Comments on: Facebook’s Privacy Upgrade Recommends I Be Less Private

By: mustafa

mustafa — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 16:35:24 +0000

hi
i have a facebook account i logged in someday i saw a message to upgrade to the new profile but i didn’t do it because i was busy when i came after sometime and i logged in i tried to find it and upgrade to the new profile i couldn’t .
what have i to do?

By: Gary Stock

Gary Stock — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 15:31:57 +0000

Danny — anyone else — seeing this new behavior? When I visit “suggested” friend of a friend profile (who “only shares certain information with everyone”) I can see up to five third-removed friends’ thumbnails mid-screen, as always. I can request to “See All” (dozens or hundreds or…). However, the typical friends subwindow pops up to say “No results” — not even the five thumbs visible behind it — and “Next” — although there’s nothing to see (or “Previous”). A few minutes ago, the proper number of rows appeared in the typical subwindow, so I could scroll down 100 blank rows. Now, those rows are gone. The “All friends always visible” has been one of the most hated “privacy” changes. Any chance a rollback or fix is in testing?

By: Elizabeth Valmadre

Elizabeth Valmadre — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 04:03:47 +0000

Oh, and bravo Gary Stock!

By: Elizabeth Valmadre

Elizabeth Valmadre — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 03:26:49 +0000

The most frightening thing about this new change is that it is now not possible for anyone to make their friends list private. At first glance, it appears that if you click the little pen dialogue box in the top right hand corner of your friends list, you can hide your friends list – and you can – but only from people with whom you share no mutual friends.

However, anyone who share one or more mutual friends with you can now see your ENTIRE friends list. To check this, go and view your profile from the perspective of someone who you know you share mutual friends with, and whom you have set up not to see your friends list. When you see your page from their perspective it APPEARS that they only have access to the ‘mutual friends list’, but if you go and click on ‘See All’ you will see that THEY CAN SEE YOUR ENTIRE FRIENDS LIST.

This is a disasterous problem! Particularly for women with abusive ex-spouses who may be trying to track them through their friends on FB, for people who may have mentally ill relatives that they don’t wish to converse with on FB, the list of security and privacy issues is endless. This is extremely dangerous, and has caused many people I know to delete their accounts today. FACEBOOK FAIL!

By: Dave Dugdale

Dave Dugdale — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 02:02:43 +0000

I was shocked to see what they recommended. I might as well had my FB account on Twitter!

By: Gary Stock

Gary Stock — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 01:50:06 +0000

This is more of the same slow-motion suicide for Facebook. I was irritated to see them suggest “Everyone” for some data I had previously limited to specific audiences. I tightened my own visibility settings, and will delete even MORE data from my profile. It’s almost useless to the public already.

Investors and advertisers please note: through this crude sleight of hand, Facebook has increased your access to profiles of unsophisticated users. You now are paying for a larger, though less intelligent and less aware audience. Maybe that’s a good fit for you. If so, you deserve it.

However, Facebook will lose data and memberships of thought leaders, professionals, and other upper income audiences. Your days of targeting them across Facebook are essentially over… and you deserve that, too.

By: Coburn64

Coburn64 — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 01:35:18 +0000

Thumbs down for Facebook. I will only share what info I decide to share, and FaceBook won’t get any more peep out of me.

Shame on you, facebook.

By: Nick Gowdy

Nick Gowdy — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 01:03:09 +0000

Just seems like a terrible and unnecessary move -- offensive even. It's like they're telling you that a little privacy is a bad thing and that they recommend you should just be cool, loosen up, and show everyone your goods. Reminds me of a recent xkcd about Facebook.

By: Danny Sullivan

Danny Sullivan — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 00:42:44 +0000

Totally missed the hover options. Thanks — noted it above.

By: anty

anty — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 00:38:14 +0000

You can see your old settings by hovering over the old-settings-checkbox. No need to open your profile page. But I agree with you: I have very strict privacy rules on my account and was very confused about the options, too.

What was Facebook thinking? They should have marked the old-settings-checkboxes by default. This sneaky attempt to open up my account makes me angry. I don’t believe that these default settings where placed there, without thinking about it.
Thumbs down for Facebook!