Blog #5

Let's Chat About Snapchat

For more than 10 seconds :)

For my blog today, I decided to read the terms and conditions/user policy for the social media app "Snapchat." Now what exactly is the social media app called Snapchat? According to Snapchat's official website: 

"It’s a new kind of camera that’s connected to your friends and the world. Over 180 million people use it every day to talk, play, learn — and take some pictures, too."

   But for my explanation of Snapchat, I would describe it as an app where the user is able to send anyone a picture or video of anything they want another user to see. What makes Snapchat different from other social media apps, is that the user is able to set a time limit for how long the viewer is able to view their image/video. A user is also able to post on their "story" for more than just one person to see, but those are deleted after 24 hours. Basically snapchat is known for nothing being permanent. But because of this, I was curious to see how much control Snapchat has over our ten second images/videos, and since they disappear so quickly, are they really gone forever?

Accessible or Inaccessible

   When I went to go read Snapchat's terms and conditions, I had a difficult time finding it. After about 20 seconds looking for where it would be located, I found this tiny symbol in the top right corner of the screen. When comparing this to all of the other features within this app, it was very small and easy to look over. After clicking on this symbol and scrolling almost all the way down to the bottom of the page, I finally found the tab that takes the user to the terms and conditions page. I do not think the terms and conditions are very accessible for users within the app. Which does not make logical sense, because users are only able to use snap by using the actual snapchat application. In order for me to access the terms and conditions page easily, I simply just entered it into google, and was able to display the entire page within 3 seconds. But no normal human being is going to go out of their way on another technology device just to be able to read the terms and conditions on a device they are not able to even access the application on.

here is an example of the type of photo I would
take on snapchat at the age of 12.

What Surprised Me 

   After reading the terms and conditions for the app Snapchat, a handful of things stood out to me. One major thing that they listed under "Who Can Use the Services" was that you had to be 13 or older in order to create an account or use this application. This surprised me due to the fact that I know for sure that I was 12 when I created my Snapchat account. I do not quite remember if I lied about the year I was born at the time I made my account or if there was just not an age limit required yet. The next topic under this category that surprised me was that in order to use Snapchat you cannot be a convicted sex offender. I do understand the reasoning behind the sex offenders ineligibility to use Snapchat because inappropriate images and videos can be shared within this application. Which could lead to Stroud and Henson's explanation of revenge porn, in which they explain "A lot of sharing of content and commenting occurs in social media and online, but it is unclear what the consent status of most of this content is." And because people are able to send content for only a couple of seconds, the viewer is able to screenshot the content in which they are able to keep it forever, which was not the senders intent. But it is still surprising to me due to the fact that they insert this regulation into their terms and conditions but do not explain how they enforce this.

   Another thing that surprised me personally is that I did not know Snapchat had the rights to use my content whenever they wanted. In their terms and conditions they directly say "You retain whatever ownership rights in that content you had to begin with. But you grant us a license to use that content." I am pretty positive that most users on this application do not know that Snapchat has the right to use any of the content that we users post, and we are basically giving them this right as soon as we create a Snapchat account.

What I Could Not Find

   A big theory that a lot of Snapchat users have is if our images/videos actually disappear after they have been viewed for 10 seconds. Or since Snapchat is able to have the right to use our content, does that mean they are able to access any past content that we have sent. Cell phone services are able to access any phone call or text message history whether it was deleted on the actual device or not. Does Snapchat have a method similar to this? This is an important topic that I was hoping to find out when reading the term and conditions, but nowhere within it did they mention anything about it. Although, they have this feature called memories that allows us to see Snapchats that we have saved through-out the years. So it would make sense if they are able to access every Snapchat that we have ever sent, whether we saved it or not. 

   I personally have never read any terms and conditions pages within my 20 years of life. I never set out to use an application inappropriately because I was taught that whatever I put out onto the internet is permanent, even if you delete it or if your account is private. So I do not read the rules because I kind of expect that I will not do anything that goes against them. The only time I have looked at a terms and conditions page is when I am creating an account on different applications, but all I really do is scroll down to make it look like I read them. I am curious to know why applications make their terms and conditions so long and expect their users to read the whole entire thing. Nobody has that type of patience. 

references:
Stroud, Scott R., & Jonathan A. Henson. "Social Media, Online Sharing, & the Ethical Complexity of Consent in Revenge Porn." In The Dark Side of Social Media: A Consumer Psychology Perspective, edited by Angeline Close Scheinbaum, 13-32. New York: Routledge, 2017. 

