DaveBirchall.com on Business Technology

Archive for May 19th, 2010

It started just two days ago when a friend updated her facebook page with concerns over the latest round of privacy settings.  Facebook is no stranger to critisism in this area so at the time I didn’t pay much attention to it.

Two news articles later in the Australian press as well as talk of an investigation by the Australian Privacy watch dog and I was ready to find out more. Following on from the tragic murder of a young women in Australia  by a facebook stalker, users have payed closer attention to their privacy settings. The problem is there are over 50 different settings in multiple dispersed locations over the site according to the telegraph.

Whilst its great to have this level of control, it just isn’t practically possible to administer this, especially when your privacy controls are modified so frequently.

The SMH here linked to several sites of interest. Most disturbing is ‘your open book’, a stalkers paradise to highlight the sort of information that people share about them selves. The ‘recently searched’ area is not for the faint hearted and is a real eye opener to hwat people are looking for online. On second thoughts perhaps that’s no great surprise.  I’ve chosen not to link to it.

Next are some sites with browser add ons to help you analyse your profile and how to get the most secure settings.

Pressure is mounting on the Facebook management through an organised group at http://www.quitfacebookday.com/

So what does it all mean? Will I be closing my account? No I don’t think so but I will be locking down my settings and monitoring the situation over the next few weeks, as well as looking out for an email from one Mark Zuckerberg.

Their PR department is most likely in overdrive.