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Facebook Privacy Fears Are Absurd!

Posted May 16th, 2010 by Mark Aaron Murnahan
Categories: Business in General, Facebook, Internet, Internet bullying.

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Tagged on Facebook!

I know, I just slapped a lot of Facebook’s 400,000,000+ users with an insult. The real insult is how many “Chicken Little” minds there are out there crying “The sky is falling!” You are a “grown up” right? You can take responsibility for things you say and do, right?

I have read about the biggest fear-mongering pitches ever surrounding Facebook’s privacy settings. I see people moaning about how all their privacy has been taken away and they feel all exposed. They whine about the fact that they actually have to take responsibility for the stupid things they don’t want the rest of the world to see. For me, that has simply been obvious. I mean, I keep my wallet in my pocket instead of leaving it on a counter at the airport. I have routers and virus protection to keep my data safe from prying eyes. If I don’t want somebody to have something, I just don’t give it to them.

Free Facebook Privacy Guide

Didn’t anybody ever read the privacy information published by Facebook in “A guide to privacy on Facebook: Understand and control how you share information” or was that too much work? The service is free, but people still want to complain that it has some rules and guidelines.

If you are afraid of things like somebody tagging you in a photo on Facebook, how do you feel about blogs, email, or even fax for that matter? Is it the service’s fault for transferring the information? That seems kind of absurd to me, considering that transferring that information is exactly why people use Facebook. If people will just take a little time from their selfish Facebooking life to set how they want their information to be handled, maybe they can move on and complain about something else.

Facebook Privacy Beyond Facebook

If you are concerned about what somebody will see, keep it off the Internet. Did you forget that anything on Facebook or any other website can be copied and pasted, printed, or otherwise reproduced without your authority? Who are you going to blame for that? Will you blame the copier company?

I entered a couple of comments on a blog post about Facebook privacy on Mashable.com a moment ago. I will share some of what I said here, and I invite you to go and see the context of my comments as well.

My Comments:

“Facebook is not the whole Internet. What if they take the photo and email it and post it on their blog? Would you like Facebook to control that, too? What if the Internet didn’t exist at all? Couldn’t people still be embarrassed by a bad photo? Marilyn Monroe was, and she didn’t use Facebook.”

“That is the business they are in, but that does not make Facebook, Google, Twitter, or any other site responsible for our indiscretions, or for our privacy. I do not want my documents read when I take out the trash, so I shred them. I do my part to protect my privacy. My privacy is my responsibility. What others do to reduce my privacy by posting a photo or writing something about me is often beyond my control. That does not make me stay indoors. I just know that if I pick my nose while I am in public, those in my direct contact may not be the only public who see it. The fact that there is a venue to share it does not mean the venue should be blamed. It is like blaming the phone company for somebody sending a fax about you. The person doing the faxing is at fault, and not the phone company or the fax manufacturer.”

My point here is this: If you want to blame Facebook instead of yourself, it is like blaming your Internet service provider because you got a virus but did not protect yourself with up-to-date antivirus software. Take responsibility to know the services you use online. If you are not willing to take the time to know the rules of a service, and to keep up to date with those rules, don’t use the service. Nobody is breaking your arm to use Facebook.

Let’s be grown-ups and stop blaming everybody but ourselves for our personal responsibilities. Go set your Facebook privacy however it makes you feel comfortable, or delete your Facebook account like many fear-mongering technophobic users are suggesting.

Defending Facebook

Facebook is a corporation that makes decisions based on their interests. That is the way a corporation is supposed to work. Sure, you can whine that they should ask your opinion, but it seems apparent that they have a pretty good feel for what people want. Maybe you think a company with such a big omelet can do it without breaking a few eggs, but I don’t see anybody else attracting 400,000,000 people across the world for their great plan.

It seems to me that with a user-base larger than all but three countries in the world, they are doing just fine without you in their boardroom.

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Facebook Comments (hide / show)

"Old School" Comments (hide / show)

Scott S

I'm of the opinion that if you're willing to post things on the 'net, then you'd better be happy for that stuff to be shared/spread.

To all the people complaining that their privacy isn't being respected etc, there IS a simple solution. DON'T POST IT. Close your facebook/myspace/myface/whatever profile, and be happy in the knowledge that what you don't post, can't be shared.