https://www.snap.com/en-US/terms

Blog #5: Snapchat's Terms & Conditions

Blog #5: Snapchat's Terms and Conditions

Snapchat is an app that is popular among social media users. The app allows users to communicate through photos, direct messaging, and story sharing. Similar to all social media platforms, prior to signing up the user is presented with the “Terms and Conditions” of the app itself. The question then arises, what is in these conditions? The average social media user will not even think twice before hitting “agree” before reading the conditions- myself included. I have taken the time to briefly browse over Snapchat’s Terms and Conditions and have quickly noticed a large amount of information I was blind to. For example, a qualification to properly follow the guidelines- no one under the age of 13 is able to create a Snapchat account. Snapchat first came out in 2011, which would have made me 9 years old at the time. I vividly remember setting up my first account with the username, “e_br0ckk”, completely unaware of the guidelines. 

Similar to the age limit on Snapchat, other cites that produce alcohol ask the user if they are 21 before browsing the cite. In order to gain access, the only thing required is the click of a button, similar to Snapchat. Another guideline I found interesting is that by using the app you must agree that you are not a convicted sex offender. As I previously mentioned, signing up as a 9-year-old I was unaware of any of the particular guidelines a Snapchat user. When it comes to age or convicted crimes, how are these characteristics monitored? I understand the reasoning for including such specific guidelines, but I do not understand how the app itself would keep track of each user who is not properly following the guidelines. For example, creating an account as a 9-year-old, I was never penalized for breaking the guidelines after agreeing to the terms. Ultimately, this makes me question how they monitor something as serious as a sex offender on their platform. Also, the platform has gained such a large number of users regulating these terms have to be a difficult task.  

Another takeaway I gained from reviewing the terms is the amount of power that Snapchat has over the content produced. It states, “while we’re not required to do so, we may access, review, screen, and delete your content at any time and for any reason, including to provide and develop the Services or if we think your content violates these Terms”. Signing up to a social media platform, I understood that there are many twists and turns to all the material that is posted on a platform that is owned by a large company. The concept that stuck out to me the most was the vague language that Snapchat used to describe this policy. Stating “if we think” or “…delete your content at any time for any reason”, sounds as if they are able to delete any user's content as they please. Although I understand the point they are trying to get across, the vague language appears as if they are in control of any and all content produced. Throughout Snapchat’s Terms and Conditions, it appears to be a trend of using vague language to explain their guidelines. I believe that this is an important part missing within the agreement. The concept of being vague appears to the reader that they are potentially trying to hide something, when in fact it could be to make the reading shorter and easier to read. 

Aside from the vague language when talking about Snapchat’s rights over the content users produce, it is clearly stated within the Terms and Conditions of the many rights users must respect among other users. Within this section, it clearly states all of the guidelines it expects when using the app. Snapchat’s most reliable form of communication is a message with pictures. The Terms and Conditions become very important when a user is abusing their rights to the app and using someone else’s picture in a negative manner. Scheinbaum (2018) mentions the concept of “digital drama”. She defines this term as “occurrence of and reactions to negative online consumer behaviors such as sexting, cyberbullying, fear of missing out, abuse, and related online happenings” (Scheinbaum, 2018, pg. 5). This concept direct correlates with Snapchat because of the amount of digital drama that takes place within this app. Even within my personal life, I have had friends in situations where a picture was sent to an individual and ended up out in the public. Reading Snapchat’s guidelines to this keeps a sense of peace in mind that they do not take cases of digital drama lightly, but essentially are unable to stop the action from happening. 

The Terms and Conditions of Snapchat are an easily accessible document for all users. In order to access the document, the user will have to go under their settings, scroll down until they see “More Information” and then “Terms of Service” are located as the third icon. The easy access for this document is a good addition that Snapchat has incorporated. Also, above the section “More Information” there is an option to report feedback of the app and suggest some changes. Within the conditions, it states that if a user was to give the corporation an idea and they were to use the idea, that they were unable to give credit to the individual. This concept is also another negative aspect of the conditions, although it is understandable. In conclusion, reading Snapchat’s Terms and Conditions has motivated me to become more aware of the guidelines of the apps that I use daily. In the past, I have never read the Terms and Conditions for any app prior to signing up. This exercise has shed light on the importance of reading what you are agreeing to before you actually hit “agree”. 

References:

Scheinbaum, A. C. (2018). A framework for the dark side of social media. New York, NY: Routledge. 

