Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
information they provide is, such as family information, hometown, photograph of
users' face, old school name, political view, religious affiliation, date of birth and so
on, the better the analysis for friend recommendation and friend search. Through
the mechanism, it is possible to increase the number of Facebook users, and to
enhance its value from the standpoint of the advertising media. In particular,
personally identifiable information is useful for encouraging users' participation
on Facebook, because it is observed that this information is more closely related to
the real life of the users, and users have a tendency to trust information posted by
the users revealing their real names.
13.2.3 Privacy Settings and Users' Responsibility
As pointed out earlier, discussions over user privacy protection on SNS like
Facebook have been central to this business model. In order to deal with widespread
concerns over information privacy, almost all SNS provide privacy settings as well
as other online services to allay users' fears. On a typical privacy setting, the user
can define to what extent they disclose their personal information on the website.
However, some argue that such privacy settings are not easy to understand
(e.g. Lawler and Molluzzo
2007
) and accordingly do not work well to protect
information privacy. Needless to say, these settings and privacy policies need
continual improvement. In the case of Facebook, users should take responsibility
to disclose their personal information with the privacy options Facebook provides.
Facebook gives its users little alternative to using their actual names. Facebook
states that users' accounts could be deleted if the user selects a nickname in the
“Statement of Rights and Responsibilities” as follows (complete details can be
found at:
http://en-gb.facebook.com/legal/terms
)
.
4. Registration and Account Security statement
Facebook users provide their real names and information, and we need your help to keep
it that way. Here are some commitments you make to us relating to registering and
maintaining the security of your account:
1. You will not provide any false personal information on Facebook, or create an
account for anyone other than yourself without permission.
2. You will not create more than one personal profile. If we disable your account, you
will not create another one without our permission.
......
10. If you select a username for your account we reserve the right to remove or reclaim it
if we believe appropriate (such as when a trademark owner complains about a username
that does not closely relate to a user's actual name).
In fact, it has been reported that users who do not use their real names on
Facebook were expelled from using Facebook without warning.
5
5
See, Facebook giveth, Facebook taketh away (
http://www.smh.com.au/news/web/facebook-
¼
