Description: A Facebook representative said in a statement was taking steps to “dramatically limit” exposure of users’ personal information to companies.
Source: Cnn.com Tech
Date: Oct 18, 2010
Many of Facebook’s most popular apps are sharing personally identifiable information of their users with dozens of advertising and Internet-tracking companies, in violation of the social-networking giant’s own rules, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
The issue provides access to users’ names and, in some cases, the names of the app user’s friends to at least 25 advertising and data firms, the Journal reported Click here for rest of story
Questions for discussion:
- Is there anything wrong with sharing Facebook info with marketers? Why or Why not?
- Do you feel that this issue will scare away Facebook users or reduce usage of Facebook? Why or Why not?
- What should Facebook do as a result of this situation? Is this a technical issue or a branding issue?
Krystle Hurley
I don’t think there is anything wrong with sharing consumer information with marketers, as long as it isn’t against the companies own rules and users are notified in some way beforehand. In Facebook’s case, I find it extremely wrong especially considering that violating privacy issues is nothing new to Facebook. It’s large enough that these kinds of issues shouldn’t be a concern – steps should have been taken long ago with respect to users privacy. I also find it ridiculous that the Facebook representative said that they were taking steps to “dramatically limit” something that shouldn’t even be an issue according to Facebook policies.
This article prompted me to check out my own Facebook account to see what was going on. Under my application privacy, it says that one of my apps is able to access my basic information such as “name, profile picture, gender, networks, user ID, list of friends, and any other information i’ve shared with everyone.” In my opinion, “any other information i’ve shared with everyone” doesn’t and should not count as “basic information.” I would also like to note that nowhere on this page does it state that this information could be sent out to other parties. It is also interesting to note that apps are able to access your data at any time, even when you’re not using the app.
I do think that this information will scare away potential Facebook users and also reduce usage of Facebook – not only because privacy issues with Facebook seem to be a recurring problem, but because some people are more sensitive about this type of thing than others. Those who have been slow to sign up to Facebook may already have concerns about Facebook’s privacy issues, and this definitely will not help.
I think that this is both a technical issue and a branding issue. Facebook needs to take a step back and realize that recurring privacy issues are a huge deterrent for users. They should be consistent with their policies, even if this means having to monitor how every single app is being used. It is a technical issue in the sense that Facebook needs to go in and change how it operates. If they would like to continue allowing apps to access user information and provide it to other parties, this information needs to be incorporated into their policy and Facebook users need to be notified. It is a branding issue in the sense that these security problems are predominant with Facebook, so when potential users think of the Facebook name they may automatically associate it with lack of security and privacy.
Nathan Cornell
I do not think that there is really anything wrong with sharing the information with marketers. The information that they are receiving is not all that private and if anything it gives marketers information that will allow them to appeal to potential consumers and maybe directly offer them goods that they may be interested in. I do not think this issue will scare facebook users away. When you sign up for something you know what information you are giving away, so chances are those who are not going to sign up are already not signed up. Facebook should put measures in place to ensure its consumers that it is not releasing any private information, but does not have to take drastic steps to ensure that no information is being used by marketers
Scott S
I also do not think there is a problem with information sharing in this type of setting. It is a social network where information is shared all the time. If people are afraid of their information being shared with others then they need to stay off of the internet. People’s information is being shared all the time. Whether it is from shopping at an online store to using google to find someplace in the world. Everytime we go on the internet we leave a trail to where we have gone and what we have done. So for people to be suprised that facebook is using their information to make money is a little suprising to me.