I have facebook, and I have my privacy set in a way that's acceptable to me. Photos I'm tagged in, are only visible to me, and a select group of friends. That way, any potentially offensive material is semi controlled.

If there are people who regularly tag you in things you find distasteful or offensive, remove them as a friend. Simple really.

Mark Aaron Murnahan

My point exactly. I just had a call from an old friend and we laughed about how fortunate we are that some of the stupid things we did as kids have not made it to Facebook. We also decided that if we did not want ugly things to be on Facebook from this point forward, it may be wise to not toilet paper the principal's house again. :-)

One of the top ways to avoid a bad reputation is to stop doing things you would be ashamed of.

Dan

The same argument (you make here) could (and was) made by the tobacco industry for years.

The tobacco industry targeted Youth (minors) heavily. Facebook targets Youth (minors) heavily.

Tobacco is addictive. If you don't think that Facebook is addictive, you are lying to yourself.

A minor must get parental permission to get a Tattoo. But, Facebook can appropriate a minor's data and make money off of it without any parental permission.

Parents should keep their kids off Facebook the way parents should have kept kids out of 7-11 buying cigarettes. Government intervention is appropriate from time to time when there is an abuse of Individuals. Facebook has crossed into that territory and your argument only bolsters their position.

So, yes, you are wrong. Completely. You are speaking for yourself, that's fine -- just don't speak on behalf of Others. Deal?

Mark Aaron Murnahan

It sounds like you should start your own and call it socialistbook. Maybe socialistbook can require a socialist security number to absolve parents of further responsibility. Maybe obamabook ... that could take off. Perhaps you can get the USA government to fund it for you. It sounds right up their alley.

By the way ... no deal.

Dan

You make about as much sense as Sarah Palin -- it's an "all or nothing" for you -- and, you don't address the real issue I raise but divert the conversation to abstract nonsense.

The reality is that corporations (particularly large, and near-monopolistic ones) often DO NOT ACT IN THE BEST INTEREST of individuals and the public. And, they often do harm to Minors without parental knowledge or consent.

What happens?

They get regulated.

FACEBOOK have tread into territory where they should either demonstrate their own responsibility, or they should be regulated if they fail to do so. I'm suggesting they first step up to the plate here. But, I doubt they will.

I am not saying (at all) that children, parents, educators, etc. have no responsibilities here - they do. But, SO DOES Facebook. To date, FACEBOOK have shown a conscious lack of responsibility and have not indicated they will change at all.

So, I suggest they pull up their panties and grow up - stop acting like a bunch of spoiled kids who can do whatever they want (including, misappropriation of a Minor's data without consent).

But, maybe you'd prefer to live in world where restaurants and airplanes are full of cigarette smoke again? Or, where all heroin is legalized? Or, where Banks dish out sub-prime mortgage dollars and collapse the economy? Or, where off-shore drilling has no oversight (wait, bad analogy there)?

I see absolutely nothing wrong with Parents simply having to put down their Credit Card for a $1 charge to open up a Minor's Facebook account AFTER they have read the T&C and after there has been an honest (and human-readable) FULL DISCLOSURE of what those T&C mean. I also see no problem with making FACEBOOK be an 18+ space exclusively (it would give them more cache).

Please cease driving on Interstate Highways, crossing bridges or planning on using your Medicaire or Medicaid, OK (anyplace you tread that has government funding; which, really is the People's money).

Walk the walk, dude.

Mark Aaron Murnahan

It seems you must negotiate with your kids. Mine respect me enough to follow my rules.

I am not going to pay a buck for your idea of letting parents off the hook even more than they already are. Kids do all kinds of crazy things, but a whole lot less when they have parents. If you are really for paying, just send me a buck for using my blog. It looks like you spend as much time here as I do. ;-)

By the way, I have paid for plenty of highways in my days. I plan to use them a lot. What I will not advocate is a government control that makes people even more "secure" by taking away their ability to make decisions.

Dan

@mark. The dollar's in the mail. I feel your post is not well thought out and is unrealistic.

My children have reset their Privacy settings because I explained the ramifications for of not doing so - how it would impact their lives. I didn't have to set rules or dictate to them. I allowed them to understand. They decided it was improper of FACEBOOK to cull this information and they have helped their friends. But, I read the tech news and knew this was an important issue. Most parent's don't have a clue.

