Facebook is using you

       Today in class we read an article called “Facebook is using you” by Lori Andrews. The article was about how people of all ages use social media sites such as Facebook, twitter, blogger, tumbler, and more social sites, some of things you post can be used against you in the future. The author of this article wants a law to be passed, just like Europe saying it’s illegal to track a person and judge them from their history online, and make them less creditable for jobs, and less their credit limit. Each of these sites all have something in common, they all consist of personal data yours and mine. The article gets more into detail about all these sites are making money. In the article it states “ads that pop up on your screen might seem useful, or at worst, a nuisance. But they are much more than that. The bits and bytes about your life can easily be used against you. Whether you can obtain a job, credit, or insurance can be based on your online profile- and you may never know why you`ve been turned down”. Furthermore the article states “  your application for credit could be declined not on the basis of your own finances or credit history , but on the basis of your online data- what other people whose likes and dislikes are similar to yours have done. When divorcing couples are more likely to not pay their credit-card bills, then the fact that you`ve looked at ads or sent an e-mail to a divorce lawyer might cause a bank to classify you as less credit-worthy. Also in the article it states that there are laws in Europe about it being illegal for companies to look you up from your online data and judge your character from your “cookies”.

I think it’s completely wrong for companies to judge you from what you looked up or even posted on social media sites such as Facebook, twitter, tumbler, blogger and others. These companies are demeaning people and making it harder for some people who are less likely to have a high credit limit. With companies picking and choosing to go through a person’s pass history such as cookies without letting the person know its violating free of speech. I think now im more concerned of what I post online because now I know it could come back and be used against me in the end.