely valuable thing. ”

Sources:

http://time.com/4695/7-controversial-ways-facebook-has-used-your-data/

https://www.facebook.com/legal/terms

http://www.brainyquote.com/