I’m angry. Not because I didn’t already know the fact that just using the internet means we give up many of our privacy rights. I know our data is mined by search engines. And, websites use cookies to track if we are new users or old. Don’t let me get started on the times I’ve download a software for “free” and if I’m not very, very, careful I get all kinds of adware, harmless but a nuisance that will attach itself to my computer and change my browser preference. However, this time I think they’ve gone too far.
Are you unsure of what I mean? In case you haven’t heard Facebook allowed an experiment to be conducted on their users. For one week in 2012 Facebook changed the newsfeeds of more than half a million users, randomly. Some people were shown a higher number of positive posts, while others were shown more negative posts. Then the scientists went to work, analyzing the results. The researchers were able to manipulate the users without permission and worse, without them knowing it. In fact if you have a Facebook account like I do, it could be us! More Information here
So, what does this mean? We were part of a science project! Social engineering at its best, and there’s more. The response by the psychologist’s study was considered within the legal realms, but I ask, “What about ethics?” This is bigger than any of us realize. If we stay silent we may find this is the beginning of yet more infringements.
Why am I complaining? Didn’t I realize that Facebook is free? Yes, but this time free comes with a price, manipulation of our moods! As if we need Facebook trying to make us more depressed, whatever were they thinking?
There have been rumblings that Facebook will soon charge the users a small monthly fee. And if they move to a paid model, will only those who pay be exempt from future experiments? I wonder…
While I do everything I can to insure personal privacy online, such as adjusting my browser settings to read “do not track,” I’m unsure of the success or failure of these attempts. Just because some States have legalized marijuana, it doesn’t mean we are all sitting around out of it! This is more than tracking.
In college as a psychology major we had to obtain written permission before we conducted any human experiments. I had to get my parent’s permission to administer an IQ (intelligent quotient) test on my younger brothers. And, yet Facebook can do this “legally” because we’ve signed the agreement to use the website. Probably buried in the hundreds of pages is permission for psychological, random manipulation.
I ended up changing my major in college from psychology to education. Now I’m seriously considering trading in my Facebook account for a Sgrouples account. I interviewed the CEO of Sgrouples a year ago (listen to it here) and he said we’d be alarmed when we found out what was in the works with Facebook, and he was right! I’d move today if all of you would move with me…
And that is the issue, right? All our friends are on Facebook.
So what do we do? We protest. We send letters to Facebook headquarters email them and let them know we don’t want to be part of their social projects. What do you think? Am I overreacting or do you feel the same way? Let me know, and share this post with others.
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