The reality of the World we live in is that this thing called (faux) social-media and allied platforms (starting with the tv, if we go back in time), have aided in the breakdown of family communication. 60% of Teens are allowed to text message at the dinner table. Though, in fact, less than 50% have dinner with their family.

So, expecting Parents to voluntarily understand the ramifications of FACEBOOKS's T&C is simply unrealistic; therefore, I suggest you force them to the issue by demanding their participation when signing on their children, and perhaps in renewing...and, certainly, during the whim of FACEBOOK when they change the rules on everyone willy-nilly (well, based on how much more money they can make from us)...

A child under 18 can't get a Tattoo without parental permission, my point is that the digital data footprint that FACEBOOK is compiling (on Minor's) is more permanent than a Tattoo. And, Parents/families are not actually equipped to understand this. FACEBOOK could take care of this themselves. But, it's more likely they need to be regulated, just like the tobacco industry (who had decades to be honest and help their customers, yet failed to). Large companies do not self-regulate, they generally cause social, economic and environmental disasters.

Democracy does not mean you can shout "fire" in a crowded theater. If FACEBOOK will not self regulate, it will be done for them. I would project that to happen within 24 months.

/bye

Mark Aaron Murnahan

I have no compassion for ignorance in the presence of information. If parents do not understand hazards of Facebook, it is their fault, just as much as not understanding hazards of their kids juggling chainsaws.

We agree on the family values being a mess.

augamire

I pretty much agree - actually, that's not true - it's one of my pet peeves :)

I mean, I've never really understood becoming part of a "social" site/network/whatever if you wanted to hide. Just don't share what you don't want people to see. I've always said that if you don't want to world to know about it - don't put it in an email (or anything connected to the net).

I'm reminded of that line from the 1983 film War Games "Hey, I don't believe that any system is totally secure"

Mark Aaron Murnahan

There is an owner's manual for social sites. People should read them. Then again, people should eat vegetables and exercise, too. They just don't blame the grocery store and the gym for their health.

Ruhani Rabin

And there was Mark, who is a social media guru, friend and a mentor.. Geek too!

Now ..

I would agree with you on things like :

1. It is up to you what you put on facebook

What I would not:

1. My grandmother is not you Mark... ;) So if you ask her to go read facebook privacy explanation in 11px font ;) would be a disaster. On the other hand .. if you ask a school kid to understand privacy settings would be a disaster too .. It's not about you or Janet (Who literally works in social media industry)

2. Everything has a learning curve .. Facebook is missing the point of simplicity ... the learning curve is way too much .. for me and you might not be; but for many others it is.

3. It is not about growing up too.. well you try to grow up once.. then you need to start growing up again (repeat to infinity) ... owh .. okay ;)

Bottomline : Nice reverse psychology to burn candles on blog posts ;) well thats your job hehehehe!

Mark Aaron Murnahan

You see, there is the problem ... we have people trying to drive cars who should not be driving. If you do not know how to drive a car, fly a plane, use a telephone, or operate a toaster, those are things you should not be doing. Your grandmother is probably not going to run a Boston marathon, either. She knows better. Who told people they all have the responsibility to use a telephone, a computer, Facebook, or a GUN? Many people are shot with their own gun, and cut themselves with their own kitchen knife. It is clear that communications have sharp edges, too. If you cannot handle a tool properly, do not try. Does your grandmother or school kid use a chainsaw? If they do, I hope they read the operator's manual.

Jeff Gibbard

I think Ruhani raises a good point though re: Grandma. For me, most of the argument lies in opt-in vs opt-out. Not everyone is as awesome and smart as I am, nor are they as thorough in reading the FB privacy document you so kindly provided in this post. The point is that people walk in with an expectation of privacy that was set by FB in their early days circa 2006-2007ish. Back then FB was somewhat of a private place, and then Twitter happened and FB pushed to compete.

Mark, I don't disagree that we all make our own beds here and but I do think that FB should start you as locked down by default and let you determine what you are willing to share. It certainly beats the alternative where something makes it out into the wild before you knew what you were doing...again I'm referring to grandma.

My guess is that of the 400million there are more like grandma and less like us.

Mark Aaron Murnahan

Grandma shouldn't juggle chainsaws either, but if she does, she should read the manual. There is something called personal responsibility that should be implemented. Assumptions are dumb with drain cleaner, guns, chainsaws, and Internet.

