Facebook – Privacy not expected!
Facebook – Privacy not expected!
Mark Zuckerberg is being quoted as saying that privacy is dead and that those putting their details on the web (effectively using his website) are foregoing the right to privacy.
Social networking and the internet is still a very young industry and people are struggling to keep up with changes. They are unaware of how much information to put on the web, how much information to make available to others and more importantly how addictive chat, social networking and the internet can be.
“People have really gotten comfortable not only sharing more information and different kinds, but more openly and with more people. That social norm is just something that has evolved over time.”
This quote comes in line when Facebook has changed it’s privacy policy and is encouraging people to share more content rather than keep it private. Now there are two sides to the coin on this one. How much you want to share with real friends, online-only-friends, the rest of Facebook (e.g. your network) or more worringly how much Facebook lets the search engine index!
There are countless stories about teenagers that have announced a party via Facebook and then this has gone to the wider network and soon the house is trashed and the parent’s are left facing the bill of repair. What about those people who announce they are on holiday from date ‘x’ to date ‘y’ and then come back to a burgled house. Where is the protection?
“As he sees it, the site is merely responding to wider trends in the online world, and no doubt he has some valid points. however, just because people are more open to the idea of telling the entire world their mothers’ maiden names, and their places of birth, its doesn’t mean social networks should just allow them to do it. If the company running a site knows better, why not protect its users?”
Micromart Magazine has a great ending quote regarding this privacy issue and clearly the journalist (unquoted in the magazine) has the same views on privacy as (I would imagine) the vast majority of the UK.
” Thanks, though, Mark. It’s nice to know that being educated at Harvard doesn’t stop you being an idiot every now and then.”
Related Links:
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/the-complete-guide-to-facebook-privacy/
http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/12/facebooks-new-privacy-changes-good-bad-and-ugly
