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Topic: IT Employment

Facebook privacy settings are garbage

Summary: Yes, I'm on Facebook, although somewhat reluctantly. I use it to communicate with essential friends, colleagues, business contacts and my small band of loyal followers. No, I don't play FarmVille. I Don't have Happy Aquarium. And no, I won't help you with your mafia problems.

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

By for Hardware 2.0 |

I don't normally talk about Facebook here on Hardware 2.0, but bear with me while I get this off my chest!

<rant>

Yes, I'm on Facebook, although somewhat reluctantly. I use it to communicate with essential friends, colleagues, business contacts and my small band of loyal followers. No, I don't play FarmVille. I Don't have  Happy Aquarium. And no, I won't help you with your mafia problems.

But like my blogging buddy Jason Perlow, I don't give Facebook and apps free rein to do whatever they want with my data. I like to keep my privacy settings solidly locked-down (maybe not as locked-down as Perlow's but close enough). And that's a tough job made so much harder by the fact that Facebook likes to tinker (for its own benefit ... I feel there's a deep-rooted ethics problem at Facebook) with its privacy settings on a regular basis. This means that I have to go through and make a visual sweep of all my settings periodically.

So why do I have to make regular sweeps of my settings? Surely you set a setting and it's set for ever? Yeah ... riiiight. The problem is that Facebook continually adds, deletes and makes changes to what privacy settings are available, and in doing so, sets the new options to defaults that suit its ends (which fall into three broad categories - Money. Money! MONEY!!!). I'm continually amazed to find the new features that I've been automatically opted into on Facebook.

I quickly opt-out.

But then I come across oddities like this setting for something called Instant Personalization (apologies in advance to any suffers of scopophobia): 

(click for larger image)

Notice that little checkbox at the bottom of the page? The one that's pre-checked but grayed out? I bet that when that setting does go live for my profile, that this will be something else I'm signed up to "for my own good."

This one page not only shows how Facebook really feels about your right to control how your data is used (you don't deserve any rights to control how your data issued) but it also highlights how sloppily thrown together the site actually is.

Thanks Facebook. I hate you. UNLIKE.

</rant>

Topics: IT Employment, Browser, CXO, Social Enterprise

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31 comments
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  • Facebook's Privacy Settings are Garbage

    I just came across this article from Business Insider that shows you how to (at least until Facebook decides it wants to tinker with your settings) go completely invisible on Facebook. After applying the settings on my own profile, the only thing you'll be able to see on my profile page is the Facebook logo! Read on...
    http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-privacy-settings-2011-1?utm_source=alerts
    asg749d@...
    Reply Vote

  • Create your own web site

    Create your own web site for family and friends,password protect it. it will be ad free,corporation free. Advertisers cant spy on you,Google cant spy on you and it shouldn't cost that much.
    When you depend on others for something that should be handled yourself you get what you pay for so quit crying that a free sites spy's on you changes setting and your friends to make a buck. Most ISPs provide personal web sites for there members,you pay for them so why not use them?
    Stan57
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Facebook privacy settings are garbage

      @Stan57: I totally agree with you. I'm in the process of creating my own web site, for business purposes, and on my Facebook page, I specifically say "For details, go to my web site. "

      Like Mr. Kingsley-Hughes, I too am on it relucently, and none of my personal settings is correct. It's just random garbage. (chuckle) I got birthday well-wishes just a few days ago, which of course is nearly 8 months out of sync.
      kcredden2
      Reply Vote

    • RE: Facebook privacy settings are garbage

      @Stan57: Most people use Facebook as the site they can keep up-to-date with what's going on in their "friends" lives, and update all of their friends at the same time. Sure, having your own web site would be better from a privacy standpoint, but no one would check it (unless you only have geek friends who enjoy RSS feeds), and you couldn't check everyone else's at the same time.
      chadness
      Reply Vote

      • RE: Facebook privacy settings are garbage

        @chadness Ever hear of picking up the phone, or visiting your friends? hellalot safer. Facebook is a tool for the hacker - anything else is just candy to get you into the trap.
        Dagdamore
        Reply Vote

  • People should treat Facebook as if it isn't private

    Then you would get [b]MUCH[/b] less upset about these things. If you view Facebook as being a private form of communication and you put pictures and comments that you aren't comfortable with the world viewing, you are simply setting yourself up for disappointment and frustration.

    If, on the other hand, you simply accept that Facebook isn't private and that you only post things you are comfortable with everyone seeing, none of this would bother you in the least.

    Same goes for email.

    Same goes for [b]any[/b] information you send out over the Internet, with very few exceptions.

