by jurvetson
Question by Stink Records: Would you pay for a social networking site if it gave you more control?
Would you pay an annual membership fee to be part of a social networking site that gave you more control? Over areas such as information retention, the future of the networking site, how to improve the site, more security concieous both with information and those accessing the network?
Say the annual fee was £10 or $ 15
Best answer:
Answer by ItachisXeyes
depends on how much the annual fee is…i’m pretty much a skinflint so no i wouldn’t. but if those topics became so severe, i might just up to comcast business class and start hosting my own social network, XD and pick up all the other skinflints out there.
EDIT: so roughly 15 U.S. dollars annually….i’d consider it. for once a year plus the control, i think that is cheap.
Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!
noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo y should i
whats the point???
most people use the sites just to chat and catch up with their mates for free, so if one started charging then they would all goto another one… or just revert back to emailing them or using msn or sumthing.
They would have to pay me.
After all they are the ones who share my personal info. All of it despite ensuring their members that their personal info is safe and that there are a lot of privacy settings. Everyone knows they make their money through advertising and selling personal info to companies who target certain users with specific advertising.
My private info is just that – private. When I sign up they ensure me that it is. It is my RIGHT. Why would I pay you for my personal data retention when you should be doing it in the first place? You either keep my data safe or your social networking will go down the hill rather rapidly.
Anyone who says Facebook is immune is a fool too. The privacy issue will be their downfall. Just sit and watch.
Few individuals read the Privacy Policies of social or other websites, so few understand that once they Post or Upload media of any type they lose all constitutional rights. Once media, whether a written post, uploaded photos, videos, or other content, leaves our home network or computer and is stored on a server owned by another entity or individual all privacy rights are suspended. All Privacy Policies make this clear in one way or another but they attempt to cloud the issue to mask this truth. For example, if any law enforcement agency wishes to gain access to my posts on a community board they go to court against the server or website owner to request a warrant not against me. My privacy rights are irrelevant at this point.
Worse, others also are granted access to all media once on another person’s sever. This is plainly stated in Privacy Policies, but many attempt to divert our attention by making statements which sound as though they are interested in our protection. For example, we are told that third parties will access our media and are held to the Privacy Policy but that the original website cannot guarantee compliance and we post or upload at our own risk. Some even tell us that they do NOT have third parties held to the original websites policy and we are directed to read each and every third parties Privacy Policy as these govern us too.
Worse yet is that these websites refuse to even share responsibility with us if their server is unlawfully accessed releasing our media into the hands of unauthorized individuals or groups. We take ALL responsibility when we have virtually no ability to impact the security of our media once it is out of our own network or computer. We are told that these websites assume no liability for damages or losses stemming from such access and so they truly do not have an incentive to ensure our media is safe.
Of course, it is true that the internet is insecure by design. However, I think that at the very least we should have some real protections or share in liability if our media is compromised. The current practice of encouraging Users to upload media while refusing to take any responsibility if compromised is simply unethical.
If a social website would assure me that once I send media to its server that the owner would take responsibility or share responsibility for damages it would be worth paying a subscription. This would provide assurances that the website will take all due caution in securing my media. The website owner would have a vested interest in doing so and probably create true measures which would help its Users to protect their media as well. Facebook offers all of these “Privacy Tools” but they are nearly meaningless in a world of internet hacking and bits and bites flowing around the globe unsecured. Facebook makes it clear that the company takes no responsibility at all and we use it at our own risk regardless of the fact we have virtually no control once it leaves our network or computer, flows across the internet and lands on their servers.