Isabel Schnaidt Blog #5

Snapchat

To learn more about the terms and conditions of social media platforms, I decided to turn to Snapchat. To me, this platform is one of the more mysterious ones due to the ephemeral character of its content. As Shah (2016) said, Snapchat’s immediate nature transforms the mundane into the unmissable. This made me wonder: what do we overlook on this instantaneous platform? To find out, I decided to take a look into their Terms of Service, Community Guidelines, and Privacy Policy.

Snapchat's ghost logo is very representative of how quickly its content disappears

Terms of Service

In the beginning of their Terms of Service, Snapchat specifies that the Terms are a legally binding contract between the user and Snap Inc., so the user should read them carefully. This made me nervous as a user of the service who had never read the terms, but I read on.

The first thing that surprised me was in their section on who is permitted to use their services. I thought it was very odd that they specified that convicted sex offenders cannot use Snapchat, so I Googled it, and actually found that banning sex offenders from social media is a common practice that I just had no idea about. But, the Supreme Court actually argued in 2017 that sex offenders should be allowed to use social media, since it has become such a vital part of obtaining information and functioning in society. They even argued that a North Carolina law banning them from several social media platforms violated the First Amendment, demonstrating how integral social media has become to our lives.

After moving on, the next thing I noticed was that the service provides significantly fewer rights to the user than the user provides to the company. Snapchat users just get the ability to use the service within community guidelines. The Terms specify that this includes the use of a Bitmoji, but clarify that Snap Inc. reserves the right to use any Bitmoji Avatar for any purpose, including promotional reasons. They also mention that Snap Inc. can use any “Public Content” (stories viewable by anyone) for anything they wish, as well as put advertisements on any user content.

These are some examples of Bitmojis

As I read the terms, I realized that the way that Snapchat utilizes user data and advertises on our content to make a profit is an example of exploitation. Since the user generates profits through their usage of the platform, but Snap Inc. controls these profits without compensating the users, the user is exploited (Fuchs, 2017, p. 16). However, the way that this is phrased in the Terms of Service is much more positive, framed more like we are giving them permission to borrow what we own.

One more interesting thing that I noticed in the Terms of Service is that the user is not allowed to share their password. This interested me because I’ve heard a lot of stories of teenagers letting their friends use their Snapchat accounts to keep their streaks going when they may not be able to use their phone. This makes me wonder if these users know that they’re breaking rules and don’t care, or if they have no idea, since most people don’t read the Terms of Service. I also wonder what the point of this rule is, since Snapchat is a free service, unlike Netflix, which warns against password sharing to increase their profits.

Community Guidelines

Next, I took a quick look at Snapchat’s much shorter Community Guidelines, which are the rules for Snapchat users. The first thing I noticed was that they prohibit the promotion and distribution of pornographic content, but don’t specify what this means. Sending nudes on Snapchat has been frequently debated, but I’m not sure if the rules are prohibiting that, or if it’s more intended to target sex workers who sell or post nude pictures to more than one person. If it is a private message between two people, I don’t know how Snapchat would be able to learn that you are breaking the rules.

The other big thing I noticed from the Community Guidelines is that they prohibit hate speech and misinformation, but don’t contain any information about how this is monitored and enforced. Just because something is technically against the rules does not mean it still doesn’t happen. For example, harassment is against Facebook’s Terms of Service, but they still failed to take action when users harassed and threatened Clementine Ford for speaking up against revenge porn (Salter, 2017, p. 4). Additionally, misinformation is often rampant on social media, so I wonder how they fight against it.

Clementine Ford faced significant harassment for this Facebook post, but she was the one that the website took action against, not her harassers

Privacy Policy

Finally, I took a look at Snapchat’s Privacy Policy. Here, they provide three categories of information that they collect. The most notable was “information we get when you use our services.” A lot of this was unsurprising to me, though the amount they collect for “usage information” seemed strangely invasive, including things like how often you talk to people and how quickly you respond to them. Additionally, the amount of information collected by cookies seemed a bit excessive. When talking about the cookies, the Privacy Policy explains that they can be turned off, but recommend against it, even specifying that most other websites have cookies on as a default. The way they phrased that seemed almost defensive to me, like they were preemptively fighting against accusations of taking too much data.

The next section is about how they actually use our information, and linked to another page. I think that this section was intended to seem as pleasant as possible, even using cute little graphics with hearts in them to illustrate their points. They framed Snap Inc.’s usage of our data as beneficial to the user, including reasons like “to personalize your experience & give things context.” However, they did not say how they benefit from our data or how they profit off of us. I think that this was an attempt to build credibility and appear dedicated to helping the user, while glossing over the darker aspects.

