{"id":1189,"date":"2009-12-10T09:56:07","date_gmt":"2009-12-10T16:56:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.talesfromthe.net\/jon\/?p=1189"},"modified":"2009-12-10T09:56:07","modified_gmt":"2009-12-10T16:56:07","slug":"demand-your-dotrights-facebook-gives-people-more-control-by-revealing-private-information","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/2024.thenexus.today\/index.php\/2009\/12\/10\/demand-your-dotrights-facebook-gives-people-more-control-by-revealing-private-information\/","title":{"rendered":"Demand your dotRights: Facebook gives people “more control” by revealing private their information"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Demand<\/a>
Demand your dotRights<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We are concerned that the Transition Tool and other changes actually discourage or eliminate some privacy protections that Facebook users currently employ. And we’re still waiting for Facebook to address the privacy issues concerning third party applications that were raised months ago in our petition.<\/p>\n

— Nicole Ozer of dotRights, Facebook privacy is in transition — but where is it heading?<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Facebook’s message when I logged in today talked about how they were giving me more control of my information and simplifying the privacy settings.\u00c2\u00a0 Uh-oh.\u00c2\u00a0 Valleywag thinks it smells like an anti-privacy plot<\/a>, and PC World’s Tech Inciter<\/em><\/a> suggests watchs out for the “Everyone” setting.\u00c2\u00a0 Comments on the Facebook governance page<\/a> are even more critical.<\/p>\n

And yeah, sure enough, if I click on “Save Settings” and accept Facebook’s defaults, my status updates, photos, list of family members, etc., become public.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 For everyone on the internet to see.\u00c2\u00a0 Yikes.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 And just in time for the holidays, too!<\/p>\n

dotRights has the best privacy guide I’ve found so far<\/a>. Please have a look at it, and share it with your friends — on Facebook and in email.<\/p>\n

If you’d like to give Facebook feedback, please do, either directly on Facebook<\/a> or by signing dotRights’ petition<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 Twitter coming soon, hopefully \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

I’ve got a screenshot below, along with some thoughts about activism — and a comment about software engineering, if you’re into that kind of stuff.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n

Here’s an excerpt from the privacy settings screen:<\/p>\n

\"Image<\/a>
\n\"2009-12-10_0637\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It’s not obvious — at least it wasn’t to me — but Facebook’s recommendation is for people to make their status updates, photos, list of family members, etc., public.<\/p>\n

Really?\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 That’s what they’re recommending to teenagers?\u00c2\u00a0 People in abusive relationships?\u00c2\u00a0 Law enforcement personnel?\u00c2\u00a0 Geez.\u00c2\u00a0 Certainly seems like they’re setting themselves up for some problems with privacy commissioners and attorneys general.<\/p>\n

And as always, no matter what I choose for my settings, “Facebook-enhanced applications” like Mafia Wars and SuperPoke can get at my name, profile pic, friend list and more.\u00c2\u00a0 About 43,000 users signed dotRights’ petition about this three months ago.\u00c2\u00a0 Since then there’s been a major scandal involving scams by advertisers on some of the most popular gaming apps.<\/p>\n

Facebook’s got a choice to make here and thus far it seems like they’re continuing to choose revenue over protecting the members of their community.\u00c2\u00a0 I wonder what Canadian Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart<\/a> thinks of this?<\/p>\n

Can we do something about it from the activism perspective?\u00c2\u00a0 Quite possibly yes.\u00c2\u00a0 At last year’s Twittering in the Trenches workshop <\/a>we brainstormed what a social network activism campaign directed against a corporation could look like, and all came away thinking that it could work.<\/p>\n

Since then, the ACLU and other organizations have steadily increased there presence on Facebook as well as Twitter.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 The ongoing Patriot Act activism has given everybody a lot more experience at working together — and at working with grassroots organizations. \u00c2\u00a0 And with Facebook Chief Privacy Officer Chris Kelly running for California Attorney General, there’s an excellent chance to make privacy into a campaign issue in one of the few states that has a constitutional right to privacy.<\/p>\n

This is likely to be a defining moment for Facebook — and for privacy on social networks.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 If they continue trying to deceive their users and ignore their preferences, they’ll eventually destroy trust and their possibilities for future growth.\u00c2\u00a0 If governments let them get away with trying, they’re setting a new low bar.\u00c2\u00a0 More positively, though …<\/p>\n

Grassroots activism has been very successful a couple of times at getting Facebook to change its tactics.\u00c2\u00a0 Move On led with Beacon in 2007;<\/a> earlier this year, it was Chris Walters, Anne Kathrine Yojana Petter\u00c3\u00b8e, Julius Harper, and EPIC\u00c2\u00a0 with the Terms of Service (1<\/a>, 2<\/a>,\u00c2\u00a0 3<\/a>).\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Now’s a great chance to build on those successes.<\/p>\n

If Facebookers, privacy advocates and everybody else, stand up for our rights and find a way to impact Facebook’s business and the California election, we’ll show that we’re a force to be reckoned with.<\/p>\n

jon<\/p>\n

PS: If you agree, please start by giving Facebook feedback — directly on Facebook<\/a> or by signing dotRights’ petition<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 Follow dotRights on Twitter<\/a> and on Facebook<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 And stay tuned for more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We are concerned that the Transition Tool and other changes actually discourage or eliminate some privacy protections that Facebook users currently employ. And we’re still waiting for Facebook to address the privacy issues concerning third party applications that were raised months ago in our petition. — Nicole Ozer of dotRights, Facebook privacy is in transition […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/2024.thenexus.today\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1189","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/2024.thenexus.today\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/2024.thenexus.today\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/2024.thenexus.today\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/2024.thenexus.today\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1189"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/2024.thenexus.today\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1189\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/2024.thenexus.today\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/2024.thenexus.today\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/2024.thenexus.today\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}