Every post you share, every friend you make, and every link you follow is tracked, recorded, and converted into data. Advertisers buy your data so they can show you more ads. You are the product that’s bought and sold. Did it not come to your mind Why social media is free? Where did they get the money for maintaining their data center?
To know more about data center click here.
“A datacenter is a facility that centralizes an organization’s IT operations and equipment, and where it stores, manages, and disseminates its data. Data centers house a network’s most critical systems and are vital to the continuity of daily operations. Consequentially, the security and reliability of data centers and their information is a top priority for organizations”
Yes, social networks is now part of our daily lives. We can connect to someone who is on the other side of the world or to our love ones who are miles away from us. I want to inform you that even if you go incognito or erase your history; once you upload a single data such as text, pictures, videos or anything, once you press the upload button there is no turning back even if you deleted it. This means that your file or data is now circulating around the world. You really don’t know what is happening when you enter a data to World Wide Web(WWW), there is no so-called “PRIVATE” thing in WWW. Even your smartphone is collecting data like Apple and Google. Apple transmits your location data back to central servers once every 12 hours, and it also stores a copy of your locations on the iPhone. Android phones transmit your location data continuously. Apple’s files on the iPhone device can be stored for many months. Both Apple and Google say they do not share this information with third parties (at least not now), deny the information can identify individuals (as opposed to cell phones), and claim the information is being used only to identify the location of cell phones for Wi-Fi connected phones, and to improve the customer experience of location-based services.
I believe a social network can be a tool for empowerment. Not a tool to deceive, coerce, and manipulate — but a place to connect, create, and celebrate life.
I believe
- You have the right to privacy.
Data about you should not be collected, bought, or sold to third parties.
- You have the right not to be tracked.
You should be able to turn off tracking when you use a social network.
- You have the right to control what you see.
You should never be forced to see ads or boosted posts from people and companies that you haven’t chosen to follow.
- Your followers have the right to see everything you post publicly.
What you see should not be controlled by algorithms that favor paid posts by advertisers over friends. Everyone that follows you should see everything you post for free.
- You have the right to own what you post.
You should not give up ownership of the things that you create when you post them on social network.
- You have the right to be anyone you want.
You’re safest when you control what you disclose on a social network. You should not be required to give your real name, age, gender, race, marital status, religion, education, home address, or any other personal information which could be sold to third parties.
- You have the right to relationships that won’t be exploited.
When a social network uses your network of friends to sell things, they violate your trust.
- You have the right to clear and transparent terms & conditions.
Terms should be written in simple language that you can understand.
- You have the right to see all the data collected about you.
When a social network builds a secret dossier that you don’t have access to, it violates your privacy and threatens civil rights. Downloading your data should be as easy as clicking a button.
- You have the right to permanently delete your account.
Leaving your social network should be simple, hassle-free, and permanent.
Always remember, you are not a product!