This is one of the graphics the site uses when discussing how they use our information

Another interesting aspect of the Privacy Policy was Snap Inc.’s emphasis that they are not responsible for how their third party integrations use our data, because they have separate privacy policies. This stood out to me because some of these third-party tools are so well-integrated into Snapchat that I would not have been able to guess that they operate by different rules. For example, the games in Chat are apparently third party integrations, even though I definitely thought that they were part of Snap Inc. To me, this seems like a place where these third-party tools could collect more user data than the actual app itself, since they don’t play by the same rules.

Bitmoji Party is one of the games in Chat, and is apparently a third party integration

The last thing I thought was notable in the Privacy Policy is how long they keep information. Snap Inc. claims that Snaps and Chats are automatically deleted from their servers as soon as they are opened, though Story posts are kept for longer. This surprised me, because I thought that they were able to store Snaps and Chats for much longer than that, based on what I heard from word of mouth. This was the most positive surprise that I encountered in Snapchat’s Privacy Policy.

Overall Findings

In the beginning of Snapchat’s Privacy Policy, they state that it is “blissfully free of the legalese that often clouds these documents.” While this may have been true to some extent, it was still long and difficult enough that I imagine that most Snapchat users don’t bother reading it.

Additionally, this more informal style was less “neutral” that one might expect. Instead of just stating facts, it often came across as an attempt to convince the reader of the company’s values and ethics, with frequent reassurances despite providing the users with very little rights. There was also less “unpleasant” information that I would expect, like no description of how Snap Inc. makes its profits. The order of information also seemed to have strategic purpose, since information about how to control our data was located at the end of the Privacy Policy. I think that these attempts at subtle manipulation would normally go unnoticed unless you’re looking for it, like I was.

I don’t read the Terms & Conditions on most sites. It takes forever, and I feel like I don’t understand anything that I read. However, I think I really should. Even though I won’t stop using Snapchat, this exercise has shown me how easy it would be for social media platforms to sneak something in to the Terms & Conditions that could hurt me later.

As a free service, Snapchat users are the commodity being sold.

References

Fuchs, C. (2017). Social media: A critical introduction. Sage.

Salter, M. (2017). Crime, justice, and social media. London, England: Routledge.

Shah, S. (2016, May 14). The history of social networking. Digital Trends. Retrieved from https://www.digitaltrends.com/

Zwanziger Blog #5

As someone who has had an Instagram account since the app was created, I can honestly say that I have never read the terms of conditions. Before you start to judge me, have you read the terms of conditions for half of the apps that you use? The answer is probably no and that is okay! It has a lot of dense words and a lot of information. But reading the terms of conditions is honestly never a bad thing and is worth checking out. While reading the terms of conditions for the first time, I found out a lot more about the app that I had previously not known. For instance, if you are a convicted sex offender then you cannot use the app, although I find it hard to believe that they actually police this policy. There were a lot of other articles saying relatively small things, such as that you have to be at least 13 years or older to have an account and that they have the authority to use your content (although they technically do not own it). Something that I found extremely odd though, was that they did not have that many policies regarding the safety of the individuals that use the app. This really stuck out to me because I have had a firsthand experience with this on Instagram. 

When I was a senior in high school, and was only 17 years old, I developed a pretty intense stalker on Instagram. This person would constantly direct message me and send me really threatening messages. I was constantly blocking accounts, only to have the person create new accounts and continue sending these messages. It got so bad that we had to get both my school and the police involved. The worst part? The police essentially said that there was very little that they could do, and they advised me just to delete my account. While it may seem a little dumb now, telling a 17 year old girl to delete her social media account didn’t seem like an option for me. I was baffled about how someone could be completely terrifying my life, and was actively threatening to attack me, and the police couldn’t do anything about it. While they did say that if they found who the person was they could prosecute them, they did not have a way of finding out who this individual was. When reading through the terms and conditions I was expecting to find something that would discuss the phenomenon of online abuse or online stalkers, and I found very little. While there were terms discussing how you should not harass individuals online, it did not say anything about prosecution or anything of that nature. In reality, Instagram had a clause that essentially said that they are not liable for anything of that nature, should it occur. While I understand that there are millions, if not billions, of users on the app, and there are probably a lot of cases of this going on, you would think that they would have something more talking about it. Under their “who is responsible if something happens” section they state: “We also don’t control what people and others do or say, and we aren’t responsible for their (or your) actions or conduct (whether online or offline) or content (including unlawful or objectionable content). We also aren’t responsible for services and features offered by other people or companies, even if you access them through our Service”. This is basically them covering their tails and saying that if anything at all happens through their app, whether online or offline, then they are not responsible. While it does make sense, I just feel like they could do a little more or try and be a little more helpful for people who have these situations. For instance, I feel like they could say that if these people were continuously creating new accounts on the same IP address (such as if they’re using the same phone) then they have the authority to be able to ban them altogether. But unfortunately they do not. Since they are keeping a lot of our information, you would think the least they could do would be able to track an IP address of people who are not using the app correctly. Not only that, but in the section directly under that they state that “You agree to defend (at our request), indemnify and hold us harmless from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, losses, and expenses, including without limitation, reasonable attorney's fees and costs, arising out of or in any way connected with these Terms or your use of the Service. You will cooperate as required by us in the defense of any claim. We reserve the right to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter subject to indemnification by you, and you will not in any event settle any claim without our prior written consent”. This is basically saying that even by just using and downloading the app you are already agreeing that you will not hold them accountable for anything that might take place on the app. While I am lucky that my situation finally calmed down (mainly from me backing down and not using the app nearly as much), I think that if something did happen then this clause would be a hard pill for my family to swallow. While they are technically not accountable for what people do on the app, it would make it hard to accept that they do not care about the danger that some of their users are put in. Again, I think that they could do a better job of looking into these claims or trying to take more action in preventing these situations from occurring. Overall, I found that these terms and conditions were extremely eye opening, and I urge everyone to try and look more at the terms and conditions of the apps that they are frequently putting information out on and using.

