“I don’t like to share my personal life… it wouldn’t be personal if I shared it.”

―George Clooney

But what if you aren’t the one who gets to make the choice? If you have a social media presence, should others be able to track your movements and use the resulting data, without asking your permission? Beyond this, is it ethical for you to be made a subject in a research study that might have an impact on your behavior?

To begin, take the Privacy Personality Quiz developed for an NPR podcast. Are you a shrugger, a realist or a believer? Whatever your personality score, this quiz highlights the ethical issues connected to personal privacy online. This quest addresses some of these issues through the examination of tracking your presence and actions online.

First, just a bit of information about electronic tracking. You’ve probably heard of “cookies” that reside on your computer. Some people really like them because of the convenience they provide. For example, if you’d like Amazon to remember you in order to provide recommendations based on your purchases, you must enable cookies. Cookies have the potential to track the sites you view, store information connected to a website (such as the Amazon example), track your movements from one site to another, and even build a profile around you. (Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, https://www.privacyrights.org/social-networking-privacy-how-be-safe-secure-and-social)

Consider the ads that pop up when you are viewing some websites—they will often be for items you’ve searched for, or from sites you’ve visited. You might decide you will disable cookies through your browser, or by using software that claims it will do this for you. In this article, Has Privacy Become a Luxury Good, read about one woman’s efforts to protect her privacy, the financial cost involved, and the limited success she had. Think, too, about the ethical issue reflected in the title of this article. Should only those who have money to spare be able to maintain privacy?

Let’s now delve deeper into what can happen through tracking.

Data Mining: Aid to Society or Invasion of Privacy?

This USA Today article discusses the data collection that is taking place behind the scenes on social media. Social media is called that for a reason—if you contribute to social media sites, you know your contributions will be seen. But did you know that your every move online may be mined for other purposes, including academic research? As you read the following article, consider whether you are comfortable with the idea of Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and Twitter scooping up and then sharing your actions in the data they provide to academic researchers.

Social media research raises privacy and ethics issues

Findings from academic research may prove beneficial to society. Recognizing this, participants on social media may be more open to this incursion on their privacy. However, perhaps the research is not as non-intrusive as it might seem. Ilka Gleibs’s work is mentioned in the piece you just read. Her article in the journal Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy (2014) references a large-scale study of social influence by Bond et al. that appeared in Nature in 2012. On November 2, 2010, an election day, 61 million people over the age of 18 in the U.S. who accessed Facebook were unknowingly assigned to one of three groups:

Those in the social message group (n = 60,055,176) were shown a counter indicating how many other users had already clicked an “I voted” button. They were also shown up to six small profile pictures of “Facebook friends,” who had already indicated that they voted. Another message encouraged these users to vote and provided a link to find the nearest poll station, as well as an “I voted” button. Those in the informational message group (n = 611,044) were provided with the same information as the social message group but were not shown the faces of their friends. Those in the control group (n = 613,096) received no information about the election or votes on their newsfeed. (Gleibs, 2014, p. 354)

The researchers wanted to determine if those being studied would click on the “I voted” button or the link to the nearest polling place. They also wanted to track voting behavior, matching what they learned from Facebook with publicly available voting records. The question was, would Facebook users be influenced by what they saw? The study found a small but statistically significant difference in behavior based on which group Facebook users were assigned to. The researchers were able to determine that 282,000 individuals from the social message group voted—potentially enough to change the result in a close election (Gleibs, 2014, p. 355).

Gliebs describes the ethical dilemma:

One of the cornerstones of conducting ethically sound social science research involves the informed consent of participants, obtained through advising them about the study in which they are invited to partake, its possible risks—but also benefits, and the study’s projected outcomes. The use of informed consent is important because it allows participants to make a choice and signals their willing participation. As researchers we show respect for the individuals’ autonomy, which is a fundamental ethical principle. (Gleibs, 2014, p. 356)

The aspects of the dilemma are more complex than can be addressed here, involving elements such as whether anonymity has been preserved, users’ expectations of privacy and perceptions of data collection and use on social media sites, characteristics of large scale data research, and more. Those intrigued by the issue are encouraged to read this freely available copy of Gliebs’s article.

If you have already completed the Privacy Policies Quest, you have adjusted your settings for a social media site. If you’ve not worked through that quest, you may want to. But to finish before moving on, please reflect on what you have learned in this quest.

REFERENCE:

Gleibs, I. H. (2014), Turning Virtual Public Spaces into Laboratories: Thoughts on Conducting Online Field Studies Using Social Network Sites. Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy, 14: 352–370. doi:10.1111/asap.12036

Explaining something to others, either written or orally, often helps to clarify one’s thoughts. Let’s do that now. You’ve been assigned to take part in a debate on the ethics of using data from social media sites in research studies. You have been given a choice—to argue either that this practice is or is not ethical. You will be the first presenter in the debate. Note which side you have chosen, and write out two points you want to make sure you include during your initial presentation. In addition, anticipate one challenge that will be offered by the other side, and sketch out a response to it.

Note: If you use any sources in formulating your responses, please be sure to cite them.

Debate topic: Is it ethical to use data from social media sites in research studies?

• 1. Enter the stance you will take: Yes, it is ethical or No, it is not ethical

  2. What are two important points you will include in your opening statement? Provide sufficient detail for a reader to understand your position.

  3. I anticipate this challenge from the other side of the debate about one of these two points:

  4. My response to these arguments will be...