Facebook Privacy

I must admit that I and my friends(as evident from their activity feed) have been hooked to Facebook in the last few weeks a big time. Apparently it's not just a local phenomenon, it is the reflection of the current trend as Facebook continues to grow in India at the expense of Orkut.

Facebook is pretty, fast and most of all damn addictive. However Facebook is much more open in the sense that if you are not careful you will unintentionally end up sharing your personal data with the general public out there on Facebook.

It's only fair that I read and understand the privacy policy of the website on which I spend hours pouring out my feelings through my status updates, comments, photos etc. Anyways, Facebook is recently having a lot of problems protecting user's privacy evident from here and here and here .

Since not everybody has the time and conviction, here are some important points from privacy policy:

When you access Facebook from a computer, mobile phone, or other device, Facebook may collect information from that device about your browser type, location, and IP address, as well as the pages you visit.

Because it takes two to connect(such as joining a group or liking a page), your privacy settings only control who can see the connection on your profile page.  If you are uncomfortable with the connection being publicly available, you should consider removing the connection.

When you post information on another user’s profile or comment on another user’s post, that information will be subject to the other user’s privacy settings.

Your public information may also be associated with you, including your name and profile picture, even outside of Facebook, such as on public search engines and when you visit other sites on the internet.If you delete “everyone” content that you posted on Facebook,  it will be removed from your Facebook profile, but you have no control over its use outside of Facebook.

And the scarry Facebook apps:

When you use applications and websites you are making your Facebook information available to someone other than Facebook.Information includes your and your friends’ names, profile pictures, gender, user IDs, connections, and any content shared using the Everyone privacy setting.

In practice, what this means is that all your data - all of it - must be effectively considered public, unless you simply never use any Facebook applications at all.

If your friend connects with an application or website, it will be able to access your name, profile picture, gender, user ID, and information you have shared with “everyone.”  It will also be able to access your connections, except it will not be able to access your friend list.

If you are logged into Facebook and visit a site which has got approval from Facebook, it can get and use you General Information without your approval!

The final nail in coffin:

Although Facebook allows you to set privacy options that limit access to your information, please be aware that no security measures are perfect . We cannot control the actions of other users with whom you share your information. We cannot guarantee that only authorized persons will view your information. We cannot ensure that information you share on Facebook will not become publicly available. We are not responsible for third party circumvention of any privacy settings or security measures on Facebook.



The guide to Privacy and a tool to see how your profile appears to your friends or anybody else is here . Privacy settings for who can view what information of yours can be controlled here  .