Section 1: Facebook

First and foremost, this is an application or internet browser that is being used by millions of people from all parts of the globe. Anyone with access to internet has heard about facebook and, as a fact, almost everyone with access to internet would most probably have a facebook account of their own.

Since there are over 500 million users worldwide, it is only logical that there are bound to have some technical issues in the application. ABC News (2010) explains that some applications within facebook gives out identities and information to companies and gives them the means to track down these identities for personal information. It is said that Facebook is currently looking into the matter and having discussions with their partner applications in order to resolve the matter (New York Times 2010).

In my opinion, these privacy issues are to be expected in such a widely used application on the internet. Although Facebook has its privacy policies and steps to deal with the matter, it is almost impossible for a social website to constraint the information that is being laid out in the application itself. As a social website, a number of personal information is expected to be shown in order to prove a certain identity and so on. Personal information that is too private and important should not be shown or placed in facebook.

In addition to privacy issues, Kirkpatrick (2010) explains clearly on individuals and the obvious "privacy" policy that one can expect from a social network like Facebook. It is obvious that by joining such a network on the internet that private information are to be shared with the entire world. Having said that, such a small matter of third parties obtaining information on an individual is considered nothing as third parties will only have access to information that the individuals provide on Facebook which is already there for the entire world to see.

Focusing on just the issue at hand, Helft (2010) assures users of facebook that whatever that needs to be done to handle the personal information crisis is being done. Helft (2010) adds that other than just personal information, third parties are able to obtain information about an individual's friend as well. Applications on Facebook such as Mafia Wars, Farmville and so on, are the cause of leaking out information to third parties.


References

ABC News (2010), "Facebook admits privacy breach", 19 October 2010, Available from - http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/10/19/3042594.htm, [Accessed on - 15 November 2010].

Helft, M. (2010), "Facebook acknowledges privacy issue with applications", 18 October 2010, Available from - http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/18/facebook-admits-to-privacy-issue-and-makes-fixes/, [Accessed on - 15 November 2010].

Kirkpatrick, M. (2010), "Why facebook is wrong: privacy is still important", 11 January 2010, Available from - http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/why_facebook_is_wrong_about_privacy.php, [Accessed on - 15 November 2010].