Privacy

 

My term paper was about privacy in new media, especially the social media. Social media privacy has become a controversial issue. Social media platforms were created for the goal of connecting people and making our lives more convenient, however, these platforms are offered to users for free and therefore social media companies look elsewhere to sustain their business and generate profit for shareholders. In order to profit social media companies like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram sell ads and also collect social media users’ data and sell those for marketing and development purposes and most of this data is collected without users’ knowledge. Although these social media giants state that users own their intellectual properties, due to lack of laws protecting internet users, these companies do not allow users to access their platform unless the user signs license-able right. Although law makers and government agencies have put in some efforts to protect users and limit social media platforms from collecting users data, their efforts have not been enough and the practice of data collection and selling it continues to happen. Social media companies have provided great platforms to people and have changed the way we connect forever, but this great free service comes at the cost of losing our privacy and intellectual rights. Under the current conditions you might want to think twice before posting a photo or comment even privately.