An investigation of Internet privacy issues within social networking

Research Paper (postgraduate) from the year 2011 in the subject Communications - Multimedia, Internet, New Technologies, grade: 80%, Coventry University, course: BA Contemporary Studies, language: English, abstract: Internet privacy especially in social networks has become one of the burning topics within the social debate in the UK (Dutton et al. 2009). It seems that in Britain the attitude towards information-protection does not live up to the European expectations. Therefore, unawareness among undergraduate students and teenagers is starting to be a priority issue for the government (Internet Society 2010). However, definite solutions to this problem are still to come and perhaps it could be too late by the time someone reacts. This coursework will explore the current social online attitudes towards social networking in terms of privacy-protection focusing on Facebook. In so doing, a concise approach to social networks as potential thread elements will be given. Furthermore, topic-related governmental action will be exposed in light of the results for the Internet Society Privacy Survey 2010. Finally, the conclusion of this work will embrace a summary of the key points alongside with the hypothesis for this coursework. To perform this task, this coursework will take as given essential knowledge for the online situation of social networks, the existing different types and its intended audience with the aim of achieving a deeper insight into the far-reaching effects of social media within their users' privacy.