Shawna MacDonald
I think it’s terrifying that this information is so easily available, often against the wishes of the users or without their knowledge whatsoever. It is especially frightening that you don’t even need to be the user of the application – if one of your friends is, you are put at risk as well, without your consent or knowledge. Unfortunately, I don’t think this will reduce usage of Facebook because I don’t think very many people are aware of what is happening and if they are, they probably don’t think too deeply about it and its implications. Furthermore, those that use Facebook for social networking and not applications likely will continue to use it because it is somewhat addicting and again are probably unaware that even if they don’t use the applications they are still at risk. Facebook needs to increase their security settings and actually make it clear to its users what is happening so they are at least knowledgeable and can adjust their settings accordingly if it bothers them or not. In the same token, Facebook faces a double edged sword because on the one side they have a duty to protect their users and ensure privacy, but on the other side, they are a company and of course they want to make money. Unless people stop using Facebook, why would Facebook have any incentive to change what is happening if it is beneficial to them?
allen tollestrup
In order to stay at the top of the social network business facebook has to continually change its service to provide its users with more. Every time facebook makes a change there will be a glitch of some sort. They will make a mistake, something that they did not account for. So therefore it will probably cost facebook members some of their personal privacy without them knowing it. But that is the risk that people are taking when they enter in and put their lives on the internet. The fact that marketers are trying to get personal information from facebook about its members I feel is just fine.
Chuqiao(Emma) Yu
Facebook is a breaker in the social communication market because it is changing the way people connect with others. It is a innovation, but we are more naked in front of others, even the strangers. There are some third parties gather information on the FB and some times we even don not know how these troublesome salesman get our phone number or mail address. However, I do happy when someone calls said he saw the information showed on the FB, which means he and I may have same interest in a area. I don not think that this issue will scare away FB users or reduce usage of FB. Everything has two faces, two sides of the coin, If you want to know make more new friends or you liked the way connect with others on-line, FB is really a good tool for you. I don not think this is a tech issue, it is a branding issue. There is no doubt that Fb could gain some for this kind of “issue”, but FB need to accept and follow what FB’s users want FB to do, if it doesn’t break the law.
Dave D
Since things happen so quick it is hard for businesses such as facebook to do things to perfection. I understand there will be bugs and slip ups especially for a business that is moving so fast. I think facebook should make sure the advertisers are on the same page as them. They need to make sure they aren’t taking advantage of this information. With that being said people do need to be aware that information does get shared and you are really not going to keep your privacy when you go on sites such as facebook. Not everything is going to be 100% secure.
Brandon MacDonald
And this sort of thing is why I have always said and will probably always say Facebook is creepy. There are very strict laws protecting our privacy for a reason… and I am pretty shocked and appalled at the general commenter apathy above me. Loss of privacy is a VERY slippery slope and I have next to no faith in Facebook of protecting its users. The sad thing is that none of this actually hurts Facebook in any way. It would seem its target demographic does not understand or does not care about the implications of privacy or lack thereof. Perhaps Orwell should be required reading in more schools.
Mark Anderson
Legally I do not think there is anything wrong with Facebook sharing personal information with marketers but many people may feel that it is morally wrong. People put a lot of personal information on Facebook thinking it will be kept private. In saying this people using Facebook so know better what they are getting into. They should have the mind set going in that anything put on Facebook anyone can see at anytime. This might scare away people from Facebook so it might me in Facebook’s best interest to make sure the site is secure. Facebook has been aiming to have a social networking site where you can express your feelings and creativity and connect with people around the world. In order for this to truly happen they have to insure the users that their information will be keep safe.
josh
I am on the fence with this whole Facebook privacy thing lately. A positive that I can take away from this is that most of us are now limiting what we post on our accounts and are now limiting to what we post on the internet in general about our personal information. I don’t think that this issue will scare away Facebook users. For one thing, most people aren’t even aware that apps are sharing their personal information. For the most part I think most current users will keep their accounts unless something catastrophic happens. I do want to say again that all of these privacy concerns are warning lots of internet users to limit posting personal information on the internet.
Kristin Q
I don’t beleive that it is wrong for facebook to share information with Marketers, nowadays everything people do is being tracked and monitored to ‘customize’ and ‘tailor’ the consumers wants and likes. I do think that it is a grey area and could fall into an ethics and legal debate area.
I have noticed on the side of my facebook account for example that it has started listing local businesses or websites related to information that I have been in search of from Google, so obviously the data mining that these companies must be doing is extensive and happens fast. Also facebook is a company in business to make money jsut like everyone else. They don’t charge us to have our personal pages so they need to be able to make money somehow.
I think this information may scare away some potential customers from creating a facebook account however it will only be a specific group of consumers and it will have a minimal impact on facebook which I doubt will have a disasterous affect to Facebooks bottom line.
