This chapter aims to help you navigate through the privacy and security settings of some popular social networking sites with a view to making their use more secure, or perhaps better said, less insecure. In particular, it gives step-by step guides in this respect for Facebook and Twitter, as well as some general guidelines for using YouTube and Flickr.
These social networking websites are the most popular and widely used social networking tools. They are owned by private companies and, as noted in chapter 10. How to protect yourself and your data when using social networking sites, these companies make their money by collecting information about users and selling it on to advertisers. Government crackdowns will target these sites first and block them, and the companies will cave into government pressures and censor when necessary. It may be worth looking at alternatives to these sites, such as Diaspora (http://joindiaspora.com), Crabgrass (http://we.riseup.net) Friendica (http://friendica.com), Pidder (https://pidder.net), or SecureShare (http://secureshare.org) which have been designed with digital security and activism in mind. The Social Swarm (http://socialswarm.net) is a think-tank run by a not-for-profit organisation which carries out discussions, awareness-raising and campaigns related to privacy on social networks, and may be a useful learning resource.
Other similar sites may be popular in different regions, so you way wish to explore other options. Before choosing one you should consider the following points:
- Does it provide connection over SSL for all uses of the site, rather than just during login? Are there no problems related to encryption, such as problems related to encryption certificates?
- Read the End User Licence Agreement and Privacy Policy or Data Use Policy carefully. How are your content and personal data treated? With whom are they shared?
- What privacy options are provided for users? Can you choose to share your videos securely with a small number of individuals, or are they all public by default?
- Do you know the geographical location of the servers, under which territorial jurisdiction they fall or where the company is registered? Are you aware of how this information relates to the privacy and security of your email activity and information? Will the site's owners hand over information if they receive a governmental request to do so?
