Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, and many other social networking websites have

grown in popularity in recent years. Recent events involving child predators and
other dangerous individuals using these sites have raised concerns about safety.
Some view social networking websites with suspicion because they have limited
understanding of what these sites really are or how they work. Used responsibly,
social networking sites do not pose a danger or threat to anyone. Social
networking has moved far from just meeting people and staying in touch with
friends or family. It has brought down and changed governments, it has changed
the way some companies does business. This paper will explore some why I
believe social networking is a viable tool for society.
Facebook monitors how third parties use your personal data, however, they also
state they cannot guarantee "that third parties will follow Facebook's privacy
policy) ergo, if you don't want your privacy violated, then you probably want to
reconsider joining Facebook or other social networks. The definition of "privacy
is subjective, however, things like personal information such as name, living and
working locations, job, career, education, income, relationship status, contact
information, and bank information should be safeguarded at all costs to prevent
things like stalking, identity theft, fraud, and other attempts to undermine a
person's life.
While the threat of hacking and online theft programs is very prevalent, there
are measures out there that can be used to benefit us and help keep our
information private. For example, while the intended consequences of Facebook
and online banking are to make our lives easier and more convenient, the
unintended consequences are of course the ever evolving ability of computer
hackers to steal our privacy information. However, Facebook is jumping on the
bandwagon for fear of lawsuits, and is quickly installing a HTTPS to enable its
users to onnect to social networking with secure and encrypted features.
However, Facebook is using this and allowing the user to choose this or not
because it will not automatically default to this security feature (Bradley, 2010).

Another concern is protecting user's data from Facebook itself, not other
agencies. However, again from an objective point of view, if you do not want
your information available to Facebook, why create the account and post
personal and private information on an online website? This is where we can
get into an ethical and pseudo-ethical debate on what is considered "private
when you put it out there in your blog. It's not all bad, Facebook has reunited
family's, long lost friends, and is helping police officers catch the bad guys,
however, like anything, too much can be bad for you. "There is a growing
awareness as well as resentment of the routine practice of recording, analyzing,
and communicating information about individuals as they act and transact in the
normal course of their commercial and public lives.

The information in question is taken into the possession of and used by

whomever collects it and from there may be transmitted-usually electronically,
usually for a fee or favor-to others-second parties, third parties, fourth parties,
and so on (Nissenbaum, 1998). Put in other words, the convenience of our online
social networking and availability of information will cause the inconvenience of
the following: "Our revolution will not be in gathering data don't look for TV
cameras in your bedroom but in analyzing then formation that is already
willingly shared" (Nissenbaum, 1998). Explanation: If the information is already
in a database or available for wide access, it is hard to argue that it is private.
In some contexts, the terms "private" and "public" are associated respectively
with family and private or intimate relations, while public indicates a civic realm
or community outside of the personal one. These contextual and dichotomy of
realms in the way of ascertaining what is considered "private, is causing some
legal issues and subjective interpretations of what is "private and "public."
"The public/private distinction has sometimes been taken to reflect differences
between appropriate scope of government, as opposed to self-regulation by
individuals (DeCrew, 1999). This lack of being able to really understand and
distinguish at our Macro-level of society has created issues with privacy with
social networking sites, more popular with Facebook at the moment.
Another context and school of thought is the "means of maintaining the
traditionally valued valance of power between government and private
individuals." While Facebook and other social networking agencies are in fact
privately owned, they are being used to promote Presidential candidates such as
our current President. Facebook was used for students that support