I’ll take a good guess and just assume that you are among those 300 million Facebook users and there is a reasonable chance that, since you are a single parent, you are among the 60 million who actually use the site on a daily basis. Given the massive impact the site has on our lives – according to Alexa.com, it is the Internet’s second most web site worldwide – any changes potentially should matter to you. Especially if Facebook modifies its privacy options and recommendations. You may have noticed the founder’s note on the Facebook main screen last week, but I wonder: Do you really (have to) care?

Well, at least others care. They care, in fact, so much that they feel it is time for a lawsuit. Ten privacy groups, led by the usually paranoid Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Others, such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) strongly oppose the changes that, according to those groups, may prompt users to expose much more information on their Facebook pages than they may want to.

The EPIC complaint asks Trade Commission to open an investigation into the Facebook privacy changes and to “require Facebook to restore privacy safeguards”.

“This is the most significant case now before the Federal Trade Commission,” said Marc Rotenberg, EPIC Executive Director. “More than 100 million people in the United States subscribe to the Facebook service. The company should not be allowed to turn down the privacy dial on so many American consumers.”

So, what is EPIC so upset about?

Well, Facebook isn’t so happy that we don’t share so much content, especially status messages and photos with the public. For a while, this scenario has been bothering Facebook’s management, because Twitter has been growing rapidly and those Twitter tweets are much more public and are gaining much more public attention. So Facebook debuted a “privacy transition tool” that recommends public sharing – sharing with anyone on the Internet – by default.  Previously, the recommended sharing selection was “Your Networks and Friends”. Conceivably, many more people could now see what you really do not want them to see. There are plenty of people out there who predict trouble in Facebook land and they do have a point: It is a very sneaky way to increase the content that is published and made available on Facebook (and to the rest of the Internet) – at the expense of those who don’t care to read the privacy policy or simply do not understand the policy’s impact.

So, do you care that your information on Facebook could be viewed by those who really should not see it?

It may depend on why you are using the site. If you are publishing information that could hurt you in the future, well, then you should know that you are playing with fire and that a single mouse click could ruin your professional and/or private life. If you are among this group of Facebook users, you should care and you may want to have a close look at those new privacy options and you should invest some time understanding the changes. But if you post general notes and general pictures, there was no reason to worry in the past and there is no reason to worry now.

In the end, it comes down to common sense. Know why you are using Facebook and for what purpose. Know that your posted information is potentially public information whether you like it or not. Know that your pictures are most likely open to anyone to see, if you do not configure them otherwise. Also know that legal battles may prompt your employer or anyone else who believes your Facebook posts could reveal certain information to ask Facebook for a release of your posts .

In any case, if you post material that is of questionable nature, you should know that this material can be accessed by others and you may want to look at those new privacy features and recommendations. But then, if you post material certain people should not see, then you may be simply too naïve to believe that your posts will not find their way to exactly those you are worried about.

Tags: facebook, single dad, single mom, technology

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This entry was posted on Saturday, December 19th, 2009 at 9:00 pm and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.