Social Media Websites should Be Mandated to Protect Personal Privacy
Overview
This assignment has two parts; a Position Essay and a Persuasive Paper. Part 1 (Position Essay) focused on whether you are ‘for’ or ‘against’ the topic and was worth 10 points (10% of the final course grade).
Part 2 (Persuasive Paper) will focus on the opposite view of the topic and be worth 14 points (14% of the final course grade). The Position Essay will need to be completed prior to working on the Persuasive Paper. The Persuasive Paper is due in week 8 of the course. Information Technology aims to provide efficiency and effectiveness to professional and personal lives. Hardware, software and telecommunications advancements are intended to assist people with the symbiotic decision making that makes our organizations and lives healthier. Unfortunately, technology can have negative consequences and effects on human lives. The purpose of these assignments is to focus on a topic that is of interest to you, research the ‘pros’ and ‘cons’ associated with the topic, and demonstrate strong arguments in favor and against the topic.
Description of a Persuasive Paper
A Persuasive Paper is a style of academic writing where an author presents both sides of an argument or issue. The main purpose of a Persuasive Paper is to inform rather than convince – that’s why this type of paper should not be confused with a persuasive essay. Think of this paper as a debate – you will analyze a topical question (see list below) from both the ‘pro’ and ‘con’ viewpoints based on research and justification from literature. The Persuasive Paper is a synthesis of the opposing viewpoints on a topic.
Topics - You are to select one topic from the list below and follow the instructions to write the papers:
• Violent video games have a negative psychological impact on children.
• News on the Internet is trustworthy.
• Autonomous vehicles are safe to ride in.
• The ‘digital divide’ had no effect on education during the pandemic.
• The government should have the authority to demand a mobile phone be unlocked during a criminal investigation.
• Society has become too reliant on technology.
• The benefits of artificial intelligence are worth the potential hazards.
• Social Media websites should be mandated to protect personal privacy.
There are three (3) basic elements to a Persuasive Paper:
• Position: It's essential to determine which side of the argument you are taking. For example, you may be arguing that tobacco products or cannabis should be made illegal. Make a point to express why you took your initial position. For example, you may provide exact reasons to show how tobacco products may be damaging people’s health.
• Evidence: This is where you should provide factual substantiation for your reasons from outside resources. It is very important to give citations and references for where you gathered your evidence. If there is no proof, the evidence may not be taken into account. For example, you could cite health studies or scientific papers related to the effects of tobacco products on peoples’ health to prove your statement.
• Counterarguments: This is where you need to present the other side of the issue. Provide the opposing argument from your point of view. After stating these counterarguments, you should state why they are false, weak, or ineffective by presenting further evidence.
Format of Paper
• Introduction where you introduce the central message of your paper (the thesis statement).
Example: Tobacco products can induce various health problems, including cancers, heart attacks, and obesity. State the topic and your opinion.
• Background of the subject where you provide details on the topic. Example: historical information on people who have smoked long-term and those who have been exposed to tobacco smoke for long periods of time, and the long-term effects of smoking.
• Main arguments — Talk about the main points of your position. For example, you could write about the feeling of addiction that makes it difficult to give up smoking.
• Refutation — Here is where your counterarguments come into place. Introduce the opposite side you will need to refute as being invalid. Example: Some people think that smoking does not affect health and that genetic predisposition is more impactful in causing problems for one’s health. However, there is major evidence which shows that smoking can cause bigger long-term damage to lungs than a genetic predisposition to cancer.
• Conclusion — Summarize / restate your opinion (position) and synthesize the ‘pros’ and ‘cons’ on the topic. Present all of the main arguments and provide solutions or studies that need to be conducted in the future.
Assignment Expectations
The paper should be a minimum of five (5) pages in length, Times New Roman 12 pt., and double spaced. Title page and references are not including in the page minimum. You should have a minimum of eight (8) academic references. Be sure to properly cite all sources, per APA standards. Upload the paper to the Assignments folder in either Word or pdf format.
Grading Rubric
Unsatisfactory
(0-69)
Developing (70-
79)
Proficiency (80-
89)
Mastery (90-
100)
Score
Introduction
(10 points)
Topic is unclear. Topic is clear but does not present and overview of the main argument or refutation.
Topic is clear but does not present an overview of both the main argument and refutation.
Topic is clear and presents an overview of both the main argument and refutation.
/ 10
Background of Subject
(20 points)
Background information lacks structure and evidence.
Background information lacks a clear direction – supporting evidence is loose and or irrelevant.
Background information flows nicely for the most part despite some disjointed transitions.
Background information flows easily and provides a clear guide for the reader.
/ 20
Main Arguments
(20 points)
Author focuses on own thoughts and beliefs about the topic, neglects to supportstatements with relevant examples.
