There are other social networks with privacy concerns
As you might have noticed, we’ve spent quite a bit of time over the past year looking at the privacy issues surrounding social networks.
While we released the report into our investigation of Facebook in July, in recent weeks we have also made public other research we have commissioned.
Last week, it was a report on a series of focus groups examining Canadian’s attitudes towards privacy on social networks. These were originally held in December 2008, and seem to confirm observations made in the U.S. and Europe: the users of social networks will say they are concerned about their privacy online, will argue that they have taken steps to protect their privacy, but will gradually admit that they don’t invest too much time or thought into the process.
This week, we are releasing a research paper that examines the privacy protections available on social networks popular with Canadians: Facebook, Linkedin, Livejournal, MySpace, Hi5 and Skyrock.
This paper, by Jennifer Barrigar, was not meant as an exhaustive examination of these networks’ privacy practices: instead, it should provide users with a general indication of the protection each network provides. It also lists a number of steps social networks of any stripe can take to make themselves more privacy protective and respectful of the information their users make available.
As I note in a foreword to the paper, Jennifer originally finished her work in February 2009. As we all know, many social networks and online services regularly revise their privacy policies and improve the protections they make available to their users. As a result, you will likely find that this paper is out of date in places (say, the Facebook section).
Nevertheless, we are releasing the paper because we feel it is an important contribution to an ongoing discussion about privacy protection in social networks – and on many other online services. Jennifer’s observations serve as a useful reminder to these services that their users are increasingly expecting more from their providers.
6 Responses
4:05 pm
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Scott Elcomb. Scott Elcomb said: There are other social networks with privacy concerns http://bit.ly/1nfInb (Office of the Privacy Commissioner) #privacy [...]
12:45 pm
What I would have liked to see in that report is an overview about the way these networks treat disclosure of user data to governments.
If all of a user’s life is stored in an SNS profile, a disclosure would most likely reveal more than could ever be obtained if e.g. police raided the user’s apartment. It is also completely unclear to me as to what the legal requirements are for disclosure in those countries where the SNS are located. Given the seriousness/impact of a disclosure, it would be very good to know e.g. if a warrant were required for investigators to obtain the data.
Other than that, thank you very much for the detailed report.
6:16 pm
[...] it was finished on February, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada released last 25th September a research paper that examines the privacy protections available on social [...]
3:00 pm
[...] 5. Yes social networking is redrawing the line between public/private. My rule of thumb – err on the side of caution and treat online participation as more public than private. I assume that how I present yourself online always has a an impact on my personal reputation and the reputation of my employer. (Writing this, it occurs to me that it’s probably no different in the private sector.) By the by, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner has been doing great work on privacy issues around social networking. [...]
10:40 am
I have a concern about the Privacy Commissioner’s stance on employer’s rights to use private information about a person in the hiring process. Employers are restricted from using certain kinds of information (e.g., marital and family status) in hiring. I feel that employers should also be restricted from prying into people’s personal lives unless the behavior they are focusing on is illegal or directly relevant to the job being performed. With young people, in particular, they have a right to be young and to post silly, legal pictures about themselves and their friends. People also have a right to free association in this country. However, in my opinion, the Privacy Commissioner is not acting to protect the rights of Canadians to live legal lives publicly or privately. So what if a person posts a photo of themselves and their friends on the net? Employers should not have the right to decide who your friends are or whether they like the fact that you do or don’t engage in various hobbies and legal activities in your youth or as an adult. Our freedom of expression, association, and speech is sadly going to be eroded if people do not have the right to live their lives without the 24/7 perpetual scrutiny and judgement by corporate bosses who might or might not like our personal politics or associates. Everybody has a responsibility to protect themselves from identity theft and to have personal information not misused by governments or other corporate organizations. We also have a right to be individuals and to live our lives freely within the bounds of the law. I think the Privacy Commissioner is missing the boat here and failing to protect our rights to be individuals. I did try to tell this to the Privacy Commissioner’s office; however, after not being called back and finally reaching a person in the office with whom I could speak, I was laughed at, then the person indicated that they were not interested in my point of view, which were just “theories” according to him, and then he hung up. Wow. I’m not sure my interests are being served by that kind of a closed-minded attitude. Basically, what the Privacy Commissioner is saying is “Big Brother is watching you, and that’s okay with us.” Shouldn’t the Privacy Commissioner being more concerned about Big Brother and what is being monitored and used against in the hiring process? If we aren’t concerned about this, we will open the doors even wider to a form of new-age McCarthyism in Canada. New employment questions will be not “are you a communist” but “have you ever done anything we just don’t like, whatever that may be.”
11:31 am
Just wondering why, after several months, my comment is awaiting moderation still. Privacy is important, but isn’t freedom of speech, as well?
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