What rights do we have over our own social capital?
Assignment 4
Rany Mishal
3/5/2016
The definition of social capital is the amount of online networks we make through social media. The more you have the more social capital you have and the less you have networks the less social capital you’ll have. Data tracking is when companies literally by definition track your online surfing information and have a record for themselves. They then use that information that they gathered on you; that you helped them gather, and then use it for advertising purposes. When a big name social media company such as Facebook tracks your information they store it and then are contacted by advertising agencies looking to advertise their said product online. Facebook then takes the adverts but does not post them to everyone but to certain people they feel would be interested in that product based off of their social media history that Facebook was kind enough to track for them. In this situation we are left without any privacy, and advertising companies don’t get the full value of their investments. A personal example was during 2009 when a friend asked me on Facebook in a private message if I had to pick a car what would I get. Having not been that knowledgeable in cars and how to choose them I asked my older cousin who is very interested and well learned in cars in another Facebook message. The next day I received countless ads for convertibles that I should buy and found many articles that explain in detail how to pick the right car. If data tracking extends this far then there really isn’t anything that they don’t already know about is there? Also take into consideration these companies that may or may not be losing money because they can’t even know for a fact how much of their ads are out there in the public due to social media networks choosing to conceal the distribution process. The only control we have over our investments in online social networks is to simply stop using them. But, by continuing to use them and accept the terms and conditions that are set by for example, Facebook, then we are willingly accepting to not have a choice in what is done with our information. The company even posts ads urging “HR Recruiters — Click Here Now!” and asking women to submit their boyfriends’ email addresses for an analysis of their online photos and activities to learn “Is He Cheating on You?” (Andrews, 2012) Is this really where we have come? These companies seek to obtain your information and find ways to sell it to others so that you can be left defamed and they make a buck.
“No service provider shall offer or charge discriminatory tariffs for data services on the basis of content,” ruled the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. As Zuckerburg tries to continue to expand his global reach for information, his attempts land him in India where he is trying to offer the locals free internet and Facebook use so that he can gather even more information from people. And India alone with its population should help in the revenue that they’re planning on bringing in. However, the India looked past these offers of friendship for what they really are, just another way to gather information on people.
In the end the big name social media networking companies get all the benefits and scrap away at companies and their money as well as the privacy of each individual. There is an alternative however, thanks to Firefox and their new private browser you can go anywhere search anything log in anywhere and not be tracked. Other platforms have private browsing as well, Google chrome, Microsoft Edge, Pandora, Apples’ Safari and many others. But, data tracking still occurs when in this private mode. Not in Firefox, you won’t have those problems there; all you need to worry about is just how private your conversation really will be.
Bibliography:-
Andrews, L. (2012, February 04). Facebook is using you. The New York times, p. 2.
India blocks Zuckerberg’s free net app. (n.d.). Bbc.
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