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Privacy in the Internet Age
I read an article today, in Read Write Web, on Facebook's "privacy changes". The headline screamed "Facebook's Zuckerberg Says The Age of Privacy is Over" .
Well, apparently that's not actually what Zuckerberg said. That was an interpretation for a sensationalist headline. What he said was:
People have really gotten comfortable not only sharing more information and different kinds, but more openly and with more people. That social norm is just something that has evolved over time.
Zuckerberg said nothing about "the age of privacy" being over. He did say that people are more comfortable sharing different things. That does seem to be a valid point. So, says Zuckerberg, Facebook gives them more options to share.
The sensationalism of the headline (and parts of the article) worked. People are certainly getting riled up in the comments, with a few voices of reason who actually read the article and the transcript.
Here's what I think:
Everyone please read comment #50 from Chris
Anytime we put ourselves on someone else's servers we run the risk of them using our data in a way that we don't like at some point in the future.
The question isn't whether Facebook has changed the defaults. The question isn't whether the UI for setting up your own privacy settings is difficult to undersand (btw, it's not and the "default" is exactly what I had before the changes).
The question is "What are you sharing?" And why do you believe that something you put on a public site, a site maintained by Someone you DO NOT KNOW, is or could ever be considered "private" information?
My Facebook settings are that only "friends" can see my "Religious and Political" views or "Family and Relationship" or "Education and Work". But what really makes those items private is that I haven't filled them in. To anyone other than "Friends" they're absent from the page. To friends, they're empty.
The best way to keep something private is to not put it out in public. Someone else's website, whether you like it or not, is public.
January 10, 2010 in category Web/Tech | Permalink
Comments
facebook has a feature that allows only certain users can view the personal files like photos or personal data. In my opinion these features is sufficient to maintain privacy.
Posted by: Sam at Apr 26, 2010 9:45:43 PM
Facebook has recently come under scrutiny for having poor and difficult to understand privacy controls.
Posted by: Vicki at Jun 22, 2010 8:34:48 PM