Terms of Service - Blog 5

I read snapchats terms & conditions to see what kind of things they had, the part I was most interested in finding out was their privacy because one time someone told me that snapchat stores every picture taken and I want to see if that’s true or not. When I first looked at the terms of service it didn’t seem like too much, until I started reading. I had never actually attempted to read any type of terms of service for any social media site, so this was really all new information to me. I typically don’t read them because I know they’re gonna use my information so I just assume that is what most of it is going to consist of so I just hit accept and go on with my day. Snapchat doesn’t have one long terms and conditions page, they have different categories with separate links so I only read the “terms of service” and “privacy.”

here's some of my personal
snapchat pictures :)

One thing I didn’t remember being a rule was that you had to be at least 13, I don’t know if that was a rule when I signed up or I was just already 13 so I didn’t really pay attention. The most of what they talk about is what I thought they would, what kind of things get shared with other companies. This was mostly in the “privacy” section but also in “terms of service,” they talk about the different types of information they gather and how they use it. They gather basic information that you put in when you sign up, they use things like map locations, and what services you use in snapchat. They give basic information (names, bitmoji, content you publicly post, etc) to third party companies and other users, but mainly they use the information to improve their own apps. The thing that surprised me most was that there was a whole paragraph that explained that your bitmoji and its looks are given to snapchat affiliates to use in their own way. It kind of took me a second because I never even thought about that happening! 

Under the information they gathered came the answer to the question I’ve been waiting for, do they save all snaps and chats that are sent? No they do not, information for your account is saved in their server but once it is detected that snaps and chats are opened they are deleted from the servers. It also goes on to say that you do have control over your information, as far as sharing it with other snapchatters, you can delete or block anyone at any time so they can’t communicate with you. Also, once you delete a snapchat account the information disappears from snapchat servers.

When people joke about your “FBI agent” watching you through your phone camera it may actually be true, while they don’t work for the FBI snapchat can “access, review, screen, and delete [your] content at any time for any reason. Lots of the “terms and services” has to do with the safety of you and other users. They try their best to police content but can’t cover it all. They state that the user that posts their content, publicly, is their responsibility and is treated like public property. I figured this was kind of a way for snapchat to cover itself if something happens that they miss. A big part of this was “safety,” they went through a list of things that you couldn’t do to other people with your content (harass, defame, etc). One thing I thought was funny was that they had to state that you can’t “buy, sell, rent, or lease access” to ‘snaps’, so I guess the girl who sold her nudes to raise money for the australian fires had to use a different form of communication.

What I appreciated most about all of the articles, was that they tried to remove legal jargon as best they could so it was easy to understand. Most of the times they had a separate section for EU users or California residents, which I thought was interesting because I never thought about how there were different laws that would apply to those users. At the end of every article was a statement that discussed how they are always changing and improving but they never do so without letting their users know, so maybe next time I get a notification I’ll read it? Probably not, but maybe.

