In recent weeks, a lot of fuss has been made about data mining, in which popular websites like Facebook and Google sell off information about their users to corporations who are looking to gain information about potential consumers.
The general idea of data mining is simply to give corporations an idea of what people on Facebook and other social networking sites are interested in. Unfortunately, it often leads to users' accounts being hacked.
Anyone who's ever seen an ad for a seemingly random website appear as someone's status is aware of how this happens.
Naturally, these frequent errors caused by data mining have caused many to wonder if the whole process can be viewed as a violation of users' privacy. Is it fair for Facebook users to have corporations actively seeking out their information?
In the view of The Spectrum, it is.
Quite simply, when people create Facebook pages, and digitally sign the terms and conditions agreement, they are agreeing that anything they put on their page is the property of Facebook.
Knowing this, there's no reason to get mad when the owners of Facebook decide to make money off that property. The risk is assumed the moment the page is created.
Still, it is understandable that users would like to do something to prevent their information from being hacked. It is worth noting that computers using wi-fi connections are more susceptible to being hacked than others.
That is why Google has created stronger security settings, including a second security wall, which makes it so users can't sign into a Google account from a new computer without also signing in via their cell phones.
This setting could go a long way in preventing hacking, and, if successful, it is likely that many other popular sites will adapt it.
The issue of data mining is all about attaining balance. It's hard to sympathize with users who are angry with corporations receiving their information when they're the ones who agreed to those terms when they joined Facebook.
At the same time, it's easy to understand why someone whose profile is hacked outright could be upset.
In the end, we believe the responsibility lies primarily with the users. Think before joining a website that will declare anything any user posts as its own property.
If that isn't strong enough of a deterrent, be sure to have the strictest security settings. While hacking can certainly be a major problem on sites like Facebook, it won't do nearly as much damage if users simply take the necessary precautions.