This could be both a technical and brandig issue for Facebook and they will need to try and establish and maintain a consistent set of policies in order to remain a social media giant in the industry. I personally have all of my settings at the highest privacy levels and purposely do not put information on there that I would not want others to see or have access to. People aren’t displaying their bank account numbers on facebook, the majority of people are using it as a form of social media to be connected with friends and family.
Jobbie C.
I don’t think it is wrong if Facebook shared the personal informations with marketers with user’s consent. Yet, it is acceptable to share personal information with marketers to a certain extent since Facebook is a social networking website. By leaking personal information to advertising companies, it will not reduce the number of users of Facebook, but the users may not reveal as much personal information as they did. The users will not reveal much information if Facebook violates their privacy. I think the Facebook should limit the information sharing between advertising and internet-tracking companies in order to protect its users. This is both technical and branding issue. If Facebook won’t limit the sharing of users information, it will hurt their brand seriously. Since the users are the most valuable assets to Facebook, I think Facebook should set up limits of information sharing to marketers in order to protect their users.
Alfonso DeCicco
Since data is do accessible since facebook i do think that yes it is wrong to share facebook info with marketers just for the fact that not a lot of people actually do understand the security settings on facebook . This makes it seem like they are violating privacy issues but it is not facebook’s fault. If you wondering i have done extensive research on this for a paper i have writen. Marketers just tend to take advantage of the information that user available to anyone therefore making it in reality the users fault. The only flaw that lies with the information sharing is that your average user is not educated on how the security permission settings work. I don’t think this will scare any users away from using facebook, it will most likely just keep a limit on the potential type of users like college/ university students keeping in touch with all their peers/co-workers .
In my honest opinion i believe that facebook should restrict what marketers can see despite that its partially the users fault as well for not reading policies and implementing the proper security. What i mean by this is maybe only let them see the total number of people who do a certain activity instead of personal info like names, address, etc. Also they need to make some kind of easy link tutorial and remind users about the security setting when the open an account. Other than that it is still up to the individual user and not facebook, it really is self inflicted. This ends up being technical branding because of the issues of consistency with policies to be able to maintain the status as a leader in social networking
Adam G
It is not good that Facebook, a holder of so many peoples’ personal information, is sharing, or has shared peoples’ information. A common use of facebook is to stay in touch with people you may not otherwise be able to without facebook; if facebook and marketing companies are using your information for their benefit it is no longer just a social network. This facebook screw up comes back to the bigger discussion of storing information on the cloud; obviously companies are not able to keep the information stored on the cloud safe as they promised they would. I do not believe this particular issue will scare users away from Facebook, but if more and more problems occur then it may reduce the usage of the social network. If someone constantly finds the confidential information they put about themselves on facebook reaches other companies or people they will either limit the information they put on facebook about themselves or stop using it altogether. The sensitivity of each person varies as well; some people may be okay with 100% of the things they put about themselves on facebook be broadcasted to the world, and others may not. The reduction of facebook users because of information being leaked comes down to the reaction of the people who have been affected by this info leak. Facebook needs to be more careful as they try and grow so drastically; they are a great social network and are used by a huge amount of people but may see their popularity be reduced if they continue to be careless.
Mitch Stevenson
I have a privacy issues when it comes to anything on the internet. Facebook is not neccessarily wrong with sharing informations with marketers, but i think that everyone who is a member of facebook should know that they are giving out personal information to outside parties. I had no idea that this was going on and it really make me think about the large amount of personal information I have on facebook myself. There needs to be line drawn about what kind of information Facebook can share with outside parties, and all facebook members should understand what information facebook is sharing about them. It would be interesting to see the statistic on how many facebook members have something personal on facebook right now, that they wouldnt want outside parties to know.
Jo-Anne
I think it is very wrong of Facebook to breach its own policies and to share personal information of its users with advertising companies, internet tracking companies, or with anyone else. I understand that the breach in this case was not intentional, and I understand that Facebook users are provided with tools (e.g., dashboards) to manage their personal exposure. In this particular case, personal information about many users was shared by Facebook, including users who had selected the “strictest privacy settings”. I think this is scary.
