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Posts on Facebook and Privacy (2006-2010)

Posted by Michael Zimmeron April 11, 2018in Privacy, Social Media

Since 2006, two years after Facebook's launch and right about when I joined the platform, I've been posting on this blog (at least as long as blogging was a thing) about numerous privacy concerns related to the social network.Posts include…

IR15 Presentation: “Privacy and Control in Mark Zuckerberg’s Discourse on Facebook”

Posted by Michael Zimmeron October 22, 2014in Events, Privacy, Social Media

This week I'm attending the 15th annual conference of the Association of Internet Researchers -- IR15: Boundaries and Intersections -- in Daegu, Korea. I had the great privilege to present on a research collaboration with Dr. Anna Lauren Hoffmann, where we…

Washington Post Essay: Mark Zuckerberg’s theory of privacy

Posted by Michael Zimmeron February 6, 2014in Privacy, Publications, Social Media

This week marks the 10th anniversary of Facebook, and to help commemorate this milestone I wrote an essay for The Washington Post that postulates an early framework of Mark Zuckerberg's theory of privacy, based on a preliminary analysis of the…

Introducing: The Zuckerberg Files

Posted by Michael Zimmeron October 25, 2013in Academic, Privacy, Social Media9 Comments

Today, after months of hard work by many hands, I'm happy to announce the launch of The Zuckerberg Files, a digital archive of all public utterances of Facebook's founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg. Over 126 full-text transcripts and 60 video files are available…

Thoughts on Privacy and the Use of Facebook to Recruit Research Subjects

Posted by Michael Zimmeron October 19, 2012in Internet Research Ethics, Privacy, Social Media9 Comments

Recently, I was approached by a team of researchers concerned with the research ethics issues related to using Facebook to recruit human subjects. Specifically, the team was planning to use Facebook advertisements in order to target certain users for a…

How to Adjust your Facebook Privacy Settings – 2012 Edition

Posted by Michael Zimmeron May 7, 2012in Privacy, Social Media

The 2012 edition of Choose Privacy Week, the annual initiative of the American Library Association that invites the public into a national conversation about privacy rights in a digital age, is wrapping up (and don't miss our special screening of…

Are Ex-Friend’s Activities Visible in Facebook’s Feed and Ticker?

Posted by Michael Zimmeron January 2, 2012in Privacy, Social Media

Recently I noticed what appears to be some kind of bug -- and potentially major privacy concern -- on Facebook's feed and ticker features. Let me explain the scenario: For a moderate amount of time, I had been a "friend"…

My Research in The Chronicle of Higher Education: “Harvard’s Privacy Meltdown”; some annotations

Posted by Michael Zimmeron July 11, 2011June 9, 2023in Internet Research Ethics, Privacy, Publications

The Chronicle of Higher Education has published an article featuring my critique of the privacy protections and research methods related to the “Taste, Ties, and Time” (T3) Facebook research study conducted by a set of Harvard sociologists. Written by Marc…

Open Questions Remain in Facebook Censorship Flap

Posted by Michael Zimmeron April 25, 2011in Information Ethics, Social Media2 Comments

Facebook has provided only a generic comment noting that the gay-kiss image was removed in error. But many unanswered questions remain. Critical questions, indeed, considering the cruel dichotomy of Facebook's mission to "[Give] people the power to share and make the world more open and connected" and its unquestioned power to control the platform, and thus the conditions under which people are allowed to share.

Facebook’s Censorship Problem

Posted by Michael Zimmeron April 21, 2011in Information Ethics, Social Media6 Comments

Facebook recently removed a photo of two men kissing from a user's Wall due to an apparent violation of the site's terms of service. This act of censorship has received considerable attention, and while it is reasonable for Facebook to try to control some of the content shared on its platform, there are some fundamental concerns with this case that point to a growing censorship problem within Facebook, especially when considered against the backdrop of Facebook's potential entry into China.