Facebook and Privacy: My 2c.
I don't live on Facebook, but I do check it every couple days, and I have certain family members and friends selected to send me SMS updates when they post something new (these are people who don't post often, or in some cases, their every quip is gold and shouldn't be missed!) I noticed yesterday that I had a new message; yet, when I logged in that message was gone along with the person who wrote it. She had deleted her profile page. I went to email her and noticed that I did not have her email address in my contact book: I always got her information from her Facebook page when I needed to get ahold of her. Almost all of our interaction of late has been through this social networking site. I sent a FB message to a mutual friend, who didn't have her information either. After a little digging I was able to find this friend's email. How appalling to realize how I relied on this site to keep in contact.
She told me, through email, that the reason she had "exited the Matrix" was because of the "Privacy" setting issues that have been so popular lately. She referred me to This Website, an interview with Rich Mogull (no really, that's his name, it isn't a spoof!) on Privacy Policies. Aside from the fact that most people don't read Privacy Policies, Terms of Service, or take note of tidbits like "We reserve the right to change our policies at any time, most likely without notice". While I didn't know that the Library of Congress is archiving all Tweets, I had learned long ago never to put anything up on the internet that you wouldn't want your Grandmother to see. I went to go play with these new privacy settings, and found most to my liking. I did however stumble onto this:
"What your friends can share about you: Control what your friends can share about you when using applications and websites." When your friend visits a Facebook Platform application or website, they may want to share certain information to make the experience more social. For example, a greeting card application may use your birthday information to prompt your friend to send a card.
This section here almost smacked me in the face. Several of the settings in this section counter settings in my personal Privacy settings; this means that though I've set something private in my personal settings (such as my birthday, videos, pictures, etc) if they are checked in this second section THEY CAN AND WILL BE SHARED by my FB-Friends. ... Um.. If I already told you once I wanted something private, why should there be a second section to loophole around that by persons OTHER than me? Even though I don't put up anything I don't want my Grandmother to see, in the interest of internet safety (and the figment of privacy) I keep my photos etc set to "Friends Only". This loophole, improperly cauterized, would completely bypass my settings. I'm not so naive as to think that my information isn't getting "out there" anyway, but I'd like to be the only one leaking it, ya know?
So, in light of my apparently crutching on social networks to keep in touch with people I care exist (and the unfortunate side-effect of allowing people who could barely pick me out of a crowd today but passed by me in the hall in High School to "friend" me) I'd like to pare down my 105 friends to Family, those people who's profile I particularly check up on, and add, those who aren't already in my Address Book, to it. Social Networking sites should be an add-on to communication, a blurb in the contact sheet, not my only means of communication with someone.
She told me, through email, that the reason she had "exited the Matrix" was because of the "Privacy" setting issues that have been so popular lately. She referred me to This Website, an interview with Rich Mogull (no really, that's his name, it isn't a spoof!) on Privacy Policies. Aside from the fact that most people don't read Privacy Policies, Terms of Service, or take note of tidbits like "We reserve the right to change our policies at any time, most likely without notice". While I didn't know that the Library of Congress is archiving all Tweets, I had learned long ago never to put anything up on the internet that you wouldn't want your Grandmother to see. I went to go play with these new privacy settings, and found most to my liking. I did however stumble onto this:
"What your friends can share about you: Control what your friends can share about you when using applications and websites." When your friend visits a Facebook Platform application or website, they may want to share certain information to make the experience more social. For example, a greeting card application may use your birthday information to prompt your friend to send a card.
This section here almost smacked me in the face. Several of the settings in this section counter settings in my personal Privacy settings; this means that though I've set something private in my personal settings (such as my birthday, videos, pictures, etc) if they are checked in this second section THEY CAN AND WILL BE SHARED by my FB-Friends. ... Um.. If I already told you once I wanted something private, why should there be a second section to loophole around that by persons OTHER than me? Even though I don't put up anything I don't want my Grandmother to see, in the interest of internet safety (and the figment of privacy) I keep my photos etc set to "Friends Only". This loophole, improperly cauterized, would completely bypass my settings. I'm not so naive as to think that my information isn't getting "out there" anyway, but I'd like to be the only one leaking it, ya know?
So, in light of my apparently crutching on social networks to keep in touch with people I care exist (and the unfortunate side-effect of allowing people who could barely pick me out of a crowd today but passed by me in the hall in High School to "friend" me) I'd like to pare down my 105 friends to Family, those people who's profile I particularly check up on, and add, those who aren't already in my Address Book, to it. Social Networking sites should be an add-on to communication, a blurb in the contact sheet, not my only means of communication with someone.
That was actually the setting that set me off the first time! How ironic. In a similar situation, I had to log back in to Facebook because two friends (married) changed their phone numbers. I hadn't text messaged them in a few months. I felt dirty logging back in because that is the only way to get a hold of them now. Thank goodness I found their email addresses (which I personally don't share.)
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