I do not think this breach of security will reduce use of Facebook or will scare away Facebook users because: (i) Facebook has made it clear that this breach of its own policies was unintentional, and many people in our society tend to be as forgiving as possible with breaches are made unintentionally, (ii) Facebook claims to be taking steps to prevent reoccurrence of such a breach, and many people in our society applaud this, including the Canadian Privacy Commissioner, (iii) Facebook claims to take steps to “strongly enforce its policies”, (iv) Facebook is used immensely and is liked by many people in our society for social communication purposes.
I think that as long as Facebook strives to keep user information as secure as it possibly can for its users, it should be allowed to continue to exist. I think users should be aware as well, however, that nothing they do online, including on Facebook, is entirely secure — and I think continuing to communicate with each other in more personable ways (e.g., on the phone, and in person) is crucial.
Kayla D
■Is there anything wrong with sharing Facebook info with marketers? Why or Why not?
I think there is definitely something wrong with the sharing of information with marketers. This information is often taken from people who are completely unaware of it. If users were aware and consented to having their profiles open then I think it would be okay. I think it becomes an issue of ethics more than anything.
■Do you feel that this issue will scare away Facebook users or reduce usage of Facebook? Why or Why not?
I don’t think that this will scare away Facebook users because it has become such a part of peoples lives. It’s become an addiction for some and a habit. The con of having their information shared with marketers is not as great as the con of not having facebook in their life.
■What should Facebook do as a result of this situation? Is this a technical issue or a branding issue?
It’s a technical issue in the sense that they haven’t completely been able to stop the information sharing from happening. Facebook has already taken steps to increasing privacy of it’s users but at the same time as a facebook user, you should be aware that your information could be shared just by having an account. Facebook should continue in this direction and have a disclaier when signing up stating some of things things said above.
Sarah Falco
I think that when you agree to sign up to facebook, twitter or any other social network, you automatically loose some of your privacy right away. Your name, your picture, is at least out there for the world to see. When I first created my facebook account, which was about 5 or 6 years ago I didn’t put my full last name, thinking that, that “might” help with privacy protection. I think that most of us, myself included “skim” through the Terms and Conditions that everyone has to agree or disagree to. I think that it’s okay for marketers to use consumer data to improve the functions of business but it’s important to have ethical standards.
Brittany
Privacy issues seem to be a topic that comes up frequently when dealing with the Internet. I believe that Facebook should not be giving out information without the users giving consent first. It is scary to think that your personal information is being giving without you being aware of it. Many facebook users spend time to set high privacy settings on their accounts and limit what is available and who can see it. If there information is released without their consent, there will be many unhappy users. However, it is imperative for users to be aware that using the web means that privacy could be broken and proceed accordingly.
Jvo
The sheer scale of facebook is extremely huge, it is hard to even find a person without it. As the article noted the complexity of facebook would have some issues which may cause some disputes, but at the end of the day you’re the one choosing to use this type of social network and they are bound to be some risk involved. By putting your information on the web you subject yourself to any potential risk. I agree that facebook should reflect on their privacy policy on what information should be given to marketers. However I do understand that this is a free service and that they need money to upkeep and update facebook.
Alejandra
I don’t think there is anything wrong with sharing facebook information to marketers. I think that it’s an easy way for marketers to use to introduce new products for a segment. The information that they are receiving is not a lot of personal information. Like any other social network some private information is lost like your name. I don’t think this will scare people away from using the social network because if that were the case there would be less people on facebook. It seems that more and more people are registering onto facebook. Whatever information you put out there just assume that someone else can possibly look at it no matter how many blocks you have on your facebook page. The easy solution would be to deactivate your facebook page or not register to a social network.
