Facebook gives the user the ability to choose his or her own privacy settings. By clicking the
arrow and then the link that says “Privacy Settings” next to the Home button, you gain
access to this feature.
In Facebook’s “Privacy Settings”, you can control:
Who can see your next post (either Public, Friends, or Custom)
Who can see your past posts
Who can and cannot see your profile
o Who is on your restricted list
o Who is blocked
How you connect with people you know
o Who can look up your timeline by name
o Who can look you up using your e-mail address or phone number
o Who can send you friend requests
o Who can send you Facebook messages
Timeline and tagging
o Who can post on your timeline
o Who can see what others post on your timeline
o Who can see photos and posts you have been tagged in
How adds, apps, and websites access your Facebook page
In Facebook’s “Account Settings”, you can edit all other settings that are not
mentioned under “Privacy Settings”, such as General Settings and Security Settings. In order
to delete/deactivate your Facebook account, click the link at the bottom of Security Settings that
says “Deactivate your account”. This link will take you through the process of doing so.
In order to access Twitter’s “Privacy Policy”, click that says Privacy on the bottom of
the home page. Twitter’s “Privacy Policy” is essentially an explanation of what the effects of
creating a Twitter account are and what Twitter does with all of the information you choose to
share.
Some important parts of Twitter’s “Privacy Policy” include:
Anyone, including unregistered users, can read your tweets.
If you tweet about your location or from your Smart Phone (example: Droid, iPhone),
random people may be able to discover your location and find you.
Since anyone can see what you tweet and retweet, your future employers will be able to
access your profile.
Be careful with
what you say!
Twitter’s “Privacy
Policy” page looks like
this:
In order to deactivate your Twitter account, first, you must sign into Twitter. Then, you
click on Account Settings and click on Deactivate my account. Read the account deactivation
information. Enter your password and verify that you want to deactivate your account.
Twitter only keeps your information for 30 days after account deactivation. Then, your
account is deleted permanently. By logging in any time during those thirty days, the account is
reactivated.
3.
Tumblr’s “Privacy Policy” states that:
You have the option of allowing yourself to be searched via your email address, which
could result in your email address becoming public.
Tumblr accounts can be linked to different social networking accounts, such as Facebook.
All information on Tumblr is public unless specified private.
In order to deactivate your Tumblr account, first, you must sign into Tumblr. Next, you click
on the “Preference” icon on the dashboard. Then, you click “Delete your account”. Enter your
password and click “Yes, Delete my Account”. Click OK to confirm your account deletion.
Instagram In order to access Instagram’s “Privacy Policy” on a computer, go to
www.instagram.com and click on the Privacy link at the bottom of the homepage. There are two
versions of the “Privacy Policy”, one is a ‘Snapshot’ and the other is extended. Clicking on the
Privacy link takes you to the ‘Snapshot’, but if you scroll down, you can view the extended
“Privacy Policy”.
Important aspects of Instagram’s “Privacy Policy” include:
All photos are public unless specified otherwise.
Personal information, such as email addresses and phone numbers, can become public.
Photos on Instagram can be “geotagged”; these pictures will have specific information,
such as coordinates, attached. Depending on the settings of the photo, this information
can be revealed.
Information shared on Instagram is stored and can be transferred to other jurisdictions
and across borders.
In order to delete your Instagram account, you need to log into the account deletion page.
You need to enter in all of your account information, select one of the reasons for deleting your
account, and then select the button that says “I understand, deactivate my account”.
ooVoo
In ooVoo’s “Privacy
Policy”, the company states that
they will collect personal
information such as the name,
postal address, telephone number,
email address, credit/debit card
number, and other personally
identifiable information about the
user. They retain this information
for an unspecified period of time.
In certain circumstances, they may
disclose this information “for any purpose”.
There is no option to delete your ooVoo account. In order to “deactivate” it, you have to
edit your profile so there is no connection to you. Click on file, then on my account, then on edit
my ooVoo card. In the Display Name field, type inactive account and type .oovoo at the end of
your email address. Change your profile picture so it has no connection to you by clicking file
then change my display photo. Then, change the accounts privacy settings. Click on file, then
privacy. Choose the no one option under who can search for you. Remove email notifications by
clicking file followed by emails. Uncheck all boxes that are marked for notifications so you
never receive updates from the ooVoo system. After all of this is done, simply stop using ooVoo.
skype In order to view Skype’s privacy settings, you must follow the following steps. First, go
to the skype homepage. Next, click on support. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click
on “Privacy and security” under your account.
All concerns about privacy and security on Skype are answered in a frequently asked
questions style. There are 4 pages of questions and answers regarding Skype’s security policy.
In order to delete your Skype account, log into your account at Skype.com. Go to the
subscription settings link on the right side and click it. Then click on Cancel Subscription. It will
ask if you are sure you want to cancel, click the Yes button. It will then take you through step-
by-step through the rest of the process.