Most, if not all, of us at one point or another have signed up for some kind of online account, and mindlessly clicked to agree when the privacy policy pops up. But have you ever taken the time to actually read through it? Do you know what exactly websites can gather about you? Well today we are going to take a look at Facebook’s very large, and very in-depth privacy policy.
What shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone, Facebook collects any information that you create/ provide. This includes posts, messages, registering for accounts, and also can even include the ability to see through the camera feature that Facebook provides. They also collect things such as your usage, your interactions with people through the service, and payment information when you make a purchase using their features. Facebook also reserves the right to collect data about what device you are accessing the service from, and most shocking, they have the right to obtain information from “partners” which can tell them information such as the websites you visit, what you buy, and even what games you play.
I asked a member of the Washington and Lee Class of 2024 how she felt about Facebook’s ability to view your camera when using that feature on their service. She responded, “It makes me a little uncomfortable that Facebook is able to see everything that I see, everything that is surrounding [me], it kinda feels into my personal space. If it’s something I’m posting I think it’s fine because it is something that will be for the open world. But if I am just looking around they will be able to know where I am and what I am doing which makes me uncomfortable.”
Facebook continues in the Privacy Policy to explain that they use this information to personalize and improve products, and offer personalized advertisements.
This information is shared in many different ways. The first, which is obvious, is when you post content you get to choose who is able to see it. The second, which is more concerning, is the information collected about you is shared with third party partners, which includes advertisers, analytics, and law enforcement.
Your data is stored either until Facebook has no further use for it or until you delete your account. However, information others have posted about you will remain on the servers.
Facebook’s privacy policy was relatively easy to read, requiring little if any deep knowledge about legal practices regarding privacy. They very clearly lay out exactly what information they obtain from you, and where it goes. I was quite shocked that Facebook has the ability to view what you are looking at through the camera, as was the individual I interviewed.
When reading through this policy, I could not help but think of The New York Times article, “Cambridge Analytica and the Secret Agenda of a Personality Quiz,” which gave great insight into the boundless limits that your data may be used for, and how many people were questioning if it was okay that they had collected this much data on individuals. According to this policy, that is well within the bounds in which Facebook may share your respective data. Whether this will change in the future, as it is still a relatively new commodity, is still unknown. It is safe to assume for now that everything you do, post, or say on the internet is there to stay.
https://www.facebook.com/policy.php
Funk, McKenzie. “Cambridge Analytica and the Secret Agenda of a Facebook Quiz.” The New York Times, 17 Mar. 2018. NYTimes.com, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/20/opinion/cambridge-analytica-facebook-quiz.html.