Chelsey Kitaguchi
I feel it is okay for Facebook to share its user information with marketers. This is because I know that some marketers have pressures from companies to find a particular niche market. If particular Facebook users are within that niche market, how else are marketers going to find out who they are and how to contact them as a market? As a Facebook user myself, I wouldn’t be too afraid of marketers knowing who I am and what I’ve linked on my “likes” pages. If users are “afraid” of these marketers, then they shouldn’t be on any social networking sites. It’s just like any secret: you “trust” Facebook with your information, and in return, Facebook may “trust” certain marketers with user information. If Facebook finds its user rates dropping drastically, then yes I feel that Facebook may have to re-brand its image to win them back. For now however, I believe that Facebook should keep on doing business as usual, until they hit another speed bump!
Carlos.Z
Deciding FaceBook sharing personally information to companies for markets whether right or wrong has caused many debates and discussion recently. I think for the issues of the privacy, it is not entirely correct for FB release personal information to companies like advertising or Internet-tracking. As lots of users may lack the awareness that their information have been shared by else even they would not like to do so. And the ramification of this may also damage FB’s reputation. On the other hand, from the legalization point of view, there is obviously nothing wrong for FB to share personally identifiable information with marketer. In this case, I don’t think this issue will scare away the current FaceBook users or influence usage of Facebook, as it is a popular tool for social network in the world and a great deal of people use it in their daily livings.
Moreover, I personally tend to consider this is a tech issue. With more and more users are tend to sensitive about their privacy, FB should make an effort to improve their security settings, or to restrict some significant parts of user’s personal information to those companies with the business intention.
Debbie C.
Facebook has done nothing wrong. The fault lies with Facebook users who seen unaware that anything posted to the internet, whether e-mail, Facebook, twitter or whatever, is now public information and can be accessed by anyone, anytime. This privacy issue can be related to the old adage of “Can 2 people keep a secret?” The answer is, yes, if one of them is dead. On a broader scale you should never share anything that you don’t want EVERYONE to see or know. Once it is out there, information can never be controlled.
Jerica F
Personally I do not see a problem. I agree that marketers should have access to information because it does make it easier to market to different segments. It’s not like they are stealing your whole identity, they just want to market to a new group and by looking on facebook is one of the easiest ways. I also think that if people are worried about security don’t put your personal information on facebook. It is not required to have your address, phone number, etc on the page. All you need is a name and you don’t even need to use your real name. If someone wants to steal your information they will find other ways to do it. On my profile I have information that can be found out by almost anyone just by looking my last name up in the phonebook. However, because facebook has broken their privacy settings they should take action to fix the problem but if you are that worried about security, don’t go on facebook or other social networking sites.
Troy K (U of L)
I do not think that it is that big of a deal that your information is being shared to marketing companies as long as the information they receive is relevant for marketing purposes. It allows companies to market products to you that you might actually be interested in. With the mass amount of information that they receive they are not going to be snooping through your photos the information is used so they can make money, your name and face are lost in the crowd. They are only able to see what an individual has put online for people to see. I doubt that this will discourage very many people from using facebook and if they are concerned customize your privacy settings and take off any information that they are worried about someone seeing. Facebook should let companies buy the information of people who dont really care if teir information is seen and restrict the information that can be purchased to what is relevant to those companies like your age, sex, interests, etc. Facebook is providing us with a service and have to be able to make money to be able to develop the website and even make a privacy settings. It is better than having to pay a fee to be a facebook member.
Georgina Pina
The fact that companies like Rapleaf can have access to users’ information is worrying, but is not surprising. We all know the risks included in sharing information online, even if it is a social network with security policies. And of course, if we take a look at this issue from the companies’ perspective, it is advantageous, because having access to users’ information is obtaining rich databases of market knowledge: consumer behaviour, preferences and even lifestyle.
It is wrong when Facebook gives information to companies, especially if the network allows users to sign a privacy policy, Facebook would then be breaking its commitment and betraying its clients. However, this issue will not make the number of users decrease, because we have known this story since the beginnings of the World Wide Web, and most of the time we don’t even care, au contraire, the number of users of social networks has increased impressively over the years, as well as their frequency of usage and time spent online.
I believe it’s both, a technical and a branding issue, because Facebook has to be responsible for its users safety, and also take care of the brand image.
