The one social networking site (SNS) I use regularly is Facebook. Just as many popular social networking sites, Facebook faces its share of privacy issues. Recent privacy issues have included Facebook making phone numbers on users' profiles public and selling access to users' consumer information. Facebook also changes its privacy settings constantly, making it difficult for users to keep up, and many users are not aware that they can customize their privacy settings. Even with customization enabled though, users have to keep up to date on the latest privacy changes, as I found out when my phone number was released publicly despite my privacy settings being customized to only show certain information, my phone number not among it.
The many changes to privacy settings and the fact that Facebook, like other online companies, sells access to users' consumer information is troubling. What makes it more so is the fact that current laws, as Boyd and Ellison point out, are not really equipped to deal with online privacy. However, if the "Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights" currently being proposed as described in a Time article (www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,2059442,00.html) is enacted, companies such as Facebook would be required to tell users what information they are selling and what it is being used for. This would be a plus in and of itself, seeing as many were unaware until recently that Facebook was even selling access to information, myself included. However, the proposed bill would also allow more regulation, which is even better.
Besides the privacy issues stemming from Facebook's actions, there are also the privacy issues relating to users' actions. Although users have the choice to make their profiles private, many either do not know how to, do not want to, or just don't care. As a result, potential employers and college admissions officers have been known to view applicants' profiles for any material that would change their decision to hire or admit them. Since the profile is public, there is really no legal reason why they cannot do this. However, what if, as Boyd and Ellison point out, the police were to do something similar? The question then becomes, is the information truly public? Or is a warrant necessary? As Boyd and Ellison say, social networking sites like Facebook "are challenging legal conceptions of privacy."
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