First published: 28th May 2010
A storm of controversy has recently engulfed the currently most popular social networking website, Facebook. In January 2010, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg's responded to growing privacy concerns saying, "People have really gotten comfortable not only sharing more information and different kinds, but more openly and with more people. That social norm is just something that has evolved over time", in a live interview with TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington. However, a strong negative reaction to the comments made it clear that social norms have not changed as much as Mr. Zuckerberg believed.
The storm really gathered force in May, with a series of revelations, that Facebook was leaking data marked as private and Facebook was breaking its own privacy policy by giving advertisers users' names and locations. In a Washington Post article Mr. Zuckerberg announced Facebook would be making controlling your information simpler, and providing a switch to turn off all third-party services, writing, "Sometimes we move too fast". This is a clear indication that he still believes that privacy will disappear, and will will all become relaxed about sharing everything about ourselves with everyone.
The new privacy controls are now explained, and they are being made available to users gradually.
Yui Kee's Chief Consultant, Allan Dyer, commented, "I use Facebook and other social networking websites myself, and, even though I try to be selective about how much personal information I make public, it is not easy. Information may also be used for unintended purposes, such as authentication. The simplification of the privacy choices appears to be a positive step, but Mr. Zuckerberg must tread carefully: privacy is, and will continue to be, important. Facebook must continue to adapt to users privacy concerns, or the users will leave."
