Most of us today that are familiar with technology know that digital platforms collect data off of us for various reasons. Some may think that they are collecting date for the government, or selling our social security information to other countries, or even just creeping on us for fun through the cameras in our devices. While some of these ideas are far fetched, a good amount of what you hear about the invasion of privacy on the internet is indeed true. Companies like Google do indeed track what you search and that can go directly to the government if something dangerous is searched up. Today I will be focusing on Instagram and their privacy policy statement and how that affects its users.
Instagram is a social media platform that allows its users to post pictures or videos about anything of their choosing as long as there is no sexually explicit content. Instagram is the perfect app to bring out the amateur photographer in each and every single one of us. We are able to express ourselves through how we want our Instagram feed to look and how our posts should reflect us. After the Cambridge Analytica issue where a political data firm misused more than 50 million Facebook users it raises some questions about Instagram. Some of you may or may not know this, but Instagram is actually owned by Facebook… yeah… oh shit. In the article “Policy Matters Now and in the Future: Net Neutrality, Corporate Data Mining, and Government Surveillance.” we learned about the dangers of data mining, and Instagram is an example of one of the corporations that does this. Many of Instagrams users are now worried that the same thing could happen to them since the companies are owned by the same person. Instagram has released a list of the information that they can collect.
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Names and passwords of account holders
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Captured content, such as photos and videos
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Data that links users to the photos they took, tagged or liked
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Text message history, address book contacts or other similar personal information
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Metadata on how people use the Instagram mobile app
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Transactional data from Facebook products and services
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Facial recognition data on which devices are linked to which accounts
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Geolocational data
Personally the only data that I have a problem with them collecting is text message history and address book contacts. Everything else seems understandable to collect for the app except for private messages that do not happen on the app. The idea that Instagram needs this information is absurd. I personally do not believe that Instagram needs this information, and knowing what I do off the app is indeed an invasion of privacy. I interviews my roommate and he also agreed that the text message history is something that isn’t necessary for the app. He said that the reason he is private on Instagram is that he thought that would protect him more from the company, but in fact it only works with other users. The private account does not stop Instagram from accessing any personal information. Instagram has admitted that they “mostly” use this information as a means to personalize advertisements to fit into your feed. They do not disclose what the other part of your information is used for.
“Do you know of the Instagram privacy statement?”
”What do you think of these statements?”
”What statement surprised you the most?”
”Do any of these statements seem like an invasion of privacy?”