Blog # 6 - Searched

Nathan Gillispie

03/26/20

Searched

         Living in 2020, it seems like you can find almost everything on the internet. There are blogs, forums, articles, videos, pictures, files, and services that flood the internet with trillions of bytes of data every day. Everything has become so accessible and convenient from one small little white search bar. It begs the question, “Is everything really on the internet?”. Today, I decided to see what information I could access about myself on a public computer in the Christopher Newport Library. I signed out of all my google accounts and scholarly sites and used two search engines (Google & Bing) to gather as much information as I could on the identity of Nathan Gillispie.

            I opened Google first and searched for “Nathan Gillispie” under the general search bar. Roughly 500,000 results returned and I started to sift through the links to see what I could find. The first result from my self-search was a link to Facebook.com, however, this link was not for my personal account. Results that were brought back on Google were hundreds of other Nathan Gillispies from around the world. The following links were Instagram, VCU.edu directory, and LinkedIn accounts. I was shockingly unable to find any solidified information about myself through Google's searched links. It seemed like the privacy features that I use on my social media accounts were working. I clicked on the LinkedIn link and it brought me to four references of Nathan Gillispie where I could locate my profile however, it was not accessible from the public domain.

 After scrolling through three pages on Googles search tab, I switched to Google images to see if I could find anything relevant there. I stumbled across an old photo I uploaded on Facebook years ago. The photo was not of myself yet I was shocked to see the internet retain that specific piece of information. I then found a photo of my now deceased grandfather on the first page of searches. The link brought me to his obituary page from Farmville, Virginia but had no further information on him. 

I continued to scroll through Google images and found a group photo, which I was in, that I had never posted. The photo was a professional shot of my fraternity brothers on bid-day at CNU. The link took me to the fraternity website where my name was listed under “newly initiated members 2017”. 

I found it interesting that even if I had posed nothing online I would eventually find things that others had posted about me. I scrolled to page three of the search results where nothing else was found that related to myself. So far, I was beginning to think I was well hidden online.

            Next, I used the Bing search engine to find information on myself. These results were even more depressing than Google’s. I found lots of different Nathan’s who were tax managers, doctors, and professors but nothing on myself. It became a bit disappointing not seeing any recognition at all online as I tried scrolling to page 5 of the results. I switched to Bing images and videos where I found nothing that remotely resembled myself nor the content I engage with. I started to feel like I was flying under the radar compared to a lot of these other Nathan Gillispie that flooded the images page. Upon my search in Bing, I stumbled across a “Whitepages” link that took me to a database website that collects people's identity. 

There I found an accurate representation of my identity that provided my mother and father's names along with the city and state I currently live in. I clicked on the profile that then brought up my age and an access link that required payment for premium information. I was a bit scared seeing that online and was curious to know what the premium information entailed. I scrolled further and found that the benefits of paying were access to their phone number (if on record), addresses, and criminal/public records. I personally found this to be very alarming and imagined how many other people were represented on this “Whitepages” database. I started searching for my friend's names and sure enough, I found their information as well. Finding this was scary at first but realized that not too many people would pay a premium price of $30.00 just for some basic information on myself. People would be better off just finding my social media accounts and accessing that information for free. Besides my findings on Whitepages.com, Bing proved to be an even more lackluster search than Google.

            Once I concluded my general searches between Bing and Google, I began to get more aggressive with my search terms. I implemented additional information such as my middle name and user account names. This is when my personal information started to seep through the cracks of the internet's massive online database. I was accurately able to locate my Facebook account on Google and Bing from the first results page. The information from Facebook was very limited due to the privacy policies I have implemented on my account. I seemed to just display the information I was comfortable giving to the public. This included my profile picture and name (of course), my cover picture, residents, birth, and occupation. It also showed the total number of friends I had with three additional photos that I posted on my timeline. I was satisfied with the amount of visible information that was displayed toward the public and thought it was an appropriate amount of limited information that strangers could gather on my identity. Next was my Instagram profile which I had to be even more aggressive with in order to find. I found the basic Instagram themed page where it displayed my total posts, follower count, following count, profile picture, name, and bio. This is exactly what I would expect from the information I could gather off Instagram, as this is the same page you would see if you searched for someone who has their account on “private”. Lastly, I searched for my Twitter account that was made for this course and, as expected, could find the account with public access to all my tweets and information that I had shared with the platform.

Concluding my investigative search on the identity of Nathan Gillispie, I have returned with minimal and anticlimactic results. I was not able to find any revealing information about myself (besides the Whitepages) that would make me second guess my online activity. Although I was unsatisfied with my results from my online search, I was content with the final outcome. I take advantage of the privacy features on social media platforms and they are obviously paying off. Despite my digital footprint being very minimal online, I am most definitely aware of how easily and accessible my information could be without proper privacy options. As mentioned in the article on Revenge Porn, the theory of privacy has an increased attention to the user's ability to limit information about oneself on the internet (Stroud & Henson, 2016). Having effective privacy options for social media platforms may help to limit the amount of information that is accessible to the public.  Privacy options act as a valuable safety net from personal content to be leaked to the public through the endless amount of online forums and blogs. 

