Since Facebook has become a place for users to share however much they want with other users, whether it is pictures, videos, statuses, etc., it is important that users take advantage of Facebook's privacy settings.

An important way to control what you show to different friends is to segment your friends into lists. With your friends divided into lists you can easily adjust privacy settings for that group of people, for example, work friends, college friends, friends you don't really know, etc. The article also discusses what information is appropriate and safe to share based on your relationship with the people in your segmented groups.

For the entire article click here.

Article: How to Opt-out of Facebook’s Instant Personalization

I see a lot of people already know about Facebook's "Like" button that will now be available on various websites across the web to increase customization and whatnot. However, what people do not realize is, people who are NOT your friends will have access to the information on your profile page. In fact, it is yet another privacy leak that came to my attention (from a friend that told me) which led me to this article. This "Instant personalization" option is automatically checked so that you will be sharing information with partner websites. While there may be some benefits that appeal to people, this seems like another occurrence of Beacon. If you don't wish to share your information so publicly, here is how to disable this:
1. Go to Privacy Settings in your Account menu.
2. Click on Applications and Settings.
3. Click on "edit setting" for Instant Personalization.
4. Uncheck the box below the picture and click Confirm afterwards.

For more information about this "new" feature, read the rest of the article in the posted link above.

Facebook will very soon track users' activity on other sites in order to target ads based on users' interests. This is definitely a huge business opportunity for marketers and advertisers, but it will bring in another big scale of discussion on users' privacy.

This new system will not track all of users' browsing activity, rather, Facebook will offer sharing buttons to interested websites.Users can use the button to share the links on Facebook. Once the user shares a link , the website will include content from that web page (such as users potential interests) and store as in targeting ad database. Those ads will appear whenever the user visits Faecbook.

We should also be aware of that Facebook already targets ads using information from users' profile!

Revenue and Users' privacy, which does Facebook really care about??? I think, we all know the answer.

Full article click here

A recent case filing in Robbins vs. Lower Merion School District, a Pennsylvania school, is a class action suit on behalf of students with school-issued laptops whose web-cams have been used to watch the students and their families at home.

The laptops issued by the high school had software on the laptop where the web-cam could be activated. The plaintiff, Blake J. Robbins, was disciplined by the school for “improper behavior in his home.”

This is very alarming. Privacy is disappearing rapidly, and it seems that now is a time where the limits are being pushed and tested.

Read more of this article here

Facebook is refuting it illegally breached the privacy of its users in a proposed $9.5 million dollar settlement.According to this class action filed against facebook, the program that monitors and publishes what users do on the social networking site is accused of sharing what users were buying and renting from Blockbuster, Overstock and other vendors.Facebook's 'Beacon' program is accused of breaching the federal wiretap and video rental laws. Facebook is trying to tone down bad publicity by establishing a "Digital Trust Fund" that would issue more than 6 million dollars in grants to organizations that are studying privacy issues. This act by facebook is raising many concerns since they will be on the 3 member board and would decide on allocation of funds. To read more of this article click here.

It is no surprise to many that there are certain risks of presenting information of yourself online.  However, this article has information on a survey that they did that is quite alarming.  In fact, maybe alarming enough that companies will consider backing out of online marketing.
58% of users last year on sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn have reported been spammed through the sites. This is an increase of 70% from last year.
Companies are concerned that their employees use online is a security risk for the company itself.  After surveying over 500 companies, it was discovered that 72%, almost 3/4ths of them feel that social networking sites are dangerous for companies.  Facebook is the largest threat, not only because it is the biggest social media site, but also because of their new privacy laws.

This could result in a change in social security on the internet, but I doubt it will remove a company's presence online.  Read the article here, where you can search for more results of the survey that was conducted.

Privacy activists will soon be rallying against this but Facebook has decided that it is 'logical' for developers to have access to your email addresses. Developers of apps such as LivingSocial have been asking for this functionality for a while given that CTRs for emails have gone as high as 12 %. How will it work? Well, developers can now ask you to share your email address and under the CAN-SPAM regulations they will get to store your email address indefinitely. Facebook recommends that app developers send their customer relevant information such as "receipts for purchases they make, messages to help reactivate them if they haven't visited your application or integration in a while, or newsletters promoting new features or contests." Ladies and Gentlemen prepare for a new wave of spam.


Read the story here and Facebook's actual blog post here

Facebook recently announced the new privacy settings that they are offering to the public. It encourages Facebook users to share the content you post on your profile, including status updates and photos. The goal was to make Facebook more of an open forum, especially since Twitter, blogs, and MySpace are open to all.  Marshall Kirkpatrick provides a negative argument when arguing with Barry Schnitt, Director of Corporate Communications and Public Policy at Facebook in his article(Click on his name to read it).

How do you feel about being encouraged to become less private and more public for all to see? Was the primary reason you joined Facebook to expose yourself to the world?

Facebook's recent privacy changes are not quite as nice as they sound. Facebook recently began asking users to refine their settings using a new tool, however the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a privacy watchdog, argues that the general push is for members to expose information and not hide it from others. The sheer complexity of the decisions may not be the right direction for the members of Facebook as it appears that Facebook wants to put much more information out there for the public eye to see, much more than just your name and the network you belong to today. Is this a move in the right direction or is this merely being taken out of content? Read more here and decide.