http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/oct/17/facebook-privacy-restrictions-under-18s-public
This article focuses on how the social networking site Facebook has loosen privacy restrictions for users under the age of 18 which previously limited who could see their online posts. Now, teenagers can post updates globally and manually alter the settings and share information with the public. Whereas before, posts from users under 18 could only be viewed by their friends or friends of a friend. It is stated that Facebook is in competition for young users with other social media services such as WhatsApp and SnapChat.
The reason why Facebook changed there privacy setting for teenager users is to further their business which was stated by the executive director of the non-profit Center for Digital Democracy, Jeffery Chester. Notably, other media services also allow teens to share information with the broader public and therefore it is no harm for Facebook to do the same. Moreover, Facebook also allows teenage users to use the 'Follow' feature which is would let strangers to automatically receive public posts from another user without the users being connected on the service as mutual friends. Evidently, these changes will stay perminent.
Overall, to some extent I believe Facebook changes are unethical for young teenagers as it will not protect them from strangers or even phedophiles knowing about their background and finding out more about them. This shows, that there are dangers to the changes and as a result teenagers need to be careful about what they post online because it can be viewed globally.
2 comments:
I agree with Navneet's opinion about the Facebook changes becoming more global is dangerous towards a younger audience as strangers or even paedophiles could access background information about them, therefore they would need to be careful what they post online. There have been many incidents due to social networking sites such as the 'Ask.fm' incident so I think users should be aware and be careful of who they talk to and post up.
I agree with Navneet on the change that facebook is making could be very dangerous through the fact that people who post certain information about where they are or even if they've got a "free yard" would attract strangers and paedophiles to stalk them. Also, a lot of young people who use facebook don't know the ways of the world therefore being very naive thus without even knowing could give away personal information about themselves.
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