With Facebook’s pronouncement of their plan last January, users are worried and threatened as to their online safety. The company has just made open that it plans to permit third-party developers to gain access to users’ information. It was made clear that Facebook would only limit their permission to home addresses and phone numbers of users. At first it would show that there is nothing to be bothered about “letting loose” of such information. Others would not even lift a finger over the issue.
Many groups and some individuals have raised fears, asking Facebook to discontinue its plan. Some even wrote private letters to CEO Mark Zuckerberg advising him to shelve it. The subject seems to be so critical that it has started a huge movement rejecting the plan. Even those users who know less about identity theft have also expressed their alarm. Behavioral tracking is becoming more and more widespread. Many data marketing companies have accumulated much money out of data that they have secretly gathered. However, with Facebook’s arrangement of “freely” giving out user data, these companies do not have to “hide” their covert activities. On the other side, users will be open and defenseless targets of people who could harm them.
It may be good information to recognize what could be done with a user’s phone number and home address. Anybody with ample knowledge on data mining techniques would know that these two hold more than that information. These would open to other user information such as date of birth, e-mail address, or even estimated income. An identity theft could mine practically all other data he would need for his or her hidden agenda. The thief could apply for a loan or credit card in the name of the unsuspicious Facebook user.
New technologies have enabled families and friends all over the world to be in contact. One after the other, growth of these technologies has also made it easier to share data and information. Alongside with these, people have become not careful in uploading their personal data without thinking of the consequences. Then technology that allowed third parties to secretly “steal” data over the internet became fully developed. This gave rise to a dilemma that users have to fight against, or just to live with – the problem of privacy.
So much personal information has been made available into the hands of big companies and third parties. Facebook holds tens of millions of this data. Pushing through with its plan would not only put in danger their direct clients. It would include their customers’ friends and families whose data are also “attached”. To prevent such disaster and to protect its users, Facebook should undo its plan.
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