Snapchat - How Much Privacy Can You Reasonably Expect?

I do not have a Snapchat account, but I have heard about some kinds of similiar apps before. As for me, I do not like to post my own information or daily life on social media platforms. Although I expect a higher level of privacy when using it, I have never imagined that Snapchat could really protect our privacy.

Every time when you choose to upload your own photo or video, you shoud never ignore its existence. Although you could just share your information to several target persons and it will be deleted automatically within several seconds, if someone plan to collect it, he/she could do it anytime without your attention. For another thing, never ever neglect the ability of a haker.  According to the exposure of Snowden event, I believe that all digital messages need to be reserved for government's monitoring. This kind of data collection gives hakers a chance to steal personal informations and post them to public.

As my personal suggestion, we should not post so many personal informations such as little kids daily lives or intimate photos on Snapchat. We need to take care of using it with caution and never believe any 100% privacy protection about social media platforms.

When it comes to social media, I know nothing is 100% safe. At this point, I expect bare minimum in regards to the privacy settings for any given application or website just because of all the secondary devices that can interfere with the original. Take Snapchat for example, there are various applications that can be downloaded to capture and save the image before the snapchat is even opened. Or, one could screenshot the image before it runs out of times. As a Snapchat user, I fully acknowledge these consequences. Therefore, I use caution and I would never say or do anything that could misrepresent me.

Typically, I use this app as an alternative to texting if I don’t want to have a full conversation. Taking “selfies” in class or in public can be obnoxious so instead I will post things of what I am experiencing. I think that the FTC made the right decision to charge the company for their false claims because I do feel they misrepresented their privacy setting, which could have confused many people.

I rarely use Snapchat. When it first became popular I definitely used it a lot more. Now, I am kind of over it. I receive a lot of Snapchat’s but I usually don't reply. I do like the idea of the app; I just never really think about using it anymore. Once in awhile I will send some to my close friends but that is about it.

The pictures I do send on Snapchat are a little more ridiculous that anything I would post on any other social media sites but I would not be ashamed of them if they did get out. I knew people can screenshot so nothing is 100% safe. I would say that I do expect a higher level of privacy but I never would send anything that could misrepresent me because I know nothing on the Internet is private. 

I have had a Snapchat account for a little over a year now. At first, I did expect a higher level of privacy than I would have with a text or an email. I definitely take precautions now when it comes to sending snaps. I think that when Snapchat first came out a lot of people, myself included, put a lot of trust into the fact that every snap that was sent disappeared after the allotted amount of time. Taking a silly makeup-less selfie and sending it to a couple of my friends for laughs was fun and I was not worried that anyone else would be able to see the unfortunate picture. For me it came as a shock when I realized that people were able to take screenshots of snaps being sent. I definitely take precautions now when it comes to sending snaps. Really, though it should not have come as such a surprise. If there is a way to recover snaps, chances are there will always be some tech savvy person out there who will be able to figure out how to do it. I think that unfortunately, there is a level of caution that everyone should be taking when it comes to sharing personal information and having expectations of privacy is just not realistic these days. 

As a user of snapchat, I have always taken precaution when using this application. After realizing that the people I send photos to can take screenshots, my trust in this service diminished greatly. I did expect a higher level of privacy from Snapchat when I first began to use their app, but I soon realized that the images I sent were stored in their database. I still use Snapchat however, I just am more cautious about what I send and who I sent things to. I've always been pretty cautious with any service I use and what information of mine is stored online. I really wasn't too suprised when I read that the FTC filed a lawsuit with this company. It's unfortunate that they were able to advertise that messages get permanetly deleted for as long as they did. Hopefully they will change their policy or offer more privacy to users from now on. 

I frequently use Snapchat and I think at first when I started to use it I believed that it was a pretty private app that cannot be re-looked at such as texts or emails can, but I don't think that is quite the case.  I think people have to know that whenever something is sent over the Internet there has to be some place else that it goes to other than just simply the person you are sending the snap to.  I think people first assumed that Snapchat was a more sneaky way of sending pictures to people and not getting caught but they have to realize that the picture they send does not just "go away", there has to be a place where all the snap's ever sent are saved.  Anything that gets shared from people to people has to have some sort of caution with it because you never know how much privacy you're really getting.  Whether it be from a screenshot or from your snap being saved without you knowing, things always have a way of it always being there.