Ruhani Rabin

LOL! Mark, How are you comparing GUNS and Chainsaw with Facebook? Well if you put it in that way I wont say anything more.

Regardless: If a children has access to internet, they can have facebook, it's not like a children go to walmart and asks to buy a gun.. sure they wont sell a gun to the child ... but on the net .... the human moderation scale is not there...

SO basically what you are saying is: Only geeks should use social media, who can eventually cope up with the changes... and who are willing to read terms and conditions (repeatedly over time)

PS: Mark: are you on farmville and mafia wars too ;)

Mark Aaron Murnahan

Hey, it is not so different. I will not let my kids (1, 5, and 7) play with my cell phone. They do not know how to use it.

Why is it that people seem to think that the Internet is all so simple that it will forgive all their screwups? If information is so vital to people, they should read the rules before they use the chainsaw. I mean, they obviously read the rules when they come to bitch about them after the fact ... when they have changed. How can somebody not know the rules when they sign up and but know everything about them when they want to complain?Is there no such thing as personal responsibility? Oh, and parental responsibility, too?

P.S.
If I send my Mafia Wars crew over to kill your Farmville livestock, you will know.

Eureka Janet

Right 'freakin' On, Mark~! I did a little stomp and shout today about this topic myself...my words boiled down to 'Grow the F*ck up and learn to use the tools you've been given...or go away.'

Mark Aaron Murnahan

I think this comment (seen below) says a lot if what I believe on this Facebook privacy topic:

"Here is a good point to consider: I notice that you have 205 friends on Facebook. That is well above Dunbar's Number (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunbar's_number). So can you really tell me that you know and trust that many people with your information that you hold so private as to put it on Facebook? Damn right you trust them, because you are not putting anything very sensitive there. Otherwise, you would be awake all night wondering what somebody may copy and paste or print out or somehow share about you. Do you see my point, yet?

By the way ... I receive many death threats. If I do not, then I am not reaching enough people. I even had a guy threaten to come and suck my blood once. He was a vampire (according to him)."

Joseph A. Nagy Jr

Alright, I will.

My issue is that whenever FB makes changes to their privacy model, they reset EVERYONE'S settings to what THEY think they should be at (extremely open). I know of more than a few people on FB who receive death threats for the work they do and try to keep their FB friends and family only. When FB throws their settings so they are viewable to the world, they are putting their users at danger.

It's all good though. as soon as diaspora* is open, I'm gone from FB.

Mark Aaron Murnahan

Be sure to read the terms of service before using any service. They are all subject to change. Technology itself changes, and users unwilling to deal with it spend a lot of time complaining about it instead of opening their eyelids and reading what they agreed to when they signed up.

Joseph A. Nagy Jr

No ToS should read "and we reserve the right to change the privacy settings you choose to protect yourself with if we feel it negatively affects you, whether or not it actually does", and that is exactly what you are suggesting. "Oh, he should just deal with it because Facebook has every right to put your life in danger, unknowningly or not, because we know better than you." Sounds a lot like Big Brother. "We know what's best for you, so you deal with us on our terms." That's not a good busines<->customer relationship.

Mark Aaron Murnahan

This is how nearly every TOS of an Internet service works. The ToS allows that changes can happen, and they do. If you are in the witness protection program, you have no business posting photos with a Facebook anyway. This is not something new ... it is the *INTERNET* and it is for sharing. Any time that you share something, even with a whisper in somebody's ear, there is a good chance it will one day be passed along to somebody else.

Facebook is NOT your mother, lover, or best friend. Facebook is a corporation that is responsible to its shareholders and employees. You can complain all you like, but they are doing very well by those employees and shareholders ... and the majority of their non-technophobic or info-phobic users.

I think the complainers are largely either on an FBI list and realized they should not have been posting their crimes on Facebook, or 14 year olds who are afraid mom and dad will find out. Any reasonably grown up person knows that the Internet is public and that personal responsibility includes keeping sensitive data off the web. You don't email credit card numbers do you? Yeah, well, maybe some people do that, too.

Joseph A. Nagy Jr

I agree, FB is not any relation to you at all. It's a company. It exists only on paper. It is run by people who don't have your best interest in mind. But, then what is the purpose of having any privacy settings at all? Just a thought.

