What specific aspects of Facebook’s new settings are harmful to user privacy?
Facebook’s decision to make profile pictures, friends lists, fan information, names, and other personal information publicly available, harms users who would rather exercise control over their own information. The lack of third party application opt-out also takes control away from users. Facebook’s assertion that the revisions to the privacy policy will actually enhance user privacy is outright deception. What’s so bad about friends lists being deemed “publicly available information?” There are numerous real-life examples of friends list information being used in ways that are harmful to users. Based on profile data obtained from Facebook users’ friends lists, MIT researchers found that “just by looking at a person’s online friends, they could predict whether the person was gay.” Dozens of American Facebook users, who posted political messages critical of Iran, have reported that Iranian authorities subsequently questioned and detained their relatives. According to the Wall Street Jou
