Facebook Privacy: news and notes

“This morning, a number of major advocacy groups, including the ACLU, EFF, and CDT, sent Facebook an open letter detailing some of the outstanding issues with Facebook privacy. The groups’ letter acknowledged that Facebook has made strides recently on this front, especially with its launch of new, simpler privacy controls, but that it hasn’t addressed some major privacy issues, like the fact that the controversial Instant Personalization feature is automatically opt-in.”

“It turns out that a few third party sites may have been keeping his profile alive without him realizing it. For example, his YouTube favorites were getting imported into his stream automatically, and he had to sever that connection to make sure his account remained inactive over the 14 days so Facebook could delete it. We’ve come out in support of Facebook during some of this press backlash, but this is pretty ridiculous if true.”

“Please note that this change will not affect your advertising campaigns and there is no action required on your part.”

“You must take affirmative steps to adjust your settings in order to take full advantage of the revised privacy practices. While some information, such as your name, profile picture and gender, will remain publicly available, these steps are designed to provide as much privacy as Facebook’s new system allows.”

“Facebook is making some real changes that will allow users to take back some of their personal information from the public and from third-party websites. But Facebook is also leaving plenty of information exposed, and making users re-claim data Facebook already appropriated from them.

“On balance, the new controls aggressively sold to the press today feel like part of the same old con the social network has always run: Misappropriate user information, wait for the outrage, then apologize and beat an oh-so-partial retreat.”

“For many users, the new settings means greater control over privacy. While there are always aspects of the privacy settings to criticize, we think this is a major step in the right direction.”

“Today’s changes were good for users concerned about privacy, but Zuckerberg’s tone on the call was odd.

“He said a number of things that seemed of questionable…truth. Those were: that settings weren’t changed arbitrarily when all this began in December, that the changes weren’t driven by advertising and business concerns and that Facebook makes its decisions based not on criticism but on metrics or its belief in what the right thing to do is.”

“Facebook’s privacy settings and users’ concerns have been debated and analyzed ad nauseum over the past several weeks. With today’s announcement, CEO Mark Zuckerberg and company hope to put the talk — and the fear and mistrust — to rest.”

Note: In the screen grab above, you’ll notice that the “recommended” setting has your status, posts, and photos set to “everyone.” 

“Today we’re starting to roll out some changes that will make all of these controls a lot simpler. We’ve focused on three things: a single control for your content, more powerful controls for your basic information and an easy control to turn off all applications.”