Facebook – The End of Privacy of or the Beginning of a New Era? (Essay Sample)

Facebook – The End of Privacy of or the Beginning of a New Era? Author’s Name Institutional Affiliation Facebook User Privacy Facebook has more than 800 million active users, making it the world’s largest social networking site (Lee, 2014). Social networking has transformed the way people relate and share information. Many people share the details of their personal life on social networking sites. Users can keep in touch with friends, make new friends and match with persons with similar interests. Concerns have been raised about the security and privacy of data of Facebook users. The information on Facebook can be used to profile precisely the character and trends of any given individual, hence breaching their privacy. Facebook user’s data is the company’s main product. Facebook provides its services without any user fees. The company profits from behavioral advertising. This kind of advertising involves tailoring advertisements according to a given user’s interests (Hoofnagle, Soltani, Good, Wambach, & Ayenson, 2012). The user’s interests can be fished from their profile information and the type of media and sites they access. Targeted advertising does not respect users’ privacy. Facebook users are exposed to fraud and crime. Facebook is an ideal site place for criminals to connect with and obtain confidential information from unsuspecting people. Possible cyber offences on the site include phishing, data mining, scamming, and stalking and identity theft to (Hendricks, 2014). Hendricks further reveals that more than five million people become victims of cybercrime on social sites every day. Criminals can use the obtained data for financial gain. Facebook has gained an enormous amount of popularity. The opportunities and advantages the giant social network offers are exciting. However, the privacy and security of user data ar...