Study of online social networking sites and their implications on the privacy of users

• Main Author: Firdhaus Sohymi
• Other Authors: Ng Chee Hock
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2010
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Electrical and electronic engineering::Wireless communication systems
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/40696
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

This report provides a detailed analytical research and theoretical review of the Final Year Project held for the Academic Year 2009/2010. The project is a collaboration between the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering and the Centre for Strategic Infocomm Technologies regarding the implications of information of personal information on social networking sites towards its users. Social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter have become increasingly popular in recent years among leisurely users and corporate businesses worldwide. Facebook allows users to upload photos, check on status updates posted by friends and interact through games and applications. Twitter on the other hand, is a relatively simple site that posts status updates to other users in which they will be able to receive via mobile phone, Instant Messenger or the Internet. The ability to have this increased interactivity and interconnectivity among users is due to the use of Web 2.0 technology. Web 2.0 technologies have redefined the manner in which web developers generate and display user content on the Internet. Compared to the usual text-based HTML content in the past, Web 2.0 sites utilise applications such as AJAX, Flash and ActiveX to create rich, vibrant Internet content which is aesthetically pleasing to users. With the added feature of a social networking capability, Facebook and Twitter have improved Web 2.0 sites in creating user-generated content such as their profile pages which can be viewed by other users. However, as personal information of users becomes more accessible via these sites, more emphasis will be placed on the security and privacy of the information disclosed by the users in these sites. Although such sites do provide features to protect the privacy of the user, they are often limited in nature. As the Internet is becoming more susceptible to malicious attacks, these sites are vulnerable to such acts of cybercrime due to the amount of private information available.