I often use Snapchat to have quick little conversations with my friends and family. I like that the photos are more temporary than just texting an image. However, I don't think that any application or electronic messaging system is ever 100% private. Of course the recipient of your Snapchat message can easily open it and show it to anyone near them. This is inevitable in all messaging systems. The degree to which something is private is ultimately based on the person you are sending the message to. If you trust that that person will keep your image or message only to themselves, then you can say that Snapchat has a high level of privacy. However, if you are sending messages to a person you don't completely trust, then your message has the potential to be shown to anyone. 

I do believe that Snapchat should have been up front with users about what actually happens with your images and messages. This is definitely false advertising, as most Snapchat users very much believe that their messages are only in existence for a few seconds. I agree with the FTC for suing Snapchat and am glad that the truth is out there for users. 

I use Snapchat pretty regularly, however, with most social media accounts, I do not trust it completely. When it first started becoming popular, I did not know what it was and I did not understand how the pictures could just "disappear" after the allotted amount of time. I really did not get the point of it and to be honest, I thought it was stupid. But, with most things, I fell accustomed to the fad and became a frequent user. Now about a year and half later, I am sitting here questioning if there is somewhere I could go and see all my past snaps. So to answer the question, no I would not expect a higher level of privacy compared to standard text or e-mail. In fact, I would expect the exact opposite. Something about a white ghost and the color yellow do not seem trustworthy to me. I have and will continue to use snapchat with caution. 

I have had a snapchat for a while now. Just like any trendy app, I used it more when it first emerged than I do now. I think it is a fun app if you use it with caution and are smart about what you send to people, and more importantly WHO you send it to. I think there is some more percieved privacy, but with anything sent or put on any social media sites there is always that risk. Our age group has a common awareness about the risk involved with social media. We grew up through all of these different sites and apps lifespans and have gained the knowledge needed to err on the side of caution. 

With that being said I think the problem that arises with these apps is more centered around the younger, more impressionable, group of users. Middle- and High- schoolers who are highly involved with these apps are at a time in their lives where there is a large margin to make mistakes. I think mistakes are magnified during this time too due to the nature of the school setting. 

Overall I think the creaters of apps and sites, like snapchat, should keep in mind how literal their words can be taken. The common and mature user has the ability to make their own judgement, but a younger user is a huge liability. 

I will tell you all, as a former Journalist, we would search social media for photos of people we are doing stories about.  This happened recently with the shootings that happened near campus this week.  I was doing some behind-the-scenes video of my former student Nick Perreault from Channel 6 News in Lansing.  They were searching all over social media for the victims and their family members, trying to get interviews for the 6pm news.  It is much easier to find people today than when I started as a journalist.  When your information is online, people will find it!  

I have a Snapchat account but I rarely use it, as indicated by my very low Snapchat score of 232. My Snapchat is still installed to capture the silly moments or little things that aren't important enough to post to other networks such as Facebook and Instagram. I don't expect much privacy while using any social network. Everything is archived on search engines or other places nowadays even if you delete your account. The screenshot feature on smartphones makes Snapchat even less private as it only takes one push of a button to save a memorable snap to your photos. It is simply to the user's discretion what he/she wants to share to their networks and Snapchat is no different.

I use snapchat quite frequently but I was always told by my parents to not put anything out there that I would regret later and I still use that logic regardless if it is deleted within the time given. These days I feel like hackers can get into just about anything and I think that people should always be careful of what they are sending and saying. 

I, myself, have never used Snapchat.  I was debating it, but immediately turned off from it when a male acquaintance told me that girls are more apt to send risque messages.  This turned me off to the entire idea because I firmly believe that anything you put out over social media or the internet are never truly private.  I am very selective about the personal images that I do put out there for people to see, as I just don't want an image that does not truly represent me as a person.  I try to stay on sites that have privacy settings that I control, like Facebook.  I am a photographer, though, so I have specific sites that I do share pictures on (but I'm not generally in them). 

