Facebook Has Been Taking Advantage Of Us Since We Became Teenagers | The Odyssey Online
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Facebook Has Been Taking Advantage Of Us Since We Became Teenagers

If Facebook claims they protect minors, they shouldn't allow data to be collected, stored, and sold for commercial purposes.

Rose Bentin
Apr 02, 2018
Rutgers University
25
Facebook Has Been Taking Advantage Of Us Since We Became Teenagers
Pixabay

We don't let 13-year-olds buy alcohol. We don't let them get a working permit. Why, then, do we let them sell their personal data?

In light of the ongoing Cambridge Analytica scandal, I decided to check my Facebook app settings after I saw someone tweet the link. I knew that I had played some games on Facebook when I was younger, but I was not prepared for the hundreds of apps that were still collecting my data.

At some point in middle school, my friends and I spent our time taking Facebook quizzes, ranging from "Are you a Nerd, Geek, or Dork?" to the racier "What boob size should I have?" (apparently, all my Facebook friends are able to see the apps that I'm connected to, so that's nice). Each of these quizzes constitutes an app, and they all collect as much information as they can get:

Public profile, friend list, relationships, relationship interests, birthday, work history, status updates, education history, events, hometown, current city, photos, religious and political views, website, personal description, "About You," likes...

Even an app created by the SAT arguably took more data than it needed to function, collecting information on all my friends to allow me to upload a photo.

Since I connected my profile to all these apps years ago, each and every one of them has been able to access the information that I've posted since. I can remove them to stop them from collecting more data, but to delete what they currently have I need to contact each developer individually: hundreds of app developers, who may have sold my data since.

If Facebook wants to claim that they protect minors, they should not allow their data to be collected, stored, and sold for commercial purposes. At the very least, they should make it more clear to children what kind of data they are giving up, since no 13-year-old is going to read the terms and conditions.

I know 7-year-olds with Instagram. We have to grapple with the fact that children are giving to be publicizing their lives long before their judgment fully develops. For that, we need to make sure that this information stays in their hands.

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This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
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