Author includes minimal examples or justification of stance on topic.
Support of position is obvious and/or unclear. Details are irrelevant or undeveloped.
Author clearly states the main argument but provides insufficient justification through relevant examples.
Author clearly states the main argument and justifies his/her stance with relevant examples.
/ 20
Refutation
(20 points)
Refutation is missing. Obvious lack of sound, logical argument throughout.
Refutation is not sound or logical. No examples to justify refutation.
Author acknowledges the opposing view but does not present a sound counterpoint as justified by examples.
Author acknowledges the opposing view and argues it logically through relevant examples.
/ 20
Conclusion
(20 points)
Conclusion lacks structure and does not synthesize the main argument and refutation.
Conclusion lacks clear direction, providing little sense of closure to the paper.
Conclusion mostly flows from topic to main argument to refutation, providing some sense of closure.
Conclusion flows cohesively from topic to main argument and refutation.
Arguments are synthesized and section provides closure.
/ 20
Writing Mechanics
(10 points)
Numerous writing errors and serious issues with citations and references.
Repeated issues with writing causing issues with clarity.
Some issues with citations and references.
Occasional, minor issues with writing mechanics.
Citations and references were very good.
Essentially free from mechanical, grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors.
Citations and references meet
APA standards.
/ 10
TOTAL / 100
Social Media Websites Should Be Mandated to Protect Personal Privacy
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Social Media Websites Should Be Mandated to Protect Personal Privacy
Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest, and TikTok are some of the largest social media websites. When users are registering on such sites, they are required to provide personal information, such as names, date of birth, home address, and employer, among other details. In other words, social media websites gather users’ data. These sites have cookies that track what individuals are doing on the Internet, such as online shops that one visits and apps that a person is using. The information social media websites harvest from people is passed to third parties for advertisement purposes. When giving out users’ information, social media websites do not inform data owners, and people do not know to whom their information is shared and for how long. As such, to avoid the violation of individuals’ confidentiality, social media websites should be mandated to protect personal privacy.
Some social media websites have collaborated with third-party companies or been involved in information breach cases involving the data of millions of users being compromised. For example, in March 2018, a report was released showing how Cambridge Analytica used Facebook to collect the personal data of about 87 million users (Confessore, 2018). Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chief executive officer (CEO), appeared before the Senate and admitted that the company did not do enough to safeguard users’ data. In 2016, hackers breached the Twitter accounts of approximately 32 million users (Olivo, 2020). Afterward, the cybercriminals shared the compromised data on social media comprising people’s usernames, passwords, and email addresses. As a result, it can be challenging to know in which hands individuals can be safe since social media breaches violate the privacy of many people.
The use of social media websites has become ubiquitous, and the best thing to do would be to mandate them to safeguard users’ data. Based on a 2012 Jobvite report, about 52% of individuals searching for jobs use Facebook, 34% use Twitter, and 38% use LinkedIn. In addition, around 15% of Facebook users were found to have modified their profiles with employers in mind (Greenberg, 2014). When these people share their sensitive information, such as physical addresses, emails, where they live, and date of birth, many of them do not know whether that information will be shared with other companies. They do it since they trust social media websites. As a way to return the favor, these sites should protect that data and always obtain owners’ consent when sharing their information with third-party companies.
According to Ronald Deibert, one painful truth about social media websites is that they are built around users’ data surveillance and spy people to push respective adverts (Deibert, 2019). For example, if one views a specific ad about a new smartphone on Facebook, the individual is likely to receive similar ads in the future. Similar products pop up when a person clicks on a particular commodity on an online shop page. In that case, it means that social media websites share users’ data with some third-party companies with an intention to customize ads based on individuals’ buying patterns. Although sharing people’s data with the objective of ads customization might not be a significant issue, data owners do not know that this happens.
The lack of data privacy on social media websites affects election integrity adversely. For example, there were controversies during the United States of America’s (USA) 2016 presidential election. Although the report does not depict how social media manipulated the outcomes of elections, it was certain that personal data of Americans were used in campaigning. The USA Senate Intelligence Committee found that Russians spread misinformation that targeted millions of USA citizens (Aral & Eckles, 2019). Besides, people can be easily influenced through social media. For instance, social media websites can be used to tarnish a presidential candidate’s reputation or defame him or her using fake news. In other terms, individuals can be made to believe stories that are not true by triggering their emotions through customized personal messages. However, all this might occur when social media websites do not safeguard users’ personal data by allowing third-party companies to access and use them without limits.
Social media websites should stop confusing users with pages of their terms and conditions and instead be concise on whether users’ data will be shared to whom, when, under what circumstances, and for how long that information should be retained. In reality, a company like Facebook has relaxed privacy attitudes, which increases users’ self-disclosure (Tsay-Vogel et al., 2018). For instance, ...