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Chapter 4 Ethical and Social Issues in Information Systems 189

million are willingly sharing information that could allowing it to be shared and made public. Facebook
be used against them in some way. That includes agreed to obtain user consent before making any
plans to travel on a particular day, which burglars change to that user’s privacy preferences, and to sub-
could use to time robberies, or Liking a page about mit to bi-annual privacy audits by an independent
a particular health condition or treatment, which firm for the next 20 years. Privacy advocate groups
insurers could use to deny coverage. 13 million users like the Electronic Privacy Information Center
have never adjusted Facebook’s privacy controls, (EPIC) want Facebook to restore its more robust pri-
which allow friends using Facebook applications to vacy settings from 2009, as well as to offer complete
unwittingly transfer your data to a third party with- access to all data it keeps about its users. Facebook
out your knowledge. Credit card companies and has also come under fire from EPIC for collecting
other similar organizations have begun engaging information about users who are not even logged
in “weblining”, taken from the phrase redlining, by into Facebook or may not even have accounts on
altering their treatment of you based on the actions Facebook. Facebook keeps track of activity on other
of other people with profiles similar to yours. sites that have Like buttons or “recommendations”
Ninety-three percent of people polled believe widgets, and records the time of your visit and your
that Internet companies should be forced to ask IP address when you visit a site with those features,
for permission before using your personal informa- regardless of whether or not you click on them.
tion, and 72 percent want the ability to opt out of While U.S. Facebook users have little recourse to
online tracking. Why, then, do so many people share access data that Facebook has collected on them,
sensitive details of their life on Facebook? Often it’s users from other countries have made inroads in this
because users do not realize that their data are being regard. An Austrian law student was able to get a full
collected and transmitted in this way. A Facebook copy of his personal information from Facebook’s
user’s friends are not notified if information about Dublin office, due to the more stringent consumer
them is collected by that user’s applications. Many privacy protections in Ireland. The full document
of Facebook’s features and services are enabled by was 1,222 pages long and covered three years of
default when they are launched without notify- activity on the site, including deleted Wall posts and
ing users. And a study by Siegel+Gale found that messages with sensitive personal information and
Facebook’s privacy policy is more difficult to compre- deleted e-mail addresses.
hend than government notices or typical bank credit It isn’t just text-based data that Facebook is stock-
card agreements, which are notoriously dense. Next piling, either. Facebook is also compiling a biometric
time you visit Facebook, click on Privacy Settings, database of unprecedented size. The company stores
and see if you can understand your options. more than 60 billion photos on its servers and that
Facebook’s value and growth potential is deter- number grows by 250 million each day. A recent
mined by how effectively it can leverage the per- feature launched by Facebook called Tag Suggest
sonal data is aggregated about its users to attract scans photographs using facial recognition technol-
advertisers. Facebook also stands to gain from man- ogy. When Tag Suggest was launched, it was enabled
aging and avoiding the privacy concerns raised by its for many users without opting in. This database
users and government regulators. For Facebook users has value to law enforcement and other organiza-
that value the privacy of their personal data, this tions looking to compile profiles of users for use in
situation appears grim. But there are some signs that advertising. EPIC also has demanded that Facebook
Facebook might become more responsible with its stop creating facial recognition profiles without user
data collection processes, whether by its own volition consent.
or because it is forced to do so. As a publicly traded In 2012, as part of the settlement of another
company, Facebook now invites more scrutiny from class-action lawsuit, Facebook agreed to allow users
investors and regulators because, unlike in the past, to opt in to its Sponsored Stories service, which
their balance sheets, assets, and financial reporting serves advertisements that highlight products and
documents are readily available. businesses that your Facebook friends are using.
In August 2012, Facebook settled a lawsuit with Now, users can control and see which of their
the FTC in which they were barred from misrepre- actions on Facebook generate advertisements that
senting the privacy or security of users’ personal their friends will see. Sponsored Stories are one of
information. Facebook was charged with deceiving the most effective forms of advertising on Facebook
its users by telling them they could keep their infor- because they don’t seem like advertisements at all
mation on Facebook private, but then repeatedly to most users. Facebook had previously argued that

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