Facebook Privacy Battle Rages On

Yesterday CNN had this article about how users are leaving Facebook due to privacy concerns, and Facebook fired another salvo in an attempt to protect its reputation by announcing a new service that is aimed at protecting private information.

While this new service will help prevent unauthorized access to your personal Facebook login unless you approve the access yourself (by answering a security question), and it would notify you of any attempts to access your account on unauthorized machines, I think that this quote from the Facebook engineer is more important than any new security feature; "As always, though, the first line of defense is you. We need you to help by practicing safe behavior on Facebook and wherever you go online".

In my mind, the main issue with Facebook's privacy problems is who they are intentionally sharing your private information with. I think that everyone who uses Facebook needs to take any announcement of "security improvements" or "privacy enhancements" with a grain of salt... the interface for Facebook could be made as secure as your online banking site, it wouldn't change the fact that the "banker" (Facebook) is doling out your "money" (personal information) to anyone they choose. Facebook needs to stop putting the impetus for privacy on their users, and start working to educate their users about how their information is being used.

Facebook needs to focus on making their privacy policy and settings clear and simple, and by default these settings should be locked down until the user decides that information should be shared. As long as people continue to be surprised when they find their personal information in unexpected places online, Facebook will have an uphill PR battle to fight. The issue isn't so much that the personal information is being monetized, it's that it's being done in a way that is not transparent to the user.