Assignment #4

            After going through my Facebook archive there were a few things I found to be very interesting. First of all, there were some messages in my saved messages that I know I had deleted a while ago, most of the time because I don’t want to remember that conversation I had. Yet, there were many of those conversations on my messages files. In addition, there seemed to be some messages missing. I know I have talked to some of my best friends a lot on Facebook, most of the time about useless stuff and some of those conversations were not on this log. I am kind of disappointed about this, because it would have been really funny to read some of those conversations. My question about this is what messages does Facebook choose to save? Or do they have all of them saved and didn’t disclose them to me when I sent in my request?

            I believe this is not invasion of privacy, as long as this information is not publically shared. When someone uses Facebook they need to realize that everything they send and do, Facebook can obviously see. This can also be useful for some people because of bullying issue and all the problems that can come from this technology being available. If Facebook is using my information to gather general information about my demographic, I believe that is fine as I see it no different than any other service people use. Yet, if Facebook were to specifically look at my information and give info about me specifically, which I hope they are not doing, then I would see a problem with that. 

Assignment 4

I first got my Facebook at the end of my Freshman year of high school. Just looking through the first messages I ever sent, I can't believe I sounded/wrote like that. It's kind of funny. The way I wrote was like text lingo now a days, like, you- u, are-r, be- b, and so on. As I looked through the messages, continuously making my way from Freshman year to now, it amazes me how my writing style has changed. I like the idea that we can see everything we do/have done in the past. I think it's neat. For me, it's a way to stay in touch with my old self and see how I've matured and progressed over the years.

Next I looked through my pictures and videos. I remember all the videos I uploaded, but some of the pictures of me I posted way back when I totally forgot about. Reflecting on it now, I kind of wonder why I even posted what I did. But I was young and stupid, so that's probably why!

My thoughts about Facebook storing all of this information is neutral. I understand and have been told numerous times that anything I put on the web is vulnerable and accessible to pretty much anyone.  Therefore, I am in favor of Facebook storing all of this information. For me, it's a way to control what I should and shouldn't post in the future. I'm not necessarily against Facebook storing all of this information, but it's just creepy. It's scary how much I've actually done on Facebook, and the fact that all of it is stored and visible for me to see is just too weird.

I know we've all been told that whatever we put on Facebook, Twitter, etc. is likely to be checked by our future employers.  With this in mind, I generally keep my Facebook pretty clean with regards to statuses, photos, and videos. If I do feel the need to use some vulgar language, for example, I'll use Twitter because I believe most employers place a heavier emphasis on Facebook instead of Twitter, but that's my opinion.  Seeing my Facebook archive today showed me that I indeed have kept my Facebook clean, and I will continue to do so in the future.

Online Assignment #4

Looking at my facebook info was pretty interesting, I actually sent some of my friends old, very strange, and very nerdy conversations we had when we were in eighth grade and really cool. It was nice having everything laid out so I could get a better perception of how I portray myself over facebook. However, it’s pretty unsettling realizing how much information facebook has about my life, now that I think about it; I’ve poured a lot of faith into the website with my personal information. All of the conversation’s I’ve had with friends are recorded and stored, many of which I had forgotten about a long time ago. I don’t like that fact that facebook has access to all of this information; it makes me wonder what authority the creators have to handle that immense amount of data. I do understand that it’s convenient for advertisers to pin point their target audience more accurately and effectively through the things we express interest in. I can understand the purpose of keeping tabs on the things we like and the music we listen to and other information we provide about ourselves (such as schools we attend, where we work, etc.) since it is something I’m okay with the public to see. As far as tracking locations of photos taken on iphones and keeping a log of every time we sign on like we saw in the video we watched in lecture, I don’t see the purpose. It’s unnecessary information for facebook to have if they only want to figure out what we’d be most capable of purchasing. Although we all agree to post our personal information on the internet, we do it because we are lead to believe that it is private and secure. If that personal information were provided to anyone other than me then it really would be a violation of privacy and we deserve to be aware of when people such as employers, future schools, or advertisers ever want to have a closer look at our pages.

Online Assignment #4: Facebook Archive

As I was looking through my Facebook archive a few things came to my attention right away:
1. I rarely go on Facebook and post or do anything noteworthy
2. Even though I am rarely "active" how much information they know about me
3. The type of information they know about me.

Like I said, I rarely use Facebook in general. I never post anything, I have less than 300 pictures and the majority of them are ones I am tagged in rather than ones I posted myself, I will sometimes message people if I dont have their phone number, and every once in a while I will post "Happy Birthday" to someone's wall. That being said I really don't have as much information archived as many people do just because I am less active and use Facebook in a different way.

