Critics attack Facebook privacy change

Both Facebook users and critics have expressed concern about changes that the social networking site has made to its privacy policy.

On December 9th, a pop-up appeared on Facebook asking users to update their privacy settings; something Facebook says will help users to manage what information about them becomes publicly available.

However, because the settings have been changed to make more information available by default, with users having to make amends to their settings to protect key information like gender and location, Facebook is being criticised for 'nudging' users towards revealing more information - information which will then be made available not just to Facebook users but to the web via search engines and syndication feeds. 

Critics see it as a bit of an underhand ploy to increase Facebook traffic - and therefore advertising revenues - by getting more of its content out there and indexed by search engines and RSS feeds. Status updates, content, personal details and interpersonal connections could all be revealed by users not wary enough to override the default privacy settings - and although altering those settings to protect your privacy doesn't amount to rocket science, it is a little high-handed of Facebook to force you to.

Barry Schnitt, a spokesperson for Facebook, said the privacy changes made it easier to fine-tune what is made publicly available. "Any suggestion that we're trying to trick them into something would work against any goal that we have," he commented.

• Latest
• Most viewed