As technological advancements change the ways we communicate, the concern over online privacy grows. In the Digital Age, technology has given us so much. We can communicate with people from around the world, literally bringing us face to face with the ones we love no matter how far away they are. Social media networks have allowed us to keep in touch with friends and to make new ones as applications like Twitter and Instagram have created a large marketplace of ideas in an engaging way. But at what cost? Other than buying a computer or phone, usage of social media, the internet, and many other applications are free of charge.
Millions of people around the world take part in all different types of social media networks, voluntarily giving up personal information as a ticket to participate in these virtual communities. These social media networks, as well as subscription websites, then sell this data to other companies and use the data to help companies target consumers that are almost guaranteed to be interested. In addition to basic personal information, these social media networks can pick up on your interests, your likes, and dislikes, all by monitoring how long you spend on a post and how you engage with it.
One of the biggest social media networks is Facebook and dating back to its inception, it has been under increasingly more and more scrutiny for privacy violations. In 2014, for example, Facebook ran a mood experiment which the public considered extremely unethical when the results were published leading to the data scientist apologizing and removing the study for the web (although nothing ever disappears from the internet). The mood experiment, as outlined by NBC News, involved a large number of Facebook users as the test subjects although they had not signed up or consented. As a part of the experiment, algorithms were created to show users a timeline full of either all positive or all negative posts and to see if that could impact the user's mood.
It is good that these privacy issues have been getting media attention to inform the public to be careful with the information they share and to educate them on how their online privacy is being violated. However, this is only the beginning, and trying to hold all these different networks accountable is a difficult task as they will continue to adapt and find new ways to mine both information and data.
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