Facebook Privacy: Things Are Changing

Facebook users are experiencing a new kind of privacy with their profiles--one with less privacy. Users were recently given the option to more narrowly specify what they want to allow certain other users to see. However, before this privacy modification users had the ability to keep everything private to non-friends with the exception of their name and network. This is no longer the case. Now aspects of your profile that are in the public category include profile pictures, pages of which you are a fan of, home cities, and friend lists. Critics from the online rights organization Electronic Frontier Foundation are disappointed, and even disgusted at the weak attempt to enhance privacy. Facebook's attempt to give user more control over who views their information did not effectively translate to the EFF.

In response to the harsh opposition from EFF, Facebook's director of global communications Barry Schnitt says, "It's not that big of a change. The vast majority of users have already made this information available to everyone." Now this is an interesting approach in the PR sense. Instead of admitting any fault the public, Schnitt is supporting the actions of Facebook by exposing the fact that most users were already comfortable with making certain information public, so if anything, they're making Facebook easier for people. According to Schnitt, over 10 million users took advantage of the opportunity to implement their own privacy settings. Schnitt claims that they're are giving users credit in terms of their ability to decide their privacy for themselves, and feels that this is a step in the right direction. He's implementing some important rules of effective PR: Support your company. Defend your company. And believe in your company. Two thumbs up, Schnitt.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091211/tc_afp/usitcompanyprivacyinternetfacebook_20091211033403