DISQUS

Paul Jacobson: Can you trust Facebook?

  • Duncan Drennan · 2 years ago
    One of the terms of use items that jumped out at me when I first signed up for Facebook is that they own all content which you upload to the site. I suspect a lot of people wouldn't be very happy with that if they were aware. My solution is just to not upload anything that I may want ownership to.
  • Duncan Drennan · 2 years ago
    One of the terms of use items that jumped out at me when I first signed up for Facebook is that they own all content which you upload to the site. I suspect a lot of people wouldn't be very happy with that if they were aware. My solution is just to not upload anything that I may want ownership to.
  • Daniella Kafouris · 2 years ago
    Hi Paul

    I agree with you 100%. One cannot trust any particular website for that matter solely based on a policy. These policies although, one might think they are full proof cannot actually secure you against hackers, or any other malicious person or code that wants to access your details. In addition, Facebook is an International Domain in Cyberspace, so where one would also encounter a problem would be in the enforcement of any provision in a policy or in the Terms and Conditions etc. South African law can only assist in the enforcement South African Legislation. Therefore the point that I am getting to is the following: It does not matter whether they (any website) reassure you that your information is secure etc, should malicious circumstances arise, how would you enforce it? The idea is that, as you said, if you do not want everyone seeing your cell phone number or any other private information, do not post it. Cyberspace is an arena where a great many things happen that most of us could never foresee nor understand.
  • Daniella Kafouris · 2 years ago
    Hi Paul

    I agree with you 100%. One cannot trust any particular website for that matter solely based on a policy. These policies although, one might think they are full proof cannot actually secure you against hackers, or any other malicious person or code that wants to access your details. In addition, Facebook is an International Domain in Cyberspace, so where one would also encounter a problem would be in the enforcement of any provision in a policy or in the Terms and Conditions etc. South African law can only assist in the enforcement South African Legislation. Therefore the point that I am getting to is the following: It does not matter whether they (any website) reassure you that your information is secure etc, should malicious circumstances arise, how would you enforce it? The idea is that, as you said, if you do not want everyone seeing your cell phone number or any other private information, do not post it. Cyberspace is an arena where a great many things happen that most of us could never foresee nor understand.
  • Paul · 2 years ago
    Thanks for your feedback Duncan and Daniella. This is a difficult issue, especially given the growth of social media sites like Facebook. It is an irreversible trend and it has become a matter of how we manage the risks that are always going to be there.
  • Paul · 2 years ago
    Thanks for your feedback Duncan and Daniella. This is a difficult issue, especially given the growth of social media sites like Facebook. It is an irreversible trend and it has become a matter of how we manage the risks that are always going to be there.