Research Paper on Facebook Diminishing Privacy

Privacy is often defined as freedom from the observation, intrusion, or attention of others. If that was taken away from daily life the world would become a collection of omniscient beings that walk around with potentially harmful information about those surrounding them. Stalking would be unnecessary because the internet would do all for the work for us. Social networking sites are creating many such concerns. One of the most widely known social networking sites is Facebook. When reviewing Facebook’s privacy policy, you may want to keep in mind that “an examination of Facebook's privacy policy shows that the informedchoicemodel is completely unrealistic” (Grimmelmann).Facebook not only helps our friends learn more about our daily life, but it also allows future employers, foes and complete strangers discover more about our existence than we’re comfortable with. Most of us consider the variety of features available to be helpful in remaining social and up to date with the latest information. However,“if sociability and content sharing arepromoted, then privacy will suffer” (Brandtzæg). With constant status updates, the ability to upload pictures not only of ourselves but of others and email requirements, the line between “sharing” and “stalking” becomes thinner and thinner daily. The most commonly used method of sharing information on Facebook is the status update. This not only includes a small section of text, but also location check-ins and an option to tag your friends in what you’re writing. None of this sounds too bad when you assume that the only people that will see your status are your friends, however “posting personal information may lead to contacts from sexual predators, identity theft, fraud, or stalking” (NCVC). Imagine, for example, that you just got into an altercation with someone who you may have mutual friends with. All that the person has to do to find you is check for your most recent location check-in. Additionally, when someone is

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