Sometimes, satire says it best:
"It is no longer necessary to write new stories about Facebook privacy issues; just change the dates." — @FakeAPStylebook on Twitter
A popular interactive visualization by blogger Matt McKeon shows how Facebook has systematically made more and more information about its members public over time. Click on the image to show the advance over time, or click individual times to see what was public at any one time.
As the Fake AP Stylebook notes, with each day that passes, it gets harder and harder to say something new about Facebook and privacy. Bloggers like Marshall Kirkpatrick, Caroline McCarthy, Eben Moglen, and Robert Scoble regularly write about the erosion of privacy on line in general, and among Facebook members in particular.
I don't spend a lot of time on Facebook. It is my only connection online to a few friends and relatives, but for the most part, my online networking is done on LinkedIn and Twitter. Over the year that I've been on Facebook, I've used it mostly as a way of finding out when and where local musicians are performing.
I am now making plans to delete my Facebook account. I've sent a message to those few friends of mine on Facebook that I have no other online connection with, and I have deactivated the account. I expect to delete the account within the month. Why am I leaving?
"I don't know about you, but I have not yet witnessed a spontaneous recovery from incompetence." — Susan Scott, Fierce Conversations
And I think that's what we're talking about when we talk about Facebook and privacy. I think we are talking about massive incompetence. I am planning to leave Facebook because I believe their management is incompetent.
As shown in Matt McKeon's interactive visualization, Facebook has changed. It has changed from a place where people could connect in safety and privacy to a huge data mine. Facebook's 400+ million members' personal data and online behavior tracks are apparently not only public, but for sale.
Facebook's management has ignored the howls of protest from privacy advocates like Eben Moglen of the Software Freedom Law Center:
"The human race has susceptibility to harm but Mr. Zuckerberg has attained an unenviable record: he has done more harm to the human race than anybody else his age."
Facebook's management has ignored the concerns of respected journalists like ReadWriteWeb's Marshall Kirkpatrick.
"I don't buy Zuckerberg's argument that Facebook is now only reflecting the changes that society is undergoing. I think Facebook itself is a major agent of social change and by acting otherwise Zuckerberg is being arrogant and condescending."
Consumer groups have filed complaints with the FTC, four United States Senators have written to Facebook suggesting a reversal of recent changes, and hardly a day goes by without disclosure of yet another "bug" allowing personal data to "leak" out of Facebook. One of those Senators, Al Franken, has even posted instructions for disabling Facebook's recent "gift" of members' personal information to third parties. I don't know what to call Facebook's lack of response and failure to take the actions suggested by the Senators except incompetence.
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Article comments
1 - Joanne Huspek
All social networking sites have this problem, or will if they get any bigger. The user has to be wise to the situation and unfortunately a lot of users are under age or not very mature if they are adults. The same complaints occurred with another site I was on a few years back, which led me to finally deactivate my account.
2 - M. Edward (Ed) Borasky
Yes, all social networking sites have problems. Facebook is in a sense unique, though, because they've *deliberately* moved ahead, *aggressively*, as a business to exploit their members' personal information, connections, and online behavior tracks for financial gain. They do not appear to be able to distinguish between things that can be done and things that should be done.
3 - El Bicho
good and important article, although the combining of bold and italics for emphasis made it read like a tween's devotional post about Team Edward
4 - Matthew T. Sussman
The Internet isn't, and has never been, private. The end.
5 - John Wilson
True.
6 - Pat
@Matthew T. Sussman --
"The Internet isn't, and has never been, private. The end."
Bullsh!t. Statements like this are just lazy. There are many places on the internet that are private. Paid member only sites that require passwords and a current account. Sites that encourage anonymous posting.
Listen to Leo's podcast for deeper insight.
7 - John Wilson
...Once you navigate the insecure transport to signin, assuming no one intercepts your signon and PW.
ARPAnet was designed to service a bunch of academics, scientists and grad students who wanted a wide open peer oriented info system.
And so it is.
8 - M. Edward (Ed) Borasky
I read Leo Laporte's blog post. I don't in general listen to podcasts - I'd rather read text and listen to classical music in the background.
In any event, since I posted here, I have re-posted on my blog, and updated the post. The most recent version is here.
I deleted my Facebook account and hope to have no more to say on the matter. Not even, "So long, Mr. Zuckerberg, and thanks for all the fish."
9 - belly
The user has to be wise to the situation and unfortunately a lot of users are under age or not very mature if they are adults. The same complaints occurred with another site I was on a few years back, which led me to finally deactivate my account.
10 - Jenny
Ed,
I totally agree with you - in fact I nuked my own Facebook account some time ago.
People never consider the longer term privacy considerations when they sign up, but many live to regret it later.
Thanks again,
Jenny.
11 - Christopher Rose
I'm not completely sure what the problem is. Some organisations, say like Google, Microsoft or Apple, believe in secrecy and others, like Facebook and the whole open source software scene, believe in openness.
As Facebook has lots of controls so that secretists can keep their stuff secret, what exactly is the issue here?
12 - Heath
Ed
I totally agree the amount of personal information Facebook is able to collect about its members who are willingly post their life stories is quite distressing in the sense that it is available for all to see. I fear for the many teenagers who have succumbe to this service and worry it will come back and hit them in the face (no pun intended) once they become middle aged adults. As we all know once you make something public on the internet it remains for ever
13 - Mike
Just my pennys worth. I had always kept my cell number clear of facebook. How then has it suddenly appeared in my profile?
14 - Guardian
In my opinion, if you're not comfortable with any of your private details being made public (either by design or by hack/leak) then simply don't put them on your profiles in the first place. Even if you do trust these companies to keep your data safe, if someone really wants your details they'll find a way to get them.
Even if you do delete all your profiles and such, your details will still be on a database somewhere as most of the time they just "de-activate" your profile without actually removing anything.
The only way to avoid it is to not make the profile in the first place, or if you do make one don't put anything you care about being exposed on there.
15 - Leroy
Mike, sometime, somewhere, your cell number (in digital form) got in a data collection in proximity to some other personal data (address, email, blog handle, name, etc.) with a bunch of other stuff, got sold to or stolen by a hacker, who aggregated data items together to form dossiers on millions of people (including you) burned it on DVDs and sold the DVDs to tele-salesman and anyone else for $25.
If you know where to look you can buy such a DVD yourself. A good one has your mothers maiden name, the town you were born in, your first pets name, and probably the name of the first girl you kissed, etc.
16 - jack
As Facebook has lots of controls so that secretists can keep their stuff secret, what exactly is the issue here?
And so it is.
17 - Cheap
I've done what I can to avoid putting private information on Facebook, but people in my group of friends still post things that I'd rather my employer not see. When someone's personal life is out of alignment with the restrictions placed on them by their professional life, they have to take steps to keep the two separate.
18 - Harley
I agree with Jack. You can keep your profile more private by modifying your privacy settings. Now, people, not even my closest friends, can't just tagged me without my permission. I have to approve everything that is posted on my wall before they are published. I also refrain from using apps that are suspicious. At least, I'm still connected with my friends in Facebook.