Privacy

Privacy on Social Media can be a very difficult thing to come by these days. With several people saying the NSA is watching everything we do and say, to Facebook’s several security issues, it seems people are on both sides of the fence on these issues. In the reading for class, some of the polls said a good amount of people could care less about Facebook’s security issues, and they will continue to use the platform, regardless if their information is at risk or not. I choose Facebook out of the group, because they have had some of the most shocking problems out of the Social Media platforms. Also, location is something that is my greatest technological fear aside from AI. No matter how badly I want to get rid of my phone, I know I live in a part of the world that is technology dependent, and I wouldn’t be able to function properly if I didn’t have technology as well. Which is why my end goal is being in a place where technology isn’t the equivalent of our supreme overlord.

A huge problem going on with Social Media and Facebook, is phishing. Phishing is where a scam uses the cover of being the Sites moderator, or the sites security team, telling you that something has gone wrong, and they need you to send your information to them to help fix your account. Or, in specific, one that has been sweeping Facebook, is a message telling you, you are going to be deleted for abuse, and the only way to stop this is to send the scam your updated payment and log in information. These scammers are able to dress up this scam and make it look legit, and sadly a lot of people fall for it. Of course, these scams seem to be getting better, due to the increase in the quality of technology and all the things one can do with it. This problem is present everywhere, and currently at TLU they are telling all students and staff to be on the look out for phishing emails, and they have told students very directly to be on the look-out and not interact with them in any way. As far as a solution to this problem, I don’t see a solution in black and white. With this type of scam, there may have to be a lot of moving parts in order to really be effective in regulating these types of scams.

A concern I’ve always had about privacy currently would be the location feature that seems to be in every piece of equipment made in today’s age. I see location as having many positive benefits. These could include missing person location, and many helpful ads-ons for maps and apps like it. The other side of the coin is how in depth and accurate they have made these locating systems make me a bit nervous. Take Snapchat’s map for example. Currently, you have the option to go into a ghost mode (Thank god) so it doesn’t show you on the map, but the accuracy of this map is a bit scary. It will tell you as far down as the street they are on, where exactly they are at, and how long ago they were there. I’m sorry, but that isn’t worrisome in the slightest?? Of course, they have the option of the ghost mode, so it isn’t all that bad. When you go a level deeper although, you start to get into the location services of the phone itself. I have the strong suspicion that it doesn’t really matter if you have your phone location on or not, it is still able to be located. I’ve had a few situations where my location has been turned off, but when I get done eating somewhere, a notification from Google pops up, asking me to give a review of the place. So, no matter where I am, I always seem to have the constant reminder of being able to be located at the push of a button.

In Conclusion, Phishing is something that Social Media platforms have to adapt to and fight against. There are always going to be people that want to take advantage of others and are always going to do so. I think to minimize scams and privacy breaches like these, the consumer needs to be heavily educated on what the most common type of scams are and know not to engage with the messages they send. Location management seems to be the fear I am never going to get away from, unless I go live out in the middle of nowhere. Location is something that is extremely beneficial, but also comes with some things consumers may not totally feel comfortable about. Although, maybe that is the correct way to go, we can’t remain in our comfort zones forever.

https://thehackernews.com/2011/11/exposing-25-facebook-phishing-websites.html