It seems there is a lot more than meets the eye when it comes to large companies that are run on the net. A recent study of net giants has revealed that Facebook, Twitter and Google snoop on consumer emails. Billions of people use the internet every day and they are often uploading very personal data which stems from their name to bank details, they put a lot of trust into the internet and do not often think twice if a source is trusted. However, can we really trust the internet?
In January
2009, an online hacker sent a tweet from the account of then-President-elect
Obama, offering his more than 150,000 followers a chance to win $500 in free
gasoline. At least one other bogus tweet was sent from the account of Fox News.
When a company promises
consumers that their personal information is secure, it must live up to that
promise. Since these incidents security has been tightened however, Internet
hacking still occurs.
Do we really know
what is done with the data we upload to these websites and who it is shared
with? For example, on Twitter personal details are entered such as a name,
email address, home address and other information if you choose to. Did you
know that Twitter actually sells your data that you give to them on to
advertisers? They look at your tweeting activity and the pages you visit online
to see what companies are best suited to you and then personalise
advertisements based on the information they have gathered from these sources.
Does it worry you that Twitter knows your most visited sites and makes money
from snooping your personal online activity? It has been reported that Twitter
goes as far as reading consumer emails too. So, once we go online we really have
no control over what is done with our data.
Twitter has just been through an IPO (initial public
offering) where it has sold its shares to the public. This has now put them
under pressure to become a profit making company, as they now have to satisfy
their shareholders.
In the past the topic of online privacy has not been one of high concern,
but it is now increasingly being brought to attention as technologies and the Internet
are becoming more popular. Recently Obama has been filing for
stricter privacy laws to help protect consumers. Google has recently been
charged 22 million dollars by the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) for breaking
privacy laws; no other company has ever had to pay a fine of this larger extent.
The FTC is becoming stricter on enforcing online privacy as new developments in
technology are making the Internet an increasingly unsafe place. Facebook has also been criticised for the way
it uses data.
However, although these companies have been reported to be
abusing data, it has still not stopped people from using these sites keeping
them at the top of the net giants. Does
this mean that it is something that consumers are not concerned about or are just
unaware of? Does it concern you that net giants like Twitter are selling on
your data to make more profit? I would like to know your views on the privacy
issues that some Internet sites are facing and from reading this whether you
now feel unsafe about typing your personal details onto the web or not? Thank
you for taking your time to read my blog, please comment below.
N
To start with, the simple answer to your question "Does profit come before privacy for net giants such as Twitter?" is Yes! For most companies, words like "ethic" and "moral values" are not priorities either. They talk about it, but the fact is, when you look at it closely, it's simply not considered. The well-being of their customers is not a priority.
ReplyDeleteFurther more, as rightly said, the consumers don't seems to be that bother either. What's the alternative to Twitter for exemple? Maybe they trust that the company they are dealing with are now going to resolve the issue once they found out there is one in the first place.
Until we get the truth about what's really going on in companies like Twitters, by helping whistleblowers to get true information out there, we may never get the answers. Are they genuinely investing enough in security so they get a step ahead of the hackers? Or are they just waiting for a problem to occur and hope it won't be too damaging?
Thank you for taking the time to read my blog and share your opinion on this matter.
ReplyDeleteYou answered my question that companies are choosing profit over privacy; do you think this something that needs to be changed or do you think it is fine how it is as users get the service they want and shareholders get the profits they want. Or is data selling morally unacceptable?
I think that users' are generally unaware of what is happening with their data as it is not something that has had much attention surround it until recently. Twitter could take the option of making a stand to data selling and set themselves apart from competitors like Facebook; if its their users' data they are selling they could offer their users' a share of the profit but I am sure their shareholders would have something to say about that! Finding the balance between satisfying both customers and shareholders can be difficult and it will be interesting to see how these social media networks deal with this, as this issue is becoming increasingly relevant and brought to attention by the media.
In answer to your questions I think that they are just waiting for a problem to occur as they do not want to invest in something that might not happen and are happy with how things are at the minute while they are creating revenue and still keeping a high number of users'.
Thank you
N
Consumer rights exist when you've paid for a product or service.
ReplyDeleteThe problem we face is that so many online services are 'free'. We're not paying customers, so can't demand a level of service or support, and are subject to the changing terms and conditions of sites like Facebook.
What's worse is that if the service is free, we're the product. The service provider is using our content and connections to build a marketing database to sell us stuff or target us with ads.
It's a very important issue - but I think it's more about privacy than about ethics.
Hi Richard,
ReplyDeleteThank you for taking the time to read my blog, what you are saying is very interesting. Do you think by using a free online service we are giving up our rights of data protection?
It could be unethical for Twitter to sell its users data to make profit particularly when it has been reported that they go so far as to snoop on their consumers emails.
Also, when someone deletes something on Twitter, they are able to hold the information for as long as they want. Is this not an ethical violation of the delete button?
Shouldn't everyone have the right to move freely around the internet without being snooped on.
This is certainly an issue that needs addressing.
Thank you
N