Stroud, Scott and Henson, Jonathan, Social Media, Online Sharing, and the Ethical Complexity of Consent in Revenge Porn (September 25, 2016). Scott R. Stroud & Jonathan A. Henson, "Social Media, Online Sharing, and the Ethical Complexity of Consent in Revenge Porn," Online Consumer Behavior: The Dark Side of Social Media, Angeline Close Scheinbaum (ed.), Routledge, 2017 Forthcoming. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2843232

blog 5

Lauren Lemelin

Sneaky Snapchat: Exploring their Terms of Service

Snapchat, known as “Snap Inc.” has two terms of service; “Snap Inc. Terms of Service” and “Snap Group Limited Terms of Service." “Snap Inc. Terms of Service” is applicable to those living in the United States and “Snap Group Limited Terms of Service” is applicable to those living outside of the United States. For this assignment I explored the “Snap Inc. Terms of Service” as that is the most applicable to me. After reading through Snapchat's Terms of Service, I identified five terms that I thought were the most interesting and explained and discussed them below.

Really interesting facts about Snapchat.

1. “Who Can Use the Services” states:

• No one under the age of 13 is allowed to create an account or use Snap Inc.’s services.
• Notice how they state nobody under the age of 13 can use Snap Inc.'s services. This suggests that Snapchat may have issues with young users using their parents accounts.
• Children and underage users is a side-effect of social media that Vega-Castaneda and Castaneda (2019) addressed in their article.
•  Snap Inc. also requires that:
• Users are not on the U.S. Treasury Department’s list of Specially Designated Nationals or face any other similar prohibition.
• Users are not a convicted sex offender.
• Users can form a binding contract with Snap Inc.
• Users will comply with these terms and all applicable local, state, national, and international laws, rules, and regulations.
• My thoughts:
• I think Snapchat has excellent rules and regulations for who can use their services, but unfortunately, I don't think they are able to enforce the rules. For example, they have made it very easy to lie about your age when you are making a Snapchat account. I also know many pre-teens that have an account and have not been caught.

Example of how you can lie about your birthday on Snapchat.

2. “Rights You Grant Us” states:

• When users create, upload, post, send, receive, and store content they retain ownership rights in that content but they also grant Snap Inc. a license to use that content.

• What does that mean? 

• This means that any “non-public content” users submit to Snapchat can be hosted, stored, used, displayed, reproduced, modified, adapted, edited, published, and distributed by Snap Inc. and its affiliates.
• Any “Public Content”, story submissions that are set to be viewable by everyone as well as content submitted to “Our Story”, grants Snap Inc. and its affiliates the same rights for "non-public content" as well as a right to "create derivative works from, promote, exhibit, broadcast, syndicate, publicly perform and display public content in any form and in any and all media or distribution methods (Snap, 2019, par. 3)."
• This means that Snapchat can use your "public content" for marketing purposes. This is a perfect example of surplus labor, surplus labor is work that is performed unpaid (Fuchs, 2017).
• Snap Inc. also reserves the right and license to users name, likeness, and voice, in connection with sponsored content. 
• This is an example of domination, domination is when one group (Snapchat) benefits at the expense of others (users) and has the power to uphold that situation (Fuchs, 2017).
• Snap Inc. can also access, review, screen, and delete users content at any time and for any reason. 

3. "The Content of Others” states:

• Content posted publicly or sent privately is the sole responsibility of the user or organization that submitted it. 
• Snapchat does not-take responsibility for any content that users provide through their services as they cannot guarantee that all content produced conforms to their terms, guidelines, and conditions.

4. “Respecting Others’ Rights” states: 

• Users may not use Snapchat or enable anyone else to use Snapchat to:
• “Violate or infringe someone else's rights of publicity, privacy, copyright, trademark, or other intellectual property right (Snap, 2019, par. 7)."
• Bully, harrassess, defame, or intimidate users.
• Unfortunately, bullying occurs way too often on Snapchat. This often occurs when users screenshot content, that was intended for them only, and distribute this content to others.
• For example, in high school 30-40 boys had a group chat where they would store screenshots of embarrassing and intimate photos of women without their consent. This is similar to 8chan, an image-board site where women's intimate photos are often exposed (Salter, 2016). 
• Spam or solicit users.

