Privacidade e ética informacional: uma análise dos termos de uso dos serviços de redes sociais online

Abstract

The purpose of this study is contained in the terms of use of online social networking services, specifically, the topics that deal with the elements of privacy and relationship with the elements that define as properties of Informational Ethics. The delimitation of the research topic is based on the study of services available on the internet, especially the services considered as online social networks. The discussion about privacy in privacy has been promoted over the debates about privacy in conditions of personal use and such problems are reflected in the provision of data when the user accepts as services. In this sense, the problem of this research is structured in the following question: To what extent can the absence of the concepts of Information Ethics in the information contained in the terms of use of online social networking services create an environment conducive to potential actions harmful to privacy? The criteria for choosing the sample of services were those that had the following characteristics: being free (no charge for use) and being ranked among the twenty most accessed web site services, so the selected services were: Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. The methodology adopted is exploratory analysis, an approach of a qualitative nature through documental reading of the terms of use. The research was divided into three stages. The first is the pre-analysis: it consisted of organizing the material to compose the research corpus. A literature review was carried out on the main concepts of privacy in online social networks, selected the main notions about personal data and sought to identify actions on collection, storage and processing. Therefore, the concepts that served as parameters for systematized content analysis were selected and identified that have informative elements that are directly related to: aspects of personal data privacy (Collection, Purpose, Sharing, External Agent, Persistence/Processing and Deletion) and aspects related to Information Ethics (Choice, Consent, Correction, Collection and Use). The second stage was the exploration of the material: the systematized content analysis began with the technical reading of the terms of use and the isolation of the paragraphs dealing with elements of privacy and Informational Ethics. The third step was the treatment of the results: the actions carried out by the online social network with personal data were identified and it was discussed how the absence of the concepts of Information Ethics can create environments potentially harmful to privacy.