This fortnight has been witness to rising tension between privacy watchdogs and some of the top Internet businesses. The social-networking giant Facebook has been chastised for making users? information public by default. A revolt over its privacy settings has been brewing for sometime now. But it gained steam last month after the giant announced its new feature called ?instant personalisation? that allows third-party Web sites to piggyback on Facebook users? data.
Facebook has faced criticism on its privacy policy from US senators, the EU and civil liberty groups. Critics state that navigating the policy is an extremely complex process. The current version has 50 different settings and 170 options, besides being tweaked often. Written in 5,830 words, it is longer than the US Constitution! The social-networking giant will roll out simpler privacy settings for all its users, starting May 26. What remains to be seen is if these changed settings will help reduce the risk of mass ?Facebook suicides?. In another incident on May 21, Google was criticised for inadvertently collecting data from unsecure Wi-Fi networks as part of its ?Street View? project. The company apologised and promised that it would appoint an independent panel to review this fiasco.
The latest social media uproar surfaced on Monday, when Twitter modified its ad policy on third-party apps. More than a month after unveiling its own advertising system ?Promoted Tweets?, the micro-blogging service announced that third-party companies will no longer be allowed to run ads directly in tweets.
Twitter?s ban isn?t surprising as it comes at a time when the company is making concerted attempts to up its market share. This will be a good decision for many users who are usually left puzzled by the incessant ads in their feeds, but will endanger several third-party companies that have developed their business empires using Twitter?s infrastructure. As privacy becomes increasingly important for Internet socialites, the need to incorporate it into one?s brand also inflates. Twitter?s revelation is a pragmatic measure, besides being a recognition of the need to evolve a sustainable revenue model.
jaya.jumrani@expressindia.com