Examples of screenshotted snapchats.

When people accidentally screenshot a snapchat.

5. “Memories” states:

• What is Snapchat memories?
• Memories is a data storage service that makes it easy for users to store photographs to reminisce on later. 
• There is ability to restrict access to select memories in the "My Eyes Only" section through a passcode.
• If users lose or forget their "My Eyes Only" passcode or if they enter the wrong passcode too many times, they will lose access to any content saved in their "My Eyes Only."
• Snap Inc. does not offer any password recovery for this restricted area.

What memories looks like. 

What surprised me?

Me reading Snapchat's Terms of Service

I was shocked to learn that Snap Inc. has the right to store, use, and distribute my content even if it was sent privately. I am surprised because this seems like an invasion of privacy. I am also surprised that users are not more aware of this term/condition. I have had Snapchat since seventh grade and I never knew they had that level of power and ownership. This is very disturbing and I am considering deleting my account because of it. 

In the “Who Can Use our Services” Snap Inc. states that convicted sex offenders, people on the U.S. Treasury Department’s list of Specially Designated Nationals, or people who face other similar prohibition may not use their services. I am surprised by this because I didn’t know social media platforms could discriminate against individuals, even if it is for legal purposes. However, I think this a great rule as you don't want the platform to be used by dangerous people in inappropriate ways.

What do I think is missing?

In “Memories”, Snap Inc. discussed how the "My Eyes Only" section in memories can be locked through a passcode, however they never explicitly stated if the content in this restricted area is also subject to being hosted, stored, used, displayed, reproduced, modified, adapted, edited, published, or distributed. I think this is an important detail that they are missing as it could change users minds about using their platform to store secret, valued memories.

In “Respecting Others’ Rights” Snap Inc. laid out three rules that all Snapchat users need to abide by, but they never stated the procedures for when a user breaks these rules. Once again I think this an important detail that needs to be explicitly stated so that if these rules are broken (which they are) by users, Snapchat can respond in a fair and uniform manner. Also since it isn't stated it makes me question if they even monitor users, enforce rules, and punish those that break them.

Accessibility of Snap Inc.’s Terms of Service

I accessed Snap Inc.'s Terms of Service through their website (Click here to view their terms of service), as I found it easier to read online versus on the app. Though, their terms of service is the same on their website and on the app. I found it difficult to access it on the app so I have provided step by step instructions on how to do so if you are interested in reading it on the app. I feel like Snapchat makes their terms of service less accessible on the app, because they want users to focus on producing content and interacting with other users, not reading their terms of service.

Step One:

Open up the app and click the circle in the top left hand corner. 

Step Two:

Then click the item in the top right hand corner.

Step Three:

Scrollllll Doooown!

Step Four:

Click "Terms of Service" under "More information"

Step Five:

You successfully reached their Terms of Service.

At the beginning of Snap Inc. Terms of Service it states “We’ve drafted these Terms of Service (which we call the “Terms”) so you’ll know the rules that govern our relationship with you. Although we have tried our best to strip the legalese from the Terms, there are places where these Terms may still read like a traditional contract (Snap, 2019, par. 1).” Snap Inc. is obviously aware that their terms of service is hard for an average person to read and therefore tried to make it easier to understand by "dumbing it down." However, I still found it very hard to read, in fact I read this article before writing my blog (Click here to read the article), it helped me better understand their terms of service.

Typically, do I read the terms/conditions?

Typically I do not read the terms and conditions for social media platforms because they are very long and hard to understand. Although when I get a notification about the terms of service being updated I will occasionally browse through it for a second. However, I have never read a terms and conditions in its entirety until now. Though after completing this assignment I realize that I need to be aware of the terms and conditions on every platform that I am using because the company may hold a surprising level of power, control, and ownership over you and your content.

References

Fuchs, C. (2017). What is a critical introduction to social media? In C. Fuchs (Eds.), Social media: A critical introduction (pp. 1-26). London: SAGE Publications Ltd. 
Islandkit. (2017). Snapchat Terms of Service. TldrLegal. https://tldrlegal.com/license/snapchat-terms-of-service
Salter, M. (2016). Introduction. In M. Salter (Eds.), Crime, Justice and Social Media: New Directions in Critical Criminology (pp. 1-11). Routledge.
Snap Inc. (2019, October 20). Terms of Service. Snap Inc. https://www.snap.com/en-US/terms

Vega-Castaneda, L., & Castaneda, M. (2019). Teaching and learning about difference through social        media. Women and Girls and Social Media, 86–103. doi: 10.4324/9781351238212