Today as the majority of people are
on social media, one thing that comes
to mind is how safe is the information
we post online and should we actually
trust these companies to respect our
privacy. When thinking about privacy
policies, I feel that you need to have
an open mind because of the many app-
roaches to a user's privacy. There are
many waysto think about privacy on the
internet. Still, the scary thing is the
slight changes social media companies
come up with in updates where a slight
change in policies can shift who is
effected negatively and how users feel
secure.

When I made a shift from Myspace
to Facebook (unsure why I did
that), I failed to ensure my
privacy by selecting the tools
in the security settings allowing
my account to be open to everyone
and anything. Several friends of
mine did the same and were hacked
in which users decided to go back
to Myspace for a time until Face-
book got better security. This
brings me to how safe I don't feel
today as every time I visit a
website for let's say shoes, I see
that what I looked up on amazon or
some other market place in my
Facebook feed.

Christian Fuchs examines how
Facebook has an impact on the
political economy and is genui-
nely in the business of selling
your privacy as well as surveil-
lance on individual users. Fuchs
provides valuable insight on how
Facebook makes its money off
commercializing on user's data.
Many issues from this type of
commercialization of data can
arise, such astax invasion,
black market affairs, and money
laundering converting into even
greater issues because financial
privacy dominantly reflects
additional forms of privacy.

For this reason, when talking about
Facebook, Fuchs says the objective
should be to "strengthen the prote-
ction of consumers and citizens from
corporate surveillance and other
forms of domination." For example,
the use of social media that Law
Enforcement uses for surveillance
specifically over the last decade.
Social media, as a tool for law
agencies around the world, have
developed considerably. Although
most law enforcement officer's jobs
are still done manually, certain
social media tools aid law enforce-
ment in identifying webs of
criminal activity.

Moreover, social media shifts
the boundaries of what is consti-
tutionally protected vs. public
knowledge. Several platforms online,
such as Facebook was initially
promoted for commercial and
journalist's tools to use for
promoting stories or products, but
have shifted to the market of law
enforcement. For example, algorithmic
monitoring of online activity which
is surveillance that can connect the
activity of a user online to a
specific location.

The issue we have here is how
effective is all of these
surveillance capabilities when
they have "outpaced our under-
standing of how they are trans-
forming policing."
Since behavior interpretation
from social media is already
problematic and most law
enforcement agencies have poor
doctrine in place for conducting
social media investigations,
and with the clear targeting of
minority groups, the accuracy
and fairness of online surveill-
ance are continually biased and
need to be rethought.

Work Cited
Doffman, Zak. “Facebook Has Just Been Caught Spying On Users'
      Private Messages And Data -- Again.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 30 Jan.
      2019,www.forbes.com/sites/zakdoffman/2019/01/30/facebook-has-
      just-been-caught-spying-on-users-private-messages-and-data-
      again/#7b4276c531ce.

Fuchs, Christian. Social Media: a Critical Introduction. Sage Publications,
       2017.

Fuchs, C. (2012). The Political Economy of Privacy on Facebook. Television &
      New Media, 13(2), 139–159. https://doi.org/10.1177/1527476411415699

Weinstein, Lauren. “Criminal Behavior: How Facebook Steals Your Security
       Data to Violate Your Privacy.” Lauren Weinsteins Blog, 30 Sept. 2018,
      lauren.vortex.com/2018/09/30/criminal-behavior-how-facebook-steals-
      your-security-data-to-violate-your-privacy.