Facebook Privacy

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/05/facebook-privacy-comes-to-a-head-changes-may-be-imminent.ars

I came across the above article the other day which addresses the controversial privacy issues that Facebook is currently facing. The main concerns are those of users who have a problem with how complicated privacy settings are. Many users feel like they are not protected enough by the site and as a result the FTC may be getting involved with the problem. The article points out to privacy bugs on Facebook where if you click on a disguised spam link, all your privacy settings can be changed and all your personal information can be seen by anyone. It also points out in a negative light Mark Zuckerberg's recently released IMs about obtaining personal information and calling users "dumb f*cks."

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/05/latest-facebook-blunder-secret-data-sharing-with-advertisers.ars

Then today, this above article was published which continues on about Facebook's privacy issues, but shares a report from the Wall Street Journal that discovered Facebook has been sharing secret data from users with advertisers. "When Facebook's users clicked on ads appearing on a profile page, the site would at times provide data such as the username behind the click, as well as the user whose profile page from which the click came. 'If you are looking at your profile page and you click on an ad, you are telling that advertiser who you are.'" From reading these two articles, I'm beginning to doubt the reliablity of Facebook. Of course, when putting personal information online, we should always be careful and smart about what we share. However, if this is happening, even if I think my entire profile is on private, somehow other people and advertisers can access my information. These two articles bring to light how careless and uncaring Facebook seems to be about the privacy of its users. I'm hoping that the FTC does get involved and all of this is resolved or Facebook might lose a lot of its users.

-Raisa