Samuel Yung
I don’t think that there is a huge problem sharing our information with marketers because I think it would help companies to get a clearer perspective on how to sell their product/services and whom they should target. I think the only concern that people have with sharing information to marketers will be what kind of information will they be looking at and how are they going to secure the our information so our information won’t leak out to the public. Another idea I want to point out is the fact that companies need the information in order to solve uncertainty within the company. As a facebook user myself, I do understand that it in invading my privacy, however I think if you don’t want private information leaked to the marketers then you shouldn’t even have an account at all. Security would be a huge priority when it comes to information usage; if they could prove how they could secure the private information I think the public would be more willing to share private information.
Alyssa
I don’t think this information should be shared with marketers unless the person whose information is being shared has agreed to allow this information to be used for other sources. I think there are a lot of users out there that are unaware that their information is being shared. I think this will ultimately affect Facebooks reputation. Not to say that this will cause people to stop using Facebook altogether but it may cause people to go to another social networking site, if they perceive it to be more secure.
Lisa
Here’s my thoughts…when you sign up for anything on a social network, you need to know that some sort of privacy issues are going to be lost. For people to be shocked by any of this is a little odd to me. You have to know that you are putting up your own information onto a worldwide site and thinking that any sort of information will not be shared is crazy.
It’s done all the time! Everytime you go onto the internet something can be tracked, so for Facebook to be sharing info with marketers it doesn’t seem all that surprising to me i guess.
Yes, there should be security of course but like i said…you leave a trail everytime you go onto the internet so people shouldn’t be shocked by this information at all…it’s an every day occurrence.
Jessy Gust
Sharing information with Marketers is one of the main things that really started scaring me about my own Facebook account. I just recently (as of three months ago) deleted my Facebook account for a number of reasons.
I have my own jewelry business,”J.A.G. Jewelry”, and once my own business started getting involved with Facebook, that is when I came to the realization that like google, Facebook owns all of ones information, and it is truly FREAKY! I noticed on my own account, for example, I had a page with my jewelry items, and it was great for marketing, and allowing people to see my product and comment on it, ect. It was when I started seeing “local jewelry” adds pop up on the side of my Facebook account that I became very concerned for my privacy. Like google, Facebook takes your information (without your concent) and targets adds to you.
Facebook owns all of ones information, and uses it to people’s advantage or disadvantage. It is all about how ones uses these forms of social networking, but if one likes it or not, FACEBOOK OWNS ALL OF YOUR INFORMATION.
Also, a side note, I found it insanely hard to delete my account. Once I was ready to finally resign from my Facebook account, I found it amazingly difficult to actually delete it. After doing some secondary research on how to actually go about “deleting my account” (because it was not easy). I found out that one has to go and indivudally delete every piece of information (friends, comments, ect). This took me many hours. The entire process of deleting my account took me a few weeks, but still, how do I know that I actually deleted all of my information? It is quite scary that a network knows more information about you than you know!
My advice for Facebook users would be, truly understand your settings, and be careful of what you are putting on Facebook.
Jessy Gust
Sharing information with Marketers is one of the main things that really started scaring me about my own Facebook account. I just recently (as of three months ago) deleted my Facebook account for a number of reasons.
I have my own jewelry business,”J.A.G. Jewelry”, and once my own business started getting involved with Facebook, that is when I came to the realization that like google, Facebook owns all of ones information, and it is truly FREAKY! I noticed on my own account, for example, I had a page with my jewelry items, and it was great for marketing, and allowing people to see my product and comment on it, ect. It was when I started seeing “local jewelry” adds pop up on the side of my Facebook account that I became very concerned for my privacy. Like google, Facebook takes your information (without your concent) and targets adds to you.
Facebook owns all of ones information, and uses it to people’s advantage or disadvantage. It is all about how ones uses these forms of social networking, but if one likes it or not, FACEBOOK OWNS ALL OF YOUR INFORMATION.
Also, a side note, I found it insanely hard to delete my account. Once I was ready to finally resign from my Facebook account, I found it amazingly difficult to actually delete it. After doing some secondary research on how to actually go about “deleting my account” (because it was not easy). I found out that one has to go and indivudally delete every piece of information (friends, comments, ect). This took me many hours. The entire process of deleting my account took me a few weeks, but still, how do I know that I actually deleted all of my information? It is quite scary that a network knows more information about you than you know!
