Last weeks presentation on Privacy really brought up a good point. Is our content really Private even if we customize our settings a certain way? Facebook has been the major concern on privacy for a while now, but what about other social networks? Sources say no.
 |
| Bloomberg News "MySpace and some popular applications have been transmitting information to outside advertising companies that could be used to identify users. Above, website pages from MySpace.com." |
According to
The Wall Street Journal, Myspace recently also had a privacy leakage. They way that it was leaked was through advertisements. When a Myspace user clicked on ad, the data that was let out wasn’t necessarily from the person who clicked on it. Whoever clicked on ad exposed some of their friends ID numbers if not all. However, the problem didn’t stop there. Some appliances such as RockYou Pets and TagMe also transmitted user IDs. It may have not been such a big deal to some, but for others it became a really serious issue. With a Myspace user ID, anyone would have been able to view a person’s profile page, photographs, location, gender, age, etc. This is a problem for some people when it comes time to get a job. They can’t possibly compete with others if the company they are trying to work for finds their profile because of this leakage. Myspace said that applications that have the intention to steal user’s data are prohibited and that certain measures will be taken against those application developers.
This situation doesn’t stop at Facebook and Myspace though.
“The lesson here: If you don’t want any possibility of accidentally sharing personal data like your name, location, or social connections with companies, you pretty much have to avoid social media and social networking altogether -- for now. “ - Mashable
No comments:
Post a Comment