There’s been a lot of hype about the recent set of privacy changes by Facebook. And usually I don’t necessarily have a problem with privacy changes as long as they’re done in a way that allows choice and protects individuals. But these latest changes by Facebook really are just plain evil. Even if you opt out according to the instructions, your information is still being shared out without your permission. This lack of any control and the fact that your network can do things that infringe upon your personal privacy (and you can’t stop them) makes Facebook more evil than Google in my book.
I followed GigaOm’s very straight-forward instructions on how to opt-out of the newest changes. I already have fairly tight controls on my groups and profile, allowing very few people to share information. But when I went to the Washington Post’s website recently to read about the volcanic dust plume over Europe, this is what I saw:
The top result is an article on the Washington Post that one of my friends shared. Now I have not “liked” the Washington Post and I didn’t click on a link in Facebook. I just happened to have logged into Facebook recently and have a cookie on my machine. Apparently this means that any site out there with this Facebook social plugin can see what my friends have done on their site.
I have a real problem with this. There doesn’t appear to be a way to opt-out of this, other than making sure you log out of Facebook. Here’s what the plugin looks like after I went to Facebook and logged out:
I fully accept that what I do online is visible and public in some way. What I can’t accept is that what my network does becomes part of what I do online. I have no control over the people in my network (nor should I).
I used to join groups and “like” pages on Facebook from people in my network. I like to be social and supportive, but these new changes are really making me consider whether I should delete or deactivate my account. The problem is, I’ve connected better with some family members through Facebook and that is important. Maybe I need a separate profile just for that connection? But I’d still be tied to what they’re doing online….
If you’d like to see what Facebook is publishing out about you, Ka-Ping Yee created a tool that will show you. You might be surprised. I have everything pretty buttoned down, but you can still see any pages I’ve “liked” (which made me go through and unlike a whole bunch that I didn’t care as much about. Maybe I won’t like anything at all.).
Google also knows and shares information about people. When you search for something on Google, sometimes you’ll magically start seeing ads across the web related to that search. They’ve recently made it easier to find out what they know and opt-out of some of this collection and sharing. But this information use has been kind of in the background. Maybe they’re doing the same sort of things as Facebook in terms of sharing information based on your network. Maybe it’s just not as obvious. They certainly aren’t as vocal as Facebook in their complete disregard for personal privacy.
What do you think? Are you concerned about the Facebook changes? Is what Facebook is doing different than what Google does?
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