I don't think that Snapchat mislead users, I believe users were not aware of how the images could be captured and shared.  I highly doubt I'll ever use Snapchat, I just don't really have any interest in it.

~ Libby

I used Snapchat for the better part of the last academic year (2012-2013) but eventually deleted the app, both because I was bored with it and because I needed to make room on my phone. This was long before the video feature was introduced for the app, so I haven't had any experience with privacy issues regarding saved video. Still, I never belived the false sense of security the app used as their tagline. 

Perhaps it's pessimistic but I learned from experience through various "scandals" over the years, even before the word of the NSA's practices got out. I recall reading an article about some guy who found a picture frame in a store with a dummy photo of his family in it that Facebook had sold to some stock image company, as was legal according to Facebook's fine print. Now I always err on the side of caution where anything I make through something else does not belong to me and anything that involves digital data will forever exist. So it didn't make sense to me to expect my snapchats would be 100% safe no matter what the app claimed. Having myself screenshotted a few snaps from friends I know from experience that the app didn't always notify you when your picture's been saved (sorry, guys). I have heard this changed with more recent updates, but Snapchat was still claiming superior privacy when I was able to do that. My account still exists despite removing the app from my phone, so who knows what residual data is associated with it?

When I did use Snapchat I only ever used it with friends whom I actually know in person and generally trust. I did not think the app actually catered to my privacy. And really, I don't think anyone should expect the extraordinary from them either. 

I did not start using Snapchat until August 2013. I wasn’t fooled when my cousin told me Snapchat automatically deletes your pictures once sent.  When using Snapchat I do not expect a higher of privacy compared to a text or email, I actually expected less. For the first couple weeks of using the app, I would take pictures of walls and objects within my house, because I wasn’t too sure about using the. However, I did at some point start taking selfies with it.  

I use Snapchat with extreme caution. Sometimes I get these spam snaps, even though my account is private. This is when I contemplate deleting the app. I keep telling myself if I receive one more I will delete my account. I haven’t received another one yet. 

I've been using Snapchat since January 2013, and I haven't had much of a problem with it. I go through my phases of liking it, then taking a month haitus. I figured there was probably something going on behind the scenes and the photos and videos weren't being deleted like they claimed, so I've always been pretty cautious when using it. Things like that are usually too good to be true!

With the way that the app was marketed, however, I would expect a higher level of privacy compared to other forms of communication. At first, you were able to get away with taking a screenshot of a person's Snapchat, but now (at least with my phone) it doesn't let me, or it informs the person that a screenshot was taken. It's a function that means well, but if a screenshot is taken, what can you do about it? Nothing.

On a side note, the "improvements" made to Snapchat are not my favorite. Having a conversation with a person that "apparently" disappears when you leave the conversation? Why not just use Skype or FaceTime? I'm not too fond in the direction Snapchat is going, but I guess it needs to keep competing with other apps. It  makes me wonder if with people knowing the photos still exist, though, if people will cut down on use, be more cautious or just delete the app all-together.

I have used Snapchat since it first came out and I love using it. I think it's a quick, efficient way to communicate with either one person or to a large group of people at the same time. When this app was first introduced there was a big push on the advertising of it being completely private, but I think anyone who was to believe that needs to re-evaluate the power of the Internet because nothing we put on the Internet is private. I use it with caution and wouldn't send anything that I wouldn't want other people to see or be able to save. I know Snapchat has made upgrades that notify the user if someone has screenshotted their picture and I think that is great, but that doesn't stop the other people from being able to save your picture. It is ultimately the users responsibility to decide what is okay to send and what they wouldn’t mind the possibility of many people seeing. Recently, I have heard of a new app called Snap-hack that allows you to login with your Snapchat information and any Snapchats you receive through this app are immediately kept in the apps storage without notifying the sender. I was careful about what I sent before, but now knowing apps like this are out there makes me think more about how private anything really can be.

I feel that once you put yourself out there with any social media app you are lessening your privacy. Once something is out there it is usually out there for good. I use snapchat but in a smart way. I go by the phrase 'Never put anything on social media that you wouldn't want your grandparents to see'. I feel that if you put something dumb out there on a social media you are the one to blame if it gets out to other people. You can control your own privacy by using or not using such social media apps.