Opinion

Facebook steals more than your status

With 500 million users and counting, Facebook, the ultimate social networking site, does many things well.

The internet juggernaut has made creator Mark Zuckerberg the world’s youngest billionaire. But perhaps, Facebook is best at destroying one’s privacy.

Every few months, Facebook comes up with a new app or feature to better connect and improve the Facebook experience. There comes a point, however, when it becomes blatantly obvious that Facebook is exploiting its users for monetary gain.

Instant Personalization allows other websites access to your public Facebook information. This information includes your name, profile picture, gender, networks, friends’ names and your friends’ public information. Only Facebook partner sites have access to this information. These sites are personalized, based on information gathered from your Facebook.

Instant Personalization is enabled on every Facebook account by default. Facebook provides plenty of information about what Instant Personalization is, but not a whole lot on how to turn it off. Disabling Instant Personalization is possible, even though it’s not exactly straightforward. And even if it’s turned off, your account and privacy are still at risk.

By agreeing to the terms of use — which every single Facebook account must agree to — one is essentially giving the OK for Facebook to use information in anyway they want.

Under the current terms of use Facebook retains all information, even from terminated accounts on back-up copies. That means every picture, every status update, every wallpost, every Facebook chat conversation — every single click on Facebook is stored and retained for a “reasonable amount of time,” even from no-longer existing accounts.

Facebook has inserted itself into many of our lives; it’s nearly impossible to break away. Social networking and Facebook not only define our generation, but shape and impact nearly everyone living in today’s world.

Things have boiled down to where Facebook is omnipresent. There is no escape from the stranglehold Facebook has on our personal information.

Facebook users uncomfortable with how little control they have over information they place on the Internet need to make wiser choices, carefully look over the terms of use when they’re next updated, and voice any concerns they have.

If we don’t declare and take back our intellectual property rights, there could be no end to what Facebook steals from us.

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