My advice for Facebook users would be, truly understand your settings, and be careful of what you are putting on Facebook.
Kaleigh
I think it’s wrong that Facebook has been sharing users personal data with advertisers, without the users knowledge or consent. As a result, some users will stop using facebook out of fear that their personal information will be shared with third parties. While others, might get frustrated with Facebook’s lax privacy settings, but do nothing about it, and continue using Facebook. Many users don’t even know that their personal information is being shared with third parties. Users put their privacy at risk when using Facebook, and it is important to be vigilant about protecting your privacy while using Facebook, or any other social network. I don’t think it is ethical that user’s personal information is becoming public without the users consent. This makes me think twice about having a Facebook account.
Jared Cox
I think it’s wrong for facebook to share info with marketers without the permission of people disclosing the information. Where as if you sign off thats its okay then I don’t see why not, I mean facebook is trying to maximize profit and that information call sell for a lot of money. I believe it won’t discourage facebook users because the majority of people using facebook are probably high teens to low 20’s and a lot of them probably don’t even know it is being given away or just don’t really care that much. I think its a branding issue, and in return facebook should set a clear vision of if there website will be used to give out your info or only to keep you connected with the people aorund you.
Stephanie H
Yes there is a lot wrong with sharing personal Facebook information with marketers because we don’t put that information up there to be hassled by marketers, plus I don’t think Facebook would like if everybody decided to just cancel their accounts because of the information being shared also I don’t think marketers really know what to do with all that information anyways. Yes I do feel that this issue could scare away Facebook users or at least reduce the amount of usage of Facebook.Like I said earlier if everybody does do that then the form of communication known as Facebook would be no more.People put privacy settings on for a reason, but then again if we didn’t want some information known then we really shouldn’t be putting it on the net.Facebook should be doing some extensive work on how to fixed this issue, figure out if its a technical issue or not. But to be fair it is the internet and what we decided to share is fair game to marketers, so we have to be careful of what we put up.
Dustin Lehmann
I think that this was inevitable. With mareketers not being allowed to use many of there data collecting tools anymore (telemarketing) or as effectively as they did in the past. They had no choice to try and get into the new social medias and try to get there info on people this way. Facebook is a corporation that is out to make money, to do this they sell advertising and now it also looks like they sell there users info to these marketing firms. People shouldn’t be shocked by this due to the fact it happens alot in everyday life.
Alisha B
I think that there is something wrong with sharing facebook info with marketers! Unless, however, facebook contacted the people or made them agree to usage terms prior to signing up with facebook. If facebook is sharing information such as statistics or something non relevant to a persons sensitive data than I don’t see there being a problem.
I feel like this has already made people be cautious of what they are doing on facebook and I feel like it has made parents reduce usage to their children joining facebook. For a teen or young adult I think it is less relevant, out of sight out of mind.
Facebook should advise users of facebook what they will be doing with their information and how to protect themselves if they feel the need. and I would say this is a technical issue.
Yuang
After all I think in case of facebook information shared with marketer should not be a big issue because most people do not even put a lot of their personal information on the facebook, some just mention their name, male or female plus email and that is it. So i don’t think if this information can mean a lot to marketer and also can let someone to be so worried about their privacy. If someone do not want junk mail in their mail box than that can be the reason to worry other than that i do not see anything else. Also as a social network site there are a lot of people out there, who known there behave, they can have lill intention noboby know, so if someone is worried about his or her privacy on the facebook, what they can do is to edit their profile so that they can have only the information if share than it won’t worried them.
Matthew K
Yes, I believe it is wrong for Facebook to share information with marketers. The main reason being privacy. Many Facebook users share plenty of personal information in their profiles that marketers would just love to gain access to. Users did not agree to share this information with the marketers, especially if it is being done without them knowing.
In the short run it will not scare away Facebook users or reduce the usage of the networking site because too many people advocate Facebook. However, if Facebook continuously shares information either intentionally or not it will upset people and they may see a decline in the user population.
This was a technical issue. Facebook has never had a reputation of sharing users information with any outside sources. And the face that Facebook quickly fixed the hole shows that they care for users information and want to encourage future members that it is a safe place.
