For this week’s blog I chose an article from Wired.com on another Facebook privacy issue. Every time I read an article on Facebook and privacy, I am reminded of how easy it is for outside sources to gain access to your information. Of course it is typically the information we choose to onto the internet, but can also be information we don’t want all over the place. In this article from wired.com, a dating website was formed by pulling individual’s profile information off Facebook to make profiles for the site. The information was then used and posted as singles personals without the users knowing. Apparently it was an effort to prove how Facebook capitalizes on your personal information. Facebook claims they don’t allow personal information to be used without prior consent. Excuse me? Without prior consent? So I assume its ok for other sites to do so as long as they have permission-just not from you. And that’s supposed to be comforting? Thanks Facebook for looking out for your user’s best interests-I guess.
http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/02/facebook-dating/
This is a very creepy occurrence. Imagine the kind of embarrassment and serious consequences that can create for everyone involved.
ReplyDeleteFacebook privacy settings are ridiculous. There have been so many scandals and breaches of privacy that it is really getting out of hand. Every time an article like this gets published, it is bad PR for Facebook, even if the culprit in this scenario is an outside organization. It is only a matter of time before another social network comes along and promises complete outside privacy. I would image that many users would transition over to something like that should the opportunity arise, so I believe that facebook should work on it’s privacy settings once and for all so that this kind of situation does not happen again.
I seriously feel like I am always stumbling upon articles that warn us about Facebook’s privacy issues or I come across friends statuses on Facebook that tell me to change this or that on my Facebook account because Facebook is doing so and so without my consent. It is really getting old. This one in particular is pretty unnerving. How dare Facebook allow other sites to come take our personal information and pictures and use them at their disposal. I also read another article that said that Facebook has created something similar to a telephone book on their site that lists all your friends numbers. I checked and this was true! So rude facebook!
ReplyDelete