Facebook & Privacy *an addendum

Yesterday I posted about my approach to Facebook in light of all the recent uproar over the lack of privacy and Facebook’s seeming desire to make its information more public and make it more difficult to change or understand the privacy settings.  My approach is simple.  I will just assume that every single piece of information on the site is public, just as this blog or Twitter.  (Just for the record, so you will not all think I am incapable of original thought, I wrote the bulk of yesterday’s post before reading this post by Ed Stetzer or hearing yesterday’s TWIT) Today is an addendum to that post.  It includes a few thoughts about privacy.  I have noticed over the last few years that there are two distinct ways of looking at privacy.  I have also noticed that the line of demarcation for these two views is somewhere around 1973.  If you were born prior to 1973 you most likely think, “Why would anyone want to share info about themselves?  The world is full of people out to get you and you have to protect yourself.”  If you were born post 1973 you most likely think “Why not share all that info?”

Although I think it is wise to be careful, I’m definitely in the latter category.

Why?

Because nobody really wants to stalk me, or you.

And if they do really want to stalk you they will find some way with or without Facebook.  I believe we all have a natural tendency to think people are looking at us all the time.  We are naturally narcissistic.  In reality, only the people who care, will be interested in what you post.  Advertisers want to sell you stuff. (Which is why my Facebook ads are all for fishing and church-functions.)  Otherwise you are only sharing info with friends because strangers don’t care.  43% of identity theft is from people who know the victim, so it’s not like you are protecting yourself by leaving Facebook.  Your uncle is more likely to take out a credit card in your name than a stranger that learned about you from Facebook.

I guess that is really only one thought about privacy and Facebook.  Feel free to tell me in the comments why I am wrong and how dangerous it is.

What do I do about Facebook?

There is an increasing movement of displeasure with Facebook as articles pop up every day lately regarding their terrible privacy policy and the fact that nearly all of your profile information has now been made public in one way or another.  You can read this article, or this one, or this one, or this one, or this one, or this one, or this one, or this one, or this one, or this one.  But the best way to see it is to look at this graph of how public Facebook made info in the old days versus now.

The people who are concerned are right to be concerned.  There is a major problem with any company that wants your information as badly as Facebook wants it being as irresponsible with it as Facebook is.  Also, Facebook has a frightening amount of your information.  They have everything from pictures of that one night in college when you were tripping on shrooms and had a conversation with an imaginary owl, to your child’s kindergarten graduation date.  I am not at all happy about the situation and I am, admittedly, as Facebook addicted as anyone.

Let’s face it though, unless something truly drastic happens, like maybe, Facebook begins selling your info directly to the mob, you are not going to leave.  I am probably not going to leave.  Honestly, I don’t know how it could get much worse than it is now.  Although, if I had children I would be very strongly considering making them close their account.  The thing that allows Facebook to be so cavalier with your information is the same reason you are probably not going to leave.  Everyone is on it.  In reality it has nearly killed the need for high school reunions.  There are people that I have lost track of for years that now I know how to contact easily.

So here’s the question.  If I am concerned about Facebook’s use of my information, but not planning to leave, what am I going to do about it?  In short, I’ll treat every piece of information on there as if it were completely public.  All my pictures, all my contact info, all my likes, and all of the links I post I will assume that everyone on the internet can see them, especially advertisers.  In short I will treat Facebook as if it were twitter.

I have always known that whatever I posted on twitter could be seen by everyone.  That doesn’t mean I have never tweeted anything that I should probably have kept to myself, but that knowledge helps me moderate myself.  And that is how I will treat Facebook in the future.

Tomorrow I have a few thoughts about the loss of privacy.