PSA on Facebook privacy
Facebook is a great platform to connect. In fact, I have them to thank for last night's dinner with some old friends. The subject of privacy came up and it's no secret that Facebook has made a few blunders on its path to success.
A few weeks ago, under the advice of another friend, I turned off the Facebook Ads setting that would use my pictures in ads to my friends. It's pretty atrocious that something like this isn't an opt-in feature, but it's likely because they know nobody would want such a thing (not without incentive, anyway). Imagine my surprise when, I go back to my privacy settings and see the following:
While the message does sound pretty comforting, it hardly addresses the issues. Don't fall for this self-absolving fluff. Of course they don't want you to believe any "misleading rumors" - regardless of what they might be. We simply need to take the time to do some reading to protect ourselves. The below text appears on the "Facebook Ads" privacy settings page after closing the above dialog:
See what they did here? Facebook added a second on/off switch, again enabled by default, that you must turn off if you don't want your photos used in ads. Even if it's just my profile photo, why would I let Facebook use me in an ad if I didn't let third-party applications do it? It doesn't make any sense. While users technically have control over these settings, this approach to privacy seems like it's taking advantage of users' ignorance and hoping that people just don't know better.
Moral of the story: if you don't want to unknowingly sell out to your friends on Facebook...always be on the lookout!