    So rather than fiddling with ever changing privacy settings on Facebook, simply accept that Facebook [b]isn't[/b] private and adjust what you post instead. And if you have nothing to post that you don't want the world to see, delete your Facebook account. It isn't for you.
    NonZealot
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Facebook privacy settings are garbage

      @NonZealot ... exactly right. I assume that everything on FB is instantly available to everyone who even might have reason to use information against me ... so I post NOTHING there that I'd be uncomfortable cc'ing the world.

      There is a way to set up a FB account with NO personal information in it, whatsoever. It's simple, quick and unlike EVERY other approach I've tried ... it works. No one bothers me there. The problem does seem to be that people are assuming there's a way to PUT data in FB that will stay private. Nope ... I doubt there ever will be. The only way to stay secure on FB is to not put any pertinent information there in the first place. Create your account clean, notify the people you WANT to know you're there, and don't opt into ANYTHING they offer, EVER.

      Sounds like something I'm gonna want to spend a lot of time with, right? I'm amazed that people use this. Like most, I'm ONLY there because some of my clients use it to communicate. If they didn't, I wouldn't.
      Trep Ford
      Reply Vote

    • RE: Facebook privacy settings are garbage

      @NonZealot Right on! I have a separate email addy I use just for Facebook and since all of my friends have my cell number and home addy anyhow none of that is on my profile...

      And I do not play any of the games on FB... I just stick with social networking with my friends and leave the games to others.
      athynz
      Reply Vote

    • RE: Facebook privacy settings are garbage

      @NonZealot I agree as well. You have to assume that anything you put on there is accessible by everyone in the world, then you can comfortably use it. Some people don't care if their phone number is accessible to everyone (it may be in the white pages anyways), so why not put it in Facebook? But, you need to think about that with EVERYTHING you put on there.
      chadness
      Reply Vote

    • How did that happen?

      @NonZealot
      Hell freezes over ~ I agree with NonZealot.
      kenift
      Reply Vote

  • I agree with you on this

    And what makes matters worse is that Facebook does not seem to care about who is making applications for the site. I too only use facebook to keep in contact with my friends and family both local and nationwide/global. I have no games on there but I have "fanned" some legit pages of things like TV-Shows and Video games along with some stores and websites but make sure they are operated by the actual organization I am looking for because there are many fakes out there too. I am sick of seeing people becoming fans of pages or installing apps that promise to allow a person to see who has been viewing their profile or a non-FB developed app that promises the dislike button, or every stupid game or survey that is out there. I try warning them and 99% don't listen. I have fixed many computers that have gotten harmed by rogue facebook apps and while they need to get their privacy settings in order and make everything set to private or opt out that they change they need to get a handle on what content is allowed on Facebook when it comes to Applications and Fan Pages. It is out of hand.
    bobiroc
    Reply Vote

  • Amazingly

    The Instant Personalization option was already unticked for me when I found out about the new setting.
    soonerproud
    Reply Vote

  • RE: Facebook privacy settings are garbage

    i checked my account, that option was unchecked by default.
    chris_x
    Reply Vote

  • Faceless

    I've found a brilliantly simple way of securing my setting on Facebook:

    NOT JOIN
    dave@...
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Facebook privacy settings are garbage

      @dave@...
      I'm not on FB and I'm going to be any time soon. Most of my colleagues and friends don't use it either. They share my distrust or have been warned off it by their IT folks. Those few who do use it understand my distrust and indulge me.
      rocket ride
      Reply Vote

  • Agreed...

    Yes, one could just not use FB at all and avoid all these traps. But for users who have to use it for work contact, etc., the privacy settings should at least be reliable and not subject to change (to unwanted defaults) arbitrarily.
    avoidz
    Reply Vote

  • Our details worth a lot of money

    So, every one who can will collect and sell them, check out this solution, which creates a bogus identity for you
    http://www.breadcrumbssolutions.com
    Privacy man
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Facebook privacy settings are garbage

      @Privacy man Another scopophobia warning warranted here. :)
      ejhonda
      Reply Vote

  • Agree !! Facebook is *issing People off !!!

    Facebook constantly updates and changes the "game" with peoples personal settings....I understand why, as Facebook is trying to do everything the can to obtain personal info so that they can make money off of selling personal information to the marketers, and whoever else is looking to pay for it. They have to do this to make Wall Street happy, and it is the only way the can justify themselves as a money making company..........<br><br>People don't like the game Facebook plays...security info changes that everyone must double check to see if Facebook opened up to the world information you do not want published to all....<br><br>Stop the games Facebook !!!
    MeYou-AND-Them
    Reply Vote

  • Hear! Hear!

    At the same time, I must have lucked out. After discovering this new personalization setting, I went in to change it and found the box unchecked...and not my doing.
    jennifert53
    Reply Vote
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