CHRISTIAN FUCHS - ICT&S - Universität Salzburg

Christian Fuchs: Social Networking Sites and the Surveillance SocietyMySpace collects“personally identifiable information (“PII”-- your full name, email address, mailingaddress, telephone number, or credit card number). (…) In addition, MySpacecollects other non-PII including IP address, aggregate user data, and browser type.This data is used to manage and improve the MySpace Services, track usage, andfor security purposes” (MySpace Privacy Policy, accessed on November 3, 2008).MySpace allows targeted personalized advertising that is automatically activated. Userscan opt out, but doing so is very difficult. There is no menu setting in the privacyoptions that allows doing so, only a link in the privacy policy that users have to followin order to opt out.“MySpace may use cookies and similar tools to customize the content andadvertising you receive based on the Profile Information you have provided.Profile Information you provide in structured profile fields or questions (multiplechoice questions like ‘Marital Status,‘ ‘Education‘ and ‘Children‘) (‘StructuredProfile Information‘), information you add to open-ended profile fields andquestions (essay questions like ‘About Me,‘ ‘Interests‘ and ‘Movies‘) (‘Non-Structured Profile Information‘) and other non-PII about you may also be used tocustomize the online ads you encounter to those we believe are aligned with yourinterests. For example, based on your music interests we might display anadvertisement to make sure you are advised when your favorite band is coming totown. The information used for this feature does not provide your PII or identifyyou as an individual to third parties. If you would like to disable advertisingcustomization for Non-Structured Profile Information, please log in and clickhere” (MySpace Privacy Policy, accessed on November 3, 2008).Third party advertisers are allowed to collect information from profiles. Users can optout, but again doing so is very complicated and only possible by following a link in theprivacy policy.“Some of the advertisements that appear on MySpace Services may also bedelivered to you by third party Internet advertising companies. These companiesutilize certain technologies to deliver advertisements and marketing messages andto collect non-PII about your visit to or use of MySpace Services, includinginformation about the ads they display, via a cookie placed on your computer thatreads your IP address. To opt out of information collection by these companies, orto obtain information about the technologies they use or their own privacypolicies, please click here” (MySpace Privacy Policy, accessed on November 3,2008).MySpace may share personal information, such as email addresses, with advertisingclients for “business reasons”. This means that in such cases companies are allowed tosend advertising messages per email to MySpace users.“MySpace may also provide your PII to a third party in those instances where youhave chosen to receive certain information and have been notified that thefulfillment of such a request requires the sharing of your PII. MySpace also may42