Sample 1
Student Sample
Professor Mazzeo
English 102 - Argument Synthesis
25 October 2021
It Is Time to Start Protecting Our Online Privacy
Facebook is violating the privacy of its members. In recent years, social media users have
become increasingly distraught over realizations that their information on social networks is in
fact not protected. This frightening lack of privacy on social media is due to an ongoing
competition for success between apps and the ability to profit off user information through data
mining. In the article "Competition is at the Heart of Facebook's Privacy Problem", authors
David N. Cicilline and Terrell McSweeny highlight Facebook's negligence when it comes to
protecting and respecting its user's privacy, and the reasons behind these issues. The article
addresses social media users' data being used against their will, by networks that profit off
selling data to advertisers, or political campaigns. It provides a solution for this issue, stating that
it is time for American social network users to maintain control over their personal data, and be
able to easily switch their information from one platform to another if they feel dissatisfied by a
privacy policy (Cicilline and McSweeny). Similarly, the article, "Privacy-Preserving Data
Mining: Techniques and Algorithms", by Ratra Ritu and Preeti Gulia, addresses the fundamentals
of data mining in social networks, and some of the most imminent privacy concerns that
surround it. The article explains how data mining is an important and useful tactic for
discovering information from online networks and applying that information to many areas.
However, in the process of data mining, individual data is disclosed, which leads to frequent
privacy violations (Ritu and Preeti). Data mining is a common technique that often leads to
Sample 2
social media networks violating user privacy for profit and gain, but there are ways in
which these violations can be addressed through user awareness, data privacy-protecting
techniques, and user control of personal data.
What many social media users are unaware of is that networks use the data they are
provided for their users to compete against other social platforms, as well as profit from selling
information to various organizations (Cicilline and McSweeny). For example, according to the
article on Facebook's privacy crisis, Cambridge Analytica used 87 million Facebook users
personal data to produce ads for voters and push a data-based political agenda. The article claims
that social media users are trusting their information to platforms where they are given no real
proof or security that their data will remain private. Their data is unknowingly used to create ads
and determine the contents of platforms such as Facebook (Cicilline and McSweeny). This is a
serious violation of privacy. Facebook has maintained control over user data and will continue to
because of the system of competition and profit that has been formed. Facebook owns two other
large media platforms, which allows it to collect and sell data across the internet, even from
individuals without a Facebook account (Cicilline and McSweeny). The article explains how the
typical social