Facebook Privacy

Penn's department of Audit, Compliance, & Security has created some guidance for managing your privacy on Facebook. Check out their video below, or visit their page for additional info.

Facebook Privacy. Yes, again.

Lifehacker has created this nice guide on managing your privacy settings in Facebook. The best part is that they've promised to keep it up to date:

http://lifehacker.com/5813990/the-always-up+to+date-guide-to-managing-your-facebook-privacy

Facebook Face Recognition and Privacy

The New York Times is reporting that Facebook is changing your Privacy Settings to allow its facial recognition software to identify you in the photos uploaded by you and others. Once you've been recognized, Facebook suggests to your friends that they tag you.

I'm not a big fan of Facebook making privacy decisions on your behalf. They should alert you that the new feature exists, and then let you opt in if you so desire. But of course, as I have said many times to many people Facebook and Privacy are actually polar opposites. FB wouldn't be able to make any money if people were smart enough not to share every bit of information about themselves with everyone else on the internet.

From the article:
You can change the privacy settings relating to the facial recognition feature, but it is a little confusing. If you want to disable the feature, go your account privacy settings and click “customize settings” at the bottom of the page. Once in this area, scroll down to a list of options called “things others share,” and then click on the button that says “suggest photos of me to friends.” You will then be given the option to disable the facial recognition feature.

Read the full article at:
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/07/facebook-changes-privacy-settings-to-enable-facial-recognition/?ref=technology

Hate Facebook's New Pop-out Image Viewer?

Me too. 'Cause you can't right-click on the photo and save it to your computer. Turns out all you need to do is reload/refresh your browser (CMD-R, CTRL-R, or F5 depending on your browser and computer) and you're back in the classic view where you can download photos again.

Privacy and Facebook’s New Instant Personalization

Facebook’s New Instant Personalization feature is a powerful new tool that can certainly improve your online experience if you use it wisely, but it presents some major privacy issues which most of us don't even think about. Also, Facebook has decided to activate for everyone by default, meaning you must OPT OUT if you don't want to share your online activities with your friends and "partner sites" (ie. strangers) alike.

What's to be worried about? Here are a couple examples people cite:

"Like" a movie on IMDB, and all of your friends will get updates to that effect. For that matter, every time you look at a movie on IMDB, you will see a list of friends who have "liked" that page. It is a powerful tool, but my bet is most Facebook users will have no idea where, when, or how their Likes will show up on the Web. Or for how long. [via "Facebook: Privacy Enemy Number One?"]

or...

[For] example, if you sign-on to Pandora ... the site could automatically dip into your Facebook account. ... Your co-workers and other professional contacts will soon be privy to your late-night Miley Cyrus jam sessions. [via Facebook privacy warning; Instant Personalization at F8]

For me, the thing to remember is that Facebook is first and foremost a business. Everything they do is aimed at making them more money. And information about their users (ie. you and me) is a valuable commodity. When they implement new "features," they do it in order to increase profit, not to improve your online experience. Just keep that in mind as you use the site.


Some additional interesting links about Facebook and privacy:

Facebook group: MILLIONS AGAINST FACEBOOK's PRIVACY POLICIES AND LAYOUT REDESIGN
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=27233634858

Sophos's recommendations for Facebook settings
http://www.sophos.com/security/best-practice/facebook/

Facebook Planning To Give Away Your Data To “Partners”
http://www.allfacebook.com/2010/03/facebook-planning-to-give-away-your-data-to-partners/

10 Privacy Settings Every Facebook User Should Know
http://www.allfacebook.com/2009/02/facebook-privacy/

Facebook’s Instant Personalization Is the Real Privacy Hairball
http://gigaom.com/2010/04/22/facebooks-instant-personalization-is-the-real-privacy-hairball/

Facebook Privacy Settings

Facebook is tinkering again with privacy settings; this time giving you simplified yet powerful controls that help you get a better handle on what you share. The downside is the same controls could reveal a great deal more about yourself than ever before if you are not careful. Here is a look at the changes and how you might be affected.

Read the full article from PC World at http://www.pcworld.com/article/184465/facebook_privacy_changes_the_good_and_the_bad.html

10 Privacy Settings Every Facebook User Should Know

This is a useful piece about using Facebook's privacy settings to protect you. It's worth a read for anybody who uses Facebook.

http://www.allfacebook.com/2009/02/facebook-privacy/