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Facebook – my take on the privacy row
May 26th, 2010
There has been a lot of coverage online recently about the Facebook privacy row, people deleting their accounts in protest, web apps to check how much you’re sharing and lots of people crying doom. I don’t want to be one of those who screams that the sky is falling in, but I must admit that (as an average user) I’m concerned.
Like my real life, my online life is compartmentalised. I use twitter for its real time interaction and the challenge of reducing my verbosity to less than 140 Characters, this blog is for my more in-depth thoughts. I have seperate email addresses for companies that I deal with, and a LinkedIn profile that connects to an online CV. I have a seperate telephone number for job applications so that I can publish that on LinkedIn and my CV. And I have a Facebook account to keep in touch with friends, work colleagues past and present, and selected family members.
Ben Parr wrote this article in which he puts forward a slightly more balanced argument, although there are a couple of things that I disagree with. He uses the “children in Africa” argument for one, which is, in itself, an overdramatisation designed to belittle the concerns of thousands of people. But he also seems to suggest that, because we agreed to share with one another using Facebook back in the distant days of privacy, we should be grateful to them for allowing us to keep connecting.
I disagree. Facebook is a fantastic tool that I have become more and more disenchanted with over the past couple of years. The only reason I still use it is because it’s ubiquitous – I’ve been able to get back in touch with people I thought I’d never see again and keep up to date with work friends after leaving companies.
I don’t mind companies sharing the data I choose to hand over or using it to target me with more useful ads (it’s better than friggin’ pop-ups!). But I dislike being somewhat bullied into sharing information with the whole world automatically, where a simple API search can be set up to trawl groups for telephone numbers and more.
Facebook have announced that new privacy settings are coming soon (maybe even today) but I’m wondering – how long will it be until they ‘enhance’ them again, and how much longer are we just going to sit back and accept it?
So, Facebook, here’s your chance to improve your relations with your products (I’m well aware I’m just data, your product, not your customer), don’t worry – I’m not planning to delete my account, it’s too useful, but I can guarantee you that I will amend my data to be inaccurate and, by logical extension, useless to you and your customers.
The world is watching. Show them you know this is more than just another “Facebook changed the way my page looks, Oh noes!” whinge, please?
