Secure personal data administration in the social networks: the case of voluntary sharing of personal data on the Facebook

In view of the changes taking place in society, social progress and the achievements of science and technology, the protection of fundamental rights must be strengthened. The aim of the article is to analyse the principles and peculiarities of safe management of the personal data in social networks. In this scientific article, methods of document analysis, scientific literature review, case study and generalization are used. Consumers themselves decide how much and what kind of information to publicize on the Facebook social network. In order to use the third-party applications, users at the time of authorization must confirm that they agree to give access to their personal data otherwise the service will not be provided. Personal data of the Facebook user comprise his/her public profile including user's photo, age, gender, and other public information; a list of friends; e-mail mail; time zone records; birthday; photos; hobbies, etc. Which personal data will be requested from the user depends on the third-party application. Analysis of the legal protection of personal data in the internet social networks reveals that it is limited to the international and European Union legal regulation on protection of the personal data in the online social networks. Users who make publicly available a large amount of personal information on the Facebook social network should decide on the issue if they want to share that information with third parties for the use of their services (applications). This article presents a model for user and third party application interaction, and an analysis of risks and recommendations to ensure the security of personal data of the user.