In 2018, a news story broke and the world was shocked by a scandal. Facebook had a collection of personally identifiable information of “up to 87 million people”, and the political consulting and strategic communication firm Cambridge Analytica had access to this data (TechRepublic, 2019). While a lot of people were shocked, a lot of other people found it hard to grasp the concept of what privacy issue really was. The sentence “I don’t care about privacy because I’ve got nothing to hide” is a term that rings a lot of alarm bells with people dedicated about privacy. A good example is Facebook, where 68% of its users are not understanding the privacy settings of the company (Gigante, 2019). Next to that, almost 40 percent of respondents a questionnaire by cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Lab said they did not know how to protect themselves against cybercrime (Voice of America, 2019).
To raise awareness, a freelance developer created a chrome extension, called Data Selfie. The aim of this extension is to raise awareness for privacy and make privacy a less ‘vague’ term. To educate you about what kind of personal information is gathered, we will show you the data that only Facebook has about you, but most likely a lot of other organisations too.
What does Facebook know:
- What you did in the app, and when
You could have seen that one coming. But yes, Facebook stores all the activity you do within the app or on the website. This includes your top pages, top friends and top likes
- Your personality
Do you remember the Big-5 personality model? Facebook has all the data to create on from you. They can use it to display different ads to different personalities.
- Your religion preferences
- Political orientation
- Shopping preferences
And this is only the beginning of what Facebook knows about you. Want to see your data? You can download the extension here (Chrome.google.com, 2019). This gives you a good view of the data that Facebook knows about you. However, this data can also be used by other companies paying money to Facebook for ads. It raises the question; can this data be gathered by Facebook? Can this data be used by Facebook? Do you think other companies that pay money to Facebook for ads, that indirectly use this data, should use this data?
Let me know what you think!
References:
TechRepublic. (2019). Facebook data privacy scandal: A cheat sheet. [online] Available at: https://www.techrepublic.com/article/facebook-data-privacy-scandal-a-cheat-sheet/ [Accessed 11 Sep. 2019].
Gigante, M. (2019). The Sad State of Social Media Privacy [Infographic] | MDG Advertising. [online] MDG Advertising. Available at: https://www.mdgadvertising.com/marketing-insights/infographics/the-sad-state-of-social-media-privacy-infographic/ [Accessed 11 Sep. 2019].
Chrome.google.com. (2019). Data Selfie. [online] Available at: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/data-selfie/kjmnobfdkgaclpkgeniccafoennghjnm [Accessed 11 Sep. 2019].
Voice of America. (2019). Hacks and Facts: 10 Things to Know About Data Privacy. [online] Available at: https://www.voanews.com/silicon-valley-technology/hacks-and-facts-10-things-know-about-data-privacy [Accessed 11 Sep. 2019].
But where does it end? The bigger problem here is the question if it isn’t too late to stop this unlimited data-collection development. With more and more companies (and governments) collecting data, our privacy is in more danger than ever. Should we accept or even embrace this development, or is it time to bring this to an end. Is there a possibility for companies to collect data and to use this data without raising questions regarding people’s privacy? Companies are getting more and more aware of the fact that people demand more privacy. Internet is an open platform which I think will change to a place where people are able to browse and chat and be confident that what they say and do, is for their eyes only.
Very interesting read Koen! It is worthwhile to recognize the price that we are (in)directly paying companies as Facebook for using there services for “free”. To who does the data finally belong? And should it be allowed for companies to sell our data? I think we should be moving to a society which has more regulation in the field of personal data rights, and how companies should use our data.
Looking forward to hearing your thoughts and reading more of your contributions!
Interesting (and a bit scary) post. The most concerning thing I believe is that despite the fact that people are becoming aware of privacy breaches through Facebook, they will still not opt to disconnect from the app. I found a fascinating article by The Guardian (Link is here if you are interested: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/may/08/social-media-copies-gambling-methods-to-create-psychological-cravings) which explains that social media like Facebook are actually using gambling strategies to keep users hooked. Notifications, likes and interactions through these apps create a very real and very addictive chemical response to users’ brains, which in turns makes them go back for more. Do you think there is any way this Facebook addiction – and therefore the Facebook data privacy violations- can be stopped just with consumers’ self control? Or does some official organization need to intervene?