In the News
Another Facebook slip up. In Facebook admits harvesting 1.5 million people’s email contacts without consent, Jon Porter at The Verge discusses the unauthorized collection of email addresses and contacts from Facebook users for almost three years. Porter states that Facebook requested email account verification requiring users to enter their email passwords which allowed Facebook to access email account contacts. Porter elaborates that Facebook has not used the information for malicious purposes and has stopped the practice.
Our Take
Facebook can’t seem to do much right these days, but that might benefit users in the long run, at least when it comes to learning a valuable lesson. It is far too easy and familiar to trust social media platforms and online accounts with copious amounts of your information because it seems like an obvious practice for a company that wants to keep your business. However, we have seen more and more frequently that this is not always the case. Maintaining user privacy is not often a top priority for companies, and data misuse have capitalized on this consumer trust in sneaky ways. Facebook should know better than to steal user contact information, but they have proven time and time again that user privacy and transparency are not their main priorities. N the consumer end, we need to be more vigilant about the information we put online, especially when it comes to entering our passwords and other account information. Making sure that we are proactive about our account security is the best first step towards a future of more universal consumer privacy.
Recommendations
How can you protect the security and privacy of your social media accounts?
- Understand the risks of putting your personal information into the world, and only share what you have to
- Refrain from choosing passwords that contain a simple word or phrase–create strong passwords and change them periodically – the longer, the better.
- Use privacy settings on your accounts when they are available
- Know your rights when it comes to data use and storage
- Utilize additional security/privacy measures and settings on apps, accounts, and platforms whenever possible