Research Methodology Description Describe the case study, qualitative research, and your data collection method into a 1-2 page research methodology. Write your research methodology as a stand alone d

Running Head: SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES DATA PRIVACY POLICIES 7

Social networking sites data privacy policies

Literature Review: Social Networking Sites Data Privacy Policies

Social Networking platforms have become effective channels for real-time communication, although they pose serious privacy concerns. Lindsey (2019) presents the outcomes of a study that indicated that social media platforms are likely to profile and track individuals. The study showed that collecting information from 8-9 accounts, which she termed as the ‘“friends” of the user, could help anyone profile the user, understanding aspects like the user's leisure activities or political affiliation. This raises privacy concerns over the information the friends of the user share with an accuracy of around 95% (Lindsey, 2019). Ali and colleagues second to this idea. According to Ali and colleagues (2018), online social networks could pose a variety of threats to social media users. Some of the risks include clickjacking, fake profile accounts, identity clone attacks, information/location leakage, inference attacks, user profiling, surveillance, and cyberstalking. Furthermore, the research conducted by Ali and colleagues (2018) articulates that 54 percent of people do not read privacy statements, 46 percent use real names as their profile names, 45 percent used their real pictures as profile pictures, 52 percent do not change their passwords regularly, while 59 percent did not have password protection on their mobile devices. All these are risks that raise privacy concerns like private information being using for targeted advertising or even other friends of the user sharing a user’s personal information with other people (Aldhafferi, Watson, & Sajeev 2018).

The CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, commented on the rising number of people sharing their confidential information on social media (Sarikakis & Winter 2017). Just like Ali and colleagues (2018) affirmed that people are disregarding privacy issues, Sarikakis and Winter also noted in their study that privacy was a social norm that was becoming obsolete. The authors note that social media platforms are likely to share public information with other sites to target advertisements. They also determined that technological architectures could force users either voluntarily or involuntarily too. Privacy policies like terms and conditions imposed on social media users could likely result in users' confidential information being disclosing to malicious users and targeted marketing. Sarikakis and Winter (2017) established that only 18 percent of the participants read policy privacy statements. This value is far much higher compared to the study by Ali and colleagues (2018).

Loftsgirdon (n.d.) has a different perspective regarding the way social media platforms obtain confidential information. According to Loftsgirdon (n.d.), social media platforms are likely to collect sensitive like age, relationship status, employers, where they reside, or even their current location. The study conducted by Cambridge Analytica helped the firm collect improperly and use personal data from 87 million users. It is also common for social media platforms to track the apps that users are using or places that users often visit, helping them tailor advertisements to meet users' needs. Beye and colleagues (n.d.) also support the same perspective, who noted that social media providers pose provider-related privacy issues. For example, they cite data retention by the providers, selling of data, targeted marketing, and employees browsing confidential information to be privacy issues by social media providers. This shows that sensitive information could be shared both voluntarily and involuntarily by social media platforms.

Kuczerawy & Couder (n.d.) determined that users should be empowered to manage the information they shared. This is because most social site users lack contextual integrity, which leads to privacy issues. Kuczerawy and Couder (n.d.) pinpoint the fact that while social media platforms like Facebook tried to improve their privacy settings, they increased their visibility. This makes users more vulnerable to privacy concerns. Kuczerawy and Couder (n.d.) outline that the privacy approach may not be the way through due to the limitations the method possesses. Lindsey (2019) recommends that the easiest way to prevent profiling and tracking by social media platforms is through deleting social media accounts by users.

References

Aldhafferi, N., Watson, C., & Sajeev, A. S. (2018). Personal information privacy settings of online social networks and their suitability for mobile internet devices. International Journal of Security, Privacy and Trust Management, 2(2), 1-17. https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1305/1305.2770.pdf

Ali, S., Islam, N., Rauf, A., Din, I. U., Guizani, M., & Rodriguez, J. P. (2018). Privacy and Security Issues in Online Social Networks. Future Internet, 10(12). https://doi.org/10.3390/fi10120114

Beye, M., Jeckmans, A., Erkin, Z., Hartel, P., Lagendijk, R., & Tang, Q. (n.d.). Literature Overview - Privacy in Online Social Networks. https://ris.utwente.nl/ws/portalfiles/portal/5095526/literaturereview.pdf

Kuczerawy, A., & Couder, F. (n.d.). Privacy Settings in Social Networking Sites: Is It Fair? 6th International Summer School. https://hal.inria.fr/hal-01559469/document

Lindsey, N. (2019, February 3). New Research Study Shows That Social Media Privacy Might Not Be Possible. CPO Magazine. https://www.cpomagazine.com/data-privacy/new-research-study-shows-that-social-media-privacy-might-not-be-possible/

Loftsgirdon, A. (n.d.). Facebook's Cambridge Analytica scandal highlights the need for additional privacy laws. Social Media and Your Privacy Rights. https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/social-media-and-your-privacy-rights.html

Sarikakis, K., & Winter, L. (2017). Social Media Users’ Legal Consciousness About Privacy. Social Media + Society, 1-14. DOI: 10.1177/2056305117695325