Mark Aaron Murnahan

Answer this: What sort of information are you afraid has leaked about you or what kind of leak are you concerned with? Give me an example of detriment that was not preventable with foresight. Do it ... please. I want your best example.

Joseph A. Nagy Jr

I personally don't have an example. I have almost everything set to public anyway. I said I know of someone who receives death threats. He doesn't even want his real name known to the general public because of those threats. Every time FB changes their privacy settings, stuff like that leaks out because the automatically change his settings (all of them).

You'd have to talk to him for exactly the issue he has with FB and privacy (JIDF on twitter).

Mark Aaron Murnahan

Here is a good point to consider: I notice that you have 205 friends on Facebook. That is well above Dunbar's Number (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunbar's_number). So can you really tell me that you know and trust that many people with your information that you hold so private as to put it on Facebook? Damn right you trust them, because you are not putting anything very sensitive there. Otherwise, you would be awake all night wondering what somebody may copy and paste or print out or somehow share about you. Do you see my point, yet?

By the way ... I receive many death threats. If I do not, then I am not reaching enough people. I even had a guy threaten to come and suck my blood once. He was a vampire (according to him).

Joseph A. Nagy Jr

How does an SEO guru (:p) get death threats? I barely get comments to my status updates.

Like I said, I personally don't have any issues. I'm trying to reach people, not hide from them.

Mark Aaron Murnahan

I have been more than just a bit visible on the Internet over the last 15 years. I have been selling wholesale Internet services to Internet providers for a very long time. Try a quick Google of wholesale Internet service or wholesale web host. You will find my company, YourNew.com, Inc. pretty easily. We have also provided end-user support for our services for a very long time. Believe me, I have a really good feel for the whack-o people out there. :-)

Mark Aaron Murnahan

OK, I am waiting for somebody to tell me how wrong I am. Go ahead, let's dance.

@Danny_Fr

Here I come.

Marilyn Monroe was a public figure, at the time a picture would circulate faster if you were in the show business, the rest was just blackmail.
Ok, black mail has been existing since probably even before the mail.

But when blackmail (which is not widely liked if I remember correctly) was just about "I know about your little affair, and so might your wife if you don't pay", a mischievously tagged picture on Facebook means "Here, I took an embarrassing shot of you, and It's now visible to all my friends, and yours.

You could tell me that it's the very same with blogs. A blog with many regular readers can have the same impact. But let's get real: what are the odds that a blog as popular as yours displays a pic of me pole-dancing? On the other end, what are the odds that a low traffic blog displaying such pictures will be noticed by my friends/family?

I don't say it's not possible though, but look at Facebook now, and how fast a picture/note can circulate while you can't do a thing about it? And because of what? Because you can't reject the tag before it's applied.

I've had, several times, pictures of dead bodies showing in my news feed because a friend was tagged in them. That's another issue. That's disturbing, and that could be easily changed.

Waiting for Diaspora.

Mark Aaron Murnahan

It is all in the settings though, Danny. If you just edit your privacy settings, you can preclude others from tagging you and also writing on your wall. In any case, somebody can still write about you and take photos of you and spread them just as fast using other resources, or using Facebook without the tag. In every instance, people can say and do whatever they will about you, and you do not have any say in that. All you can do is try to influence friends and strangers in ways that they will not want to be mean to you. If they choose to hurt you, they will ... with or without Facebook, and with or without privacy settings.

Ruhani Rabin

Nope mark .. its not the settings.. facebook doesn't allow disable tagging ;)

Mark Aaron Murnahan

Yes, you disallow them as a friend. ;-)

Ruhani Rabin

ROFLMAOLOL! OK that was EPIC!

Links to This Article (blog trackbacks)

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This article was tagged as follows: Facebook, facebook pages, facebook privacy, facebook profiles, facebook wall

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Author Mark Aaron Murnahan is CEO of YourNew.com, Inc. and provides independent SEO and social media marketing consulting services to companies and non-profit organizations.
YourNew.com, Inc. is a Topeka Kansas and Kansas City area Website design, Web development, ecommerce, Web hosting and search engine optimization company.
Mark is highly selective with potential clients, and only works with companies prepared to take their marketing seriously and implement creative seo and social media strategies.
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