Title: Facebook's Privacy Policy Under Scrutiny In Europe, Partly Because Students
The general argument made by Huff Post in their work, Facebook's Privacy Policy Under Scrutiny In Europe, Partly Because Students Complained (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/21/facebook-privacy-policy-europe-student-complaints_n_1022988.html), is that Facebook’s privacy settings are not truthful and safe, according to Max Schrems, a student in law school in Austria. More specifically, Max Schrems argues that Facebook has information that he is not okay with them having. He writes. “Facebook sent him a detailed dossier of his activity for the past three years: a CD containing more than 1,200 pages of Facebook wall posts, messages, removed friends and "pokes," among other things. Schrems thought he had deleted most of that activity, but Facebook had stored it, he said.” In this passage, Schrems is suggesting that Facebook still has information he doesn’t want them to have, even after he deleted it off of his Facebook. In conclusion Schrems belief is that Facebook does not have the right to keep this information in their databases after he has deleted it off of his profile.
In my view, Schrems is wrong, because it was his choice to get a Facebook. More specifically, I believe that Facebook has every right to keep the information on their records, even if it has been deleted on the users profile. For example, if there is a threat on Facebook but the user then deleted it Facebook would still have that threat on their records to report it and hopefully save an innocent from occurring. Although Schrems might object that keeping these records is an invasion of privacy, I maintain that it is just a security issues and not a privacy invasion. Therefore, I conclude, that Facebook is doing nothing wrong by keeping all data that appears on their website.
Schrems says that he is not comfortable and does not agree with the privacy on Facebook. "I would never have known this data was not deleted if they had not sent it to me," Schrems said in a phone interview. I say that the privacy settings may not be exactly “private” according to the Facebook creators, and what they can access, and what Schrems is saying, however it is your own choice to create a Facebook page. If you are not happy or do not agree with how Facebook runs their website then don’t create a page. Shrems may say that he didn’t know how Facebook’s privacy setting was before he created one and if he did he would not have. But Facebook has its privacy settings along with lots of other information about its website on an agreement form that you have to read before you create a profile. It is not required that you have a profile. Just as it is not required to agree with the policies and settings of the website. If Schrems doesn’t agree with the privacy of the website then he should not have singed up for a profile.
Schrems then argues that he was surprised that Facebook would send him the information they had stored about his profile. More specifically he was upset that Facebook sent information to him and wondered if it was being sent to others because of how easy it was to obtain the information that he had deleted off his profile. Schrems said in a phone interview, “I would never have known this data was not deleted if they had not sent it to me.” In this passage Schrems is suggesting that he was very surprised to see this information still out there for people to access. In conclusion, he believes that it is not secure and he does not agree with Facebook being able to easily obtain information that he has personal deleted. It scares him into thinking that anyone could obtain this information that he doesn’t want anyone seeing. In my view, he is wrong, because once again it was his own choice to create a Facebook profile. More specifically, I believe that all of this could have been avoided if Schrems just didn’t create a profile page. For example, if a inappropriate picture was posted on Schrems wall and he believe that he deleted it however, it was saved on Facebook’s database and it got sent back to Schrems. This could all be avoided if he just didn’t have a Facebook. It was his choice and he knew the consequences before he agreed to Facebook’s policies (http://www.facebook.com/terms.php). Schrems may argue that he did not know the policies but they are provide above and the same ones are provided when you sign up for a profile. I maintain that Facebook does a very good job of providing their security rules for everyone to see. Therefore, I conclude, that it is the own users choice to agree with the rules of Facebook before they create a profile. They are fully aware of the security policies after they click I agree on Facebook’s page before there profile is created. After that the user is at fault.
