Facebook Privacy

[franceslievens]

Lately I've been spending some of my online life on Facebook*. It's a fun tool to keep up with my friends. Not all of them use it so often, but I like reading what they're all up to, how they spend their day, what annoys them or cheers them up. Especially I like looking at pictures. Most of them post photographs of things that are going on in their life, new-born babies, houses in progress etc. It's all very fun – until you notice there is something strange going on with the privacy settings of the pictures. Whenever one of my friends comments on a picture of someone I get that comment in my newsfeed. When I click on the photograph in the feed I get directed, not only to said photograph, but to the entire album. This way I can browse through photos of friends of friends whose profile isn't even public for me. It happened with pictures P.'s colleague posted of her new-born son. I don't know said colleague, but I could look at the photographs. I wonder if she knew about this.

The same thing occurred to danah boyd. She has written an interesting piece demanding Facebook puts privacy settings right next to content. As an online social networking service it has one of the most obscure privacy settings. By default it is very open, and you need to click through every detail to separately set your privacy preferences. LJ on the other hand is much easier: you see for every post who can read it, and have quickly changed the privacy settings for a certain post you don't want everyone to read. But LJ isn't as interlaced as Facebook. The web that's been built isn't that big that some settings end up providing a glitch in the system.

Danah boyd's answer to the problem is as quick as it is easy:

"Tech developers... I implore you... put privacy information into the context of the content itself. When I post a photo in my album, let me see a list of EVERYONE who can view that photo. When I look at a photo on someone's profile, let me see everyone else who can view that photo before I go to write a comment. You don't get people to understand the scale of visibility by tweetling a few privacy settings every few months and having no idea what "Friends of Friends" actually means. If you have that setting on and you go to post a photo and realize that it will be visible to 5,000 people included 10 ex-lovers, you're going to think twice. Or you're going to change your privacy settings."

She leaves in the middle what the cause of the glitch is (an actual bug within Facebook or wrongly applied privacy setting), but gives an actual answer to the problem. So anyone concerned with their privacy and that of others: think twice about posting and especially commenting on photographs on Facebook.

*That isn't the reason for the current drop in my blog-writings. You may blame it on fatigue and the little thing in my belly going boink.

Comments

[sister-luck.livejournal.com]

I was wondering why you hadn't been posting much lately and had decided on the reason you give. That little thing isn't so little anymore!

*hugs*

Just don't disappear altogether!

[frances-lievens.livejournal.com]

No, I won't disappear! I'm hoping I will post a bit more once I'll be home full time.

The little thing showed herself two weeks ago in the last ultrasound, and weighed around 1,850kg then. The next week I had a gynaecologist's appointment (as my regular midwife wasn't in) and she said my belly was a bit small for 33 & 1/2 weeks then. But the baby was big enough.

I should post a bit more updates on the baby's and my progress, shouldn't I?

*goes off to post about progress*

[lijability.livejournal.com]

Dang Lj... keeps losing my posts. Ok.... let's see if I can remember.

I've been tending towards being more open on the net. On a number of blogs where issues are discussed I have become more open and started to use a portion of my own name. As Facebook advertises your full name, I figure I might as well be totally open there - that is be comfortable with relating what I might to any stranger. And so I have. What might be the problem is the way some people "friend" others rather freely. That would be more of a problem as I see it. Even if you don't, one of your friends might be a "free friender" that could cause you problems.

But I usually don't have much to relate about my boring life anyway.....

[frances-lievens.livejournal.com]

As I'm a school teacher I wouldn't like pupils to find me online, or to see bits and pieces of my profile. What I make public now, or indeed things I'd make public with every given stranger. And I'm neither part from a network or a group, so that cuts intruders down as well.

I find the idea of a "free friender" interesting. You indeed have people who friend everyone who asks. P. for instance uses Facebook to keep in touch with work acquaintances he's met on a congress or workshop. On the other hand he doesn't post much on there anyway, and just reads what others have to say.