FACEBOOK

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An announcement from Facebook about the expansion of its social networking website has internet
security experts worried about the privacy implications for the more than 500 million users. Since it
was set up in 2004, Facebook has changed the rules many times.

Facebook has consistently pushed its users to make more personal information public over the last
several years.

This social media website announced that it has decided to revamp its privacy policy, in order to
provide both better usability and more confidentiality to its more than 500 million members.

It believes doing so will allow it to offer better products to users, and the marketers and developers
who want to reach them.

The change focuses on rewriting Facebook's privacy policy in such a way as to ensure that all users
can easily understand how the firm protects their personal data, as well as provide new tools that
show how the company uses confidential information.

But this is true? Where is the boundary between the private and the public? What private
information should I share on my virtual wall? What consequences should I expect from the fact that
such private information is now available to the world, not just the people I know? That is precisely
at the core of the issues to be discussed tonight.

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In a program namely “six-minute interview”, the Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg told
that if he were to created Facebook again today, user information would by default be public, not
private as it was for years until the company changed dramatically in December 2009.

The two important milestones when Facebook announces new privacy policies are in 2009-2010 and
now in 2011.

2010: it changed user’s personal information like name, profile picture, gender, city, network,
friend list and all the pages, which the users subscribe to from private to public. This means
everyone on the web can see it; it is searchable.

2011: It allows third party companies access to users' home addresses and mobile phone numbers.
In a statement posted on the website, Facebook says "Like" or "Recommend" icons will start
appearing on popular websites spanning a variety of industries, including NYTimes.com, CNN.com,
TIME.com, ABC.com.

That means Facebook is invading your personal privacy. First they encouraged people to share
personal information with a more limited group of friends, now they are allowing that data to be
accessed in new, unexpected ways. People never thought when they were posting the data that it
would be accessible to anyone but friends.
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He says Facebook's default settings will continue to make it relatively easy for users to obtain
information about each other, as the company treads a delicate balance between protecting privacy
rights and promoting social networking over the internet.

"Users use the services because they love sharing information”

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.

the system is constantly innovating and updating what the system is to reflect what the current
social norms are and Facebook just went for it.

He said Facebook added privacy settings so users could see each individual status update, photo
album, video and everything else you share into the stream.

Why not set users' information to be private by default? Facebook is trying to help people share
information, find each other and be social, Mr. Zuckerberg says.

"When people are able to share more, that leads to a world that's more open and connected," said
the Facebook cofounder. "People want to share information, and they're best able to do that when
they have control over what they share.“

However, as Zuckerberg noted, the company has strong opinions about how sharing on the Web
should be done. So the default settings will allow status updates, photos, and posts to be shared
with everyone, and also allow photos you're tagged in, your religious and political views, and your
birthday to be seen by friends of friends, while personal contact information will be kept private
unless you alter that setting.

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Good:

- Reducing the overall number of settings while making them clearer and easier for users to
find and understand (# instead of unhandy)

- Considering that many if not most users have previously simply adopted the defaults offered by
Facebook rather than customizing their privacy settings, this is an especially good thing.

- The benefits of sharing:

Bring people closer together.

Connect people and companies.

it was nice to know that it’s an option to communicate with people who you’ve
never met and work together.
 keep in touch with friends

BAD:

David had recently been invited to join a group of teenagers from his school on Facebook. Since he
was somewhat shy around other people and had only recently begun to hang out with these guys,
David felt good about being asked to join the group. And, to be sure, it was a lot of fun at first. Until
one day . . .

David logged onto Facebook and was disgusted by what he saw. Somebody had posted a
photo of a girl in their class and altered it with Photoshop. The image made it look like she
was the only girl at a party of boys, scantily dressed, holding a beer, and laughing. The
caption under the picture was filled with four-letter words and mentioned her name and her
phone number. David hardly knew the girl, but he did know that she had a reputation as a
straight edge and that she was often teased about it. He also knew that this would be very
hurtful to her if she ever found out.

- Personal data is invaded or encroached (the identity theft). People are worrying about what
their information is in public and shared with the rest of the world.

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1. you don’t have your Facebook profile open to the world, you feel more comfortable putting
information up there that you don’t really want the rest of the world to see; that you don’t
want your parents to see; that you don’t want that friend who you like to pretend that
you’re much more better when you’re with them. But when Facebook exposes your
information on public. The fact is, all of that information was available already. Everything
that was thrown in your face, you could easily find out on Facebook. But the problem here is
you were all horrified because you forget how much you do post on there; how much of
yourself you do share. Everybody is outraged, or violated.

2. -> that’s really important to bear in mind when you put something online. If you have
something, like on Facebook, where anyone who has your e-mail address, who has your
name, can look it up, don’t post your cell phone number on there. Don’t put your address on
there. Those things aren’t good ideas. That’s just not, again, not a good idea. You really need
to be sure that what you’re putting online, you’d be willing for anyone in the world to read;
for anyone in the world to have access to. so be wise in what you share.