However, I was amazed at how much information they do have based off how little I use it. Every conversation I have ever had with anyone, dating back to 2009 when I first got my Facebook, is in their archive of my profile. I was surprised how they differentiate the 'pictures' category too. It was separated by every album, then the pictures with me in them, and then the ones that were synced off my phone.

Another thing that I didn't realize until this week is that everyone of my "interests," "likes," or anything else to show what I find amusing is all right there for Facebook to use readily. It also makes sense to me now, seeing what I have as interests and matching them up with what advertisements pop up on my side bar.

Based off looking through all of the information I searched through I am split on the 'invasion of privacy' topic. I completely understand that Facebook is primarily a business and that we are using their product, but I don't feel Facebook should have the ability to archive every message I have ever sent. I don't think my messages I have with my friends or family on Facebook should have/do have any impact on what products I am advertised. By all means, the interests and 'likes' show advertisers what I enjoy and that is how Facebook makes money. I just don't believe every word I ever post or message on Facebook needs to be archived.

Online Assignment 4 - Facebook archive

I recently reactivated my Facebook account to look through the contents in my archive. To be honest, I was not surprised about the information that I found in my archive – that’s because I was not an active user of Facebook. I only used it to keep up with friends I wasn’t too familiar with it, and thus rarely made updates or posted pictures on my account. Moreover, because I refused to update or fill in my personal information list (including the various schools I have attended during my life, my political beliefs, etc.), I was relatively jaded by the information that I received from Facebook. In retrospect, most of the data from my Facebook account consisted of friends (and people that I’m not too familiar with) posting on my wall (or rather, attempting to) in hopes of getting me to use Facebook.

On a related note, I think that it is Facebook’s prerogative to store the information that individuals post (which, ironically, turns out to be the principal reason why I have declined to use their services). I do not think that it is an invasion of privacy. Rather, because Facebook’s user agreement and services (EULA) specify what the company is able to do, I have no complaints to make. As well, we are taught to be vigilant in the Internet, by many individuals (including various respected authorities, such as the local Louisville government), but also from several organisations, including government regulators. In other words, because so many authorities have warned us to be careful about posting data (that can potentially be sensitive), I am of the opinion that the storing of information of individuals is a ‘reasonable provision of services.’

Online Assignment 4 - Facebook

Facebook Profile Download Response

Let me be the first one to say that I thought doing this was probably the most interesting thing I have done on my laptop in a long time. 

The first place I went to in my downloaded profile was my videos.  I did not remember almost all of the videos that I posted on Facebook until I watched all of them again and relived those moments.  There was a video I made in high school for a class project, a video of my and my friends on my boat, and much more.  Needless to say those videos brought me back to those good times for sure.

Additionally, I made the mistake of going through all my messages as well.  You can definitely tell how many times I went through phases with girls during my Facebook career, as evident of the number of messages being exchanged back and forth.  Some flings were obviously better than others, and the messages were an interesting way of reliving some of those moments.  

One thing that struck me as surprising is that all the messages that I ever sent were not included in the packet.  I know this because I dated a girl for a significant length of time and there are only a couple conversations included in the packet.  Maybe Facebook knows something I do not know by deleting these messages so I cannot reread them! 

As far as judging how creepy or weird this is, I must say I really do not have a problem with it.  As long as my messages are not available for anyone to see, I do not have a problem with looking into my profile and giving me relevant ads to my page.  In all honesty I would rather have ads that are tailored to my interests than being bombarded by random ads for diapers or something of the sort.  I don't know how much information advertisers know about me, and I am really ok with that.  I believe this is a case where the least you know, the better off you will be.  

Facebook Archive (Online Assignment #4)

As scary as it is to know that all of that can be obtained by anyone if they try hard enough, regardless of privacy settings is slightly frightening, however I can’t say that we haven’t been warned. We are told time after time that everything you put online stays on there forever, so that part of it doesn’t seem to phase me too much. The scary part for me, was how cool I thought I was when I first got my Facebook. Between the pages I liked and my favorite quotations, I have now reconfirmed my suspicions of just how strange I was(/am).

I think Facebook should be allowed to store this information, again considering we knew what we were getting ourselves into and that they are willing to share with us all that they are collecting. It’s the information they do not display openly that slightly bothers me simply because I feel like we have the right to know what they are storing. I wish I could see what happens with pictures I am tagged in of someone else’s and also what happens when I untag myself from a picture, like whether it still identifies that picture with me.

All in all, I think it is somewhat reasonable for them to be able to collect and store this kind of information but I hope that they elect not to use this against its users in negative ways because I think that will be when there are revolts.