The question my articles asked was ‘Is Facebook really safe?’; ‘safe’, being from sexual predators. Well, Cuomo is making sure that Facebook is up to speed on of its safety features and that it follows the necessary regulations (in regards to having minors on their site), since his ‘experiment’ yielded not-so-good results. Cuomo’s assistant in this ruse – Eric Corngold - created phony profiles (one shown to be a thirteen-year-old girl. “Within days of posting the profiles,” they reported, “we received sexually suggestive messages and comments”. Turns out that Facebook takes as long to reply to dire complaints, as it does the fairly minor/rudimentary ones. Corngold said Facebook took a few weeks to respond to complaints. But then, there are 47 million people on Facebook; most of which sign on up to twenty times a day. Then again, I’m sure the new steps Facebook and their competitors are being forced to make to resolve the harassment issues, should clear up the confusion. Fortunately, the class seemed less than frantic from the results these (and so many others in the last few months) articles gave us. That response is very different from the reaction MySpace (with some of the same issues) received. Maybe that has something with us feeling safer because of the limitations Facebook’s already instilled within its site. The restrictions that make it seem like they’re not invading or privacy at all - the ones that specify exactly who can become members and the fact that existing members can place restrictions on whom can see their profiles (in part or in its entirety).
But the class didn’t seem to have any major problems with any of the privacy invasions we might suffer. I don’t see this surveillance as serious or severe as the ‘Big Brother’ surveillance. We take precautions, but they are not as severe as some we might take with another, more open site. An example would be the access different organizations have to Facebook (for networking purposes). When applying, I would change my profile picture and some details (my status), when applying for a job. You could also change the names that are shown on your profile page (make it seem more professional).
But then, it's not like Facebook spies on its user and sells all of our personal information. They only take what we provide, after all (unlike Friendster and MySpace). Sure, they sell some of it (names, ages, etc.) and yes they have plenty of incentive, but members volunteer any other shared information. As explained in the YouTube video we viewed in class, everything is spelled out in the Terms & Conditions. The confidential medical, educational and credit card information is taken only when voluntarily given. There are certain applications – like Pulse – that have the sole purpose of questioning and polling students, then sending that information out to third party corporations who use said info to sell us their products. For some reason, this method seemed a lot less underhanded than ones used by many of Facebook’s competitors. Facebook is a bit more upfront about invading our privacy; not to mention they do it slower. Perhaps that’s why we don’t mind so much. They take steps that violate our security rights, but listen when we object to them (modifying things like the News Feeds accordingly). They’re not being sneaky or dishonest about their gathering of information. Why should we hide it from them?
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Myspace has been the start of a neo-revolutionary way of life. Although there had been previous social networks before Myspace came onto the scene, none of them was ever as successful as Myspace. Myspace alllows its users to post videos, pictures, slideshows, change their layouts, and do a lot more. It's a way of expressing one's self by designing the page anyway they want to. It's kinda like designing your room but through the internet. But with this way of "advertising" youself there comes consequences. Over the past five years there has been a growing number of pedifilers aiming to seduce little kids. This shows how although something may look cool and fun where you may have control of everything, it really has control, over you. People spend many hours in these websites when they could be doing something else.
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