Snap Map's Privacy Issues
Hey! We’re back for two new blog posts.
Constantly being on social media makes us sometimes forget that certain features of applications are totally crossing boundaries of our private life. Let’s address a few of the Snap Map’s privacy issues.
Snapchat is a messaging application that was introduced to the public in 2011. On this platform, users communicate through the exchange of pictures or videos that disappear once you have viewed them. Same goes for when users are using the chat option where they send a text and it disappears once the conversation is closed. For group chats, the messages last only for a duration of 24h unless you saved them. So basically, Snapchat is different because messages/pictures or videos disappear once they have been opened. It gives the idea that what you share has a limited life duration which is contrary to all other social media. This false sense of privacy brings user to put their guards down and blindly trust the application.
However, Snapchat settings allows users to take back control of their privacy. Here are the different ways:
Constantly being on social media makes us sometimes forget that certain features of applications are totally crossing boundaries of our private life. Let’s address a few of the Snap Map’s privacy issues.
Snapchat is a messaging application that was introduced to the public in 2011. On this platform, users communicate through the exchange of pictures or videos that disappear once you have viewed them. Same goes for when users are using the chat option where they send a text and it disappears once the conversation is closed. For group chats, the messages last only for a duration of 24h unless you saved them. So basically, Snapchat is different because messages/pictures or videos disappear once they have been opened. It gives the idea that what you share has a limited life duration which is contrary to all other social media. This false sense of privacy brings user to put their guards down and blindly trust the application.
In this blog post we would like to address the privacy issues surrounding the Snap Map, a feature of Snapchat. It is a location sharing feature so that all your friends can see where you are and what you are doing at any moment of the day. “[...] Privacy and security experts warn users may be sharing too much — especially the teenagers who make up 22 percent of users [...]”. It is important to note that this map is impressively precise. You can easily find the exact address of where someone is based on that person’s location on the Snap Map. At first glance, to some people, this seems to be an original way of always knowing where to find your friends. However, when you take the time to study the impact of this feature, you realize that the limits of public and private life are completely erased.
Here are a few impact of the Snap Map:
- This map encourages us to share private information that we would probably not share on other social media such as our home address.
- It can easily ruin a relationship.
- If a person wants to rob a house, the map allows them to check if the person is home or not.
- This map allows anybody to become a stalker. It makes stalkers job easier to know where to find their targets.
- This allows for surveillance. People will self-regulate by fear of someone watching them through the Snap Map.
- But more seriously, "hot spots" (a red dot on the map that indicates that masses of people are at the same location) help terrorists to fin "soft targets" to attack. Soft targets or easy targets are usually civilians because they are not under high protection.
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Snap Map's "hot spot" |
However, Snapchat settings allows users to take back control of their privacy. Here are the different ways:
- You can decide not to share your location with the application.
- If you do share your location, you can decide who is allowed to see it. There is a ghost mode that allows only you to see your location. You can also decide which friend can see your location.
- If you do activate your location and do not change any other settings, only your Snapchat friends will be able to see you on the map.
Just remember to be safe on the Internet and to be aware of what private information you are sharing on social media. There are always ways to restrict the number of private information that social media platforms can access and it is important to educate people on those techniques.
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