Nadine
I do not think that it is necessarily a bad thing that the marketers know that kind of info just because it is for marketing purposes. But I do not agree with some of the way facebook goes about sharing info with marketers. I feel that people should be alerted when they are going to share your information and the user should have the choice to send it out or not. This kind of thing will definately scare away facebook users just because of the sharing of information. A lot of events have happened already because the lack of privacy on facebook, that people do not feel safe using a social network such as facebook. Facebook should warn people of these kinds of this before people sign up.
Katie Sparling
Facebook users should know by now that anything posted on the popular social networking site is up for grabs. As much as we enjoy the idea of keeping “personal” information personal, the truth to the matter is it’s not, and especially so if it is on facebook. It is unfortunate that some people go to dramasitc measures to find personal information on the web, but if there is information you would like people not knowing about, the truth of the matter is, don’t put it online.
Rashida Buchanan
Facebook has access to very personal information of millions of users across the world. Facebook then becomes a very powerful tool for advertising companies, internet tracking and so forth. And it could be viewed as a breach in privacy rights for Facebook to leach out various information about its users in the benefit of these companies. The implications of this aren’t fully known but the effect could become a serious problem. However in my opinion, when people sign up for Facebook, what exactly are they looking for? I’m an avid “facebooker” myself and to my knowledge the majority of people will at least provide their name, network, current city, picture, email address, and a friends list in which they are associated with. Most people go way beyond this and provide lots of personal information for the world to see. In my opinion, this is what Facebook is for, sharing information about yourself and also viewing what others have provided for you. Therefore, if you don’t want people to know your personal information and feel this is a huge breach in privacy, you shouldn’t have signed up in the first place.
Anita Hsieh
It is extremely irresponsible and unethical for Facebook to share information with 3rd party organizations. Not only is the issue concerning the Facebook app user, but also their friends, to reap information from unaware users. There is always the need to identify with the market so new products can be produced to cater to them but this is a very back handed way of doing so. I am sure that this issue will not scare away users but it will limit personal information posted on their pages, since many users still do like the social networking aspect but will not forgo Facebook for just their privacy. Facebook should readdress their privacy agreements with users and third party app providers. I think this is more of a branding issue since the integrity of Facebook’s image will be hurt the most in this situation.
Jen
I don’t think that there is an issue with sharing information to the advertisement market from Facebook accounts. I think that Facebook in general is a personal choice to either make an account or to decline, and to not be involved in this specific social nework. In my opinion, comparing the invasion of privacy from a Facebook account, and how it affects our personal safety is quite exaggerated. We have a choice as to what we put on an account and what information we prefer to have accessible to others. I think that if a person is the type to be concerned about their safety or being hounded with junk mail, then it is their choice to remove themselves from the network. We should only let others see what we want them to see. I think in this generation we are in a vulnerable enviroment, but we should encourage ourselves to think logically, and to understand the consquence of sharing too much information. I don’t think it scares away users at all. It just increases our awareness, and in all reality, Facebook is not the only social network out there. It is popular and I think, this is why it’s feeling the pressures of the media; there are many other “loop holes” for hackers or business reps to reach our personal information.
Meghan Flint
I think that facebook is a brillaint idea but it is scary to see how our information can be violated and people might not even be aware of it. It good to know that facebook is trying to improve their privacy settings and hoping to make their users more happy and feel more safe when using their website.
Ling H
It is not a surprise that Facebook shares their user’s information with marketers. Some people think their information is not important and that is why they put it on Facebook. Facebook wants to sell this information to make money, since the website is free for the users. Maybe it is a wake up call to people to realize the information they put on Facebook is not private anymore, and they should careful what they put on Facebook.
Mahreen
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with sharing information with marketers. It is fair to say that all of us have a choice of signing up for Facebook or for any other social network for that matter and once you do sign up for it, you have a choice of what information you want to put out there and have others access it. I think the whole privacy issue is pretty overrated. I do believe that it was a technical error and Facebook is taking responsibility to fix it therefore in my opinion i really don’t find this to be a big deal.
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