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Zane Kingery

ENGL 1102

Prof. Arnold

11 May 2011

Public Argument Letter

Dear Marshall Kirkpatrick,

Privacy online is becoming a major issue with the growing number of people using the

internet and social networking websites daily. With over 500 million active Facebook users

(Facebook), there will almost always be privacy issues. Issues may include but are not limited

to cyber-bullying, cyber-predators, and large companies that use data mining as a way to

increase advertisement. I agree with you that having a personal account on Facebook will

result in a loss of privacy in a person’s life, and that privacy is a fundamental human right. I also

agree that in general, people are becoming more comfortable posting their personal

information on the internet. This being said, maybe it is not the fault of websites as much as

the fault of the users of the websites that have cause privacy to be such a controversial issue.

Privacy issues dealing with websites such as Facebook should be expected at sign-up; they are

after all social networks. You may not agree with my claim, but I hope we can find some

common ground regarding whether or not privacy on Facebook is due to the individual user or

the company itself.

From the start, Facebook has had editable privacy settings. There is an age limit, and

users can change who can see pictures, posts, information, friends, and other personal
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information. Users can block other users from seeing their profile or parts of their profile all

together. Facebook has also created a feature that shows you what people who are not your

friends will see when they view your profile to help justify your confidence in privacy of your

profile. With Facebook providing all these different options in changing privacy, are privacy

issues developing because of the user or the company? Imagine a person who has the most

private profile possible: if someone wishes to view their information, they would have to add

them as a friend and have the person acknowledge them as a friend by accepting their friend

request. If the person does not know the person who sent the request, then they can simply

deny the request and no privacy will have been breached. I realize there are websites, such as

openbook.com, that allow people to search through most users’ status updates and

information with keywords. When I found this website, I did some research and found that the

problems the website points out are not entirely true. I searched keywords from my recently

posted status and nothing came up but when I searched keywords of other friend’s status, they

came up as a result. This is due to the fact that our different privacy settings were completely

different.

I agree with you when you say “Privacy doesn’t mean secrecy,” but I also agree with

Google CEO Eric Schmidt when he says “If you have something that you don’t want anyone to

know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place.” As you said, complete privacy on the

internet is nearly impossible to maintain, so my philosophy is to not post anything that may be

used against me or could harm me in any way on the internet. I understand that once

something is posted on the internet it is virtually impossible to get rid of it completely. I feel
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that many people just do not think before they post information on the internet. I feel

Facebook users can be divided into two different groups.

It may seem that almost everyone who is under thirty years old has a Facebook account.

Most students and young people are active daily on Facebook and some see no harm in posting

everything that happens in their daily routine. Many of these people do not realize how

information can be used by companies to track what they look at while surfing the internet in

general. Normal Facebook users only can see around 1/8 of the data that is actually on the

website they are on. When companies use data given out by social networking sites, this is

called data mining. Data that is distributed out to companies makes up the other 7/8ths of the

data that regular users do not see (Brittany 88). While this may seem bad, companies use this

information to help advertise their business and usually no harm comes of it.

More older people are against using websites such as Facebook than younger people

who are against using it. This group would completely agree with your argument and they do

not like to post personal information on the internet because they believe it has gotten so

public (Rachael). People who are proficient with the computer and still do not use Facebook or

similar websites might say it brings unwanted attention and unforeseen consequences. These

people might not have a reason to make an account because they do not need other people

possibly looking at their information and knowing their personal information.

I side with the students and younger people’s view on whether or not having a

Facebook account and posting and sharing information is bad. Facebook is how I communicate

and keep up with my close friends since I have been off at college. I am not one of the people
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who have hundreds or thousands of friends because I do not accept any requests from people I

do not know personally. I realize that “friending” people I do not know can create privacy

issues that I do not want to have to deal with. At one point, I had around seven-hundred

friends and when I started getting strange messages from people from my “friends” list, I went

through and deleted all the people I was not close friends with. I also know and realize that

companies can track what and where you look on the internet, but I do not think that the only

website that can do that is Facebook or other social networking websites so I do not worry

about it. I am wary of what others post but am smart enough to not post anything that could

harm my future or other parts of my life. I believe that Facebook is not at fault for all the

privacy issues that are arising because they seem to genuinely care about protecting their

users. Instead of saying “many people need control of their personal information,” think about

people controlling the information that they put out. I hope you can see and understand my

point of view on the issue of privacy on Facebook. We both agree that there is a problem, it is

just who the problem lies with where we disagree. My hope is that privacy issues in general on

the internet can be solved quickly and with ease. I felt you should see the perspective from a

college student’s perspective.

Thank you for your time,

Zane Kingery
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Works Cited

Brittany N. Hughes, et al. "Facebook and Online Privacy: Attitudes, Behaviors, and Unintended

Consequences." Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 15.1 (2009): 83-

108. Communication & Mass Media Complete. EBSCO. Web. 11 May 2011.

Facebook. "Statistics | Facebook." Welcome to Facebook - Log In, Sign Up or Learn More. 2011.

Web. 11 May 2011.

Rachael King, “Too Old for Facebook?” Bloomberg Businessweek. 6 Aug. 2007. Web. 15 Mar.

2011.