Facebook places - Let me check you in

I was reading this article about Facebook Places and the issues that could arise when checking in other people. It immediately rang alarm in my head as to the problems it could cause in modern society, with all the white lies going around so as not to hurt people's feelings when turning down those numerous Facebook invites - or simply people cheating on their wives / girlfriends!

Also it seems strange that other people can confirm your presence in a location. Facebook compared this to being tagged in a photo, but it feels more personal to me and many others I found out after quick Google. I don't want other people to confirm my presence at a party, dinner, pub, cinema. It would be slightly scary to login to Facebook to be told you've been checked into places.

Luckily you can turn this off with a setting under the privacy settings page on Facebook, which means that you no longer have to worry about friends being able to check you in. Although I wonder how many people know about or can find the setting?

Original article:
http://adage.com/digitalnext/article?article_id=145487

How to change your Facebook places privacy settings:
http://gawker.com/5616338/the-first-thing-you-should-do-with-facebook-places-dont-let-other-people-tag-you

Facebook Privacy settings change again (but for the last time)

Facebook have changed their privacy settings again, but they hope for the last time. This time they've simplified things, whilst maintaining their more granular controls as well.
You now have: a privacy master switch option; an application switch to stop all your data from being shared with applications, including stopping friends sharing your information on applications; the option to hide your friends list and interests;


Mark Zuckerberg's blog entry:
http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=391922327130

Allfacebook gives a good point by point overview:
http://www.allfacebook.com/2010/05/facebook-privacy-must-know/

Zuckerberg explains it's not about the ads:
http://gigaom.com/2010/05/26/zuckerberg-its-not-about-the-ads/

Facebook / Zuckerberg Backlash

There has been quite a backlash against Facebook recently due to their dodgy and ever changing Privacy Policy.

This piece by Jason Calacanis talks about companies getting "Zuckered" and accuses Facebook of a lot of wrong doing, including the most common complaint of constantly changing it's complicated Privacy Policy.
http://calacanis.com/2010/05/12/the-big-game-zuckerberg-and-overplaying-your-hand/


This site reveals just how much people share, often without their knowledge. It's a search engine for all the public status updates and it's amazing what people will share with the world:
http://www.youropenbook.org

It's not all hate for Facebook though, here's an article defending them:
http://mashable.com/2010/05/16/in-defense-of-facebook/


I think that there is a middle ground here though. Facebook isn't really all that evil. You are voluntarily putting all this information into their system, you are given the options to restrict access to the information you enter into the system - albeit with a changing system, but social media sites are still in their early years and there are problems to be ironed out.
The thing that all these critics forget that lots of people out there want to share their thoughts, opinions, pictures and life with the world and broadcast their life. Most people who stupidly post on Facebook that they hate their boss would have been caught on email / instant messenger or in the tearoom. It's just another forum, that we are still exploring.

I think the article below is far more balanced and tries to explain that Facebook did not take your privacy - I'm inclined to agree.
http://adage.com/digitalnext/article?article_id=143909

Facebook ads to see where you've been

Facebook is planning on using your browsing history to decide which ads to serve you. Although this might provide more accurate results, it isn't something that users like and could provide some embarrassing results.

People are rightfully protective over their browser history as it's quite a private thing, but some people know that and use it to their advantage, such as the creator of this recent virus.

http://www.itproportal.com/portal/news/article/2010/4/19/facebook-rolls-out-web-ads-track-user-patterns/

Online privacy icon agreed

The ad industry has come up with the icon above to signify "Interest based ads", which it is adopting on ads that have been targeted using behavioural data. The industry is adopting use of this icon in an effort to reduce interference from Washington and other parties.


http://www.marketingvox.com/ad-industry-agrees-on-online-privacy-icon-046078/

Google View hits the UK Streets

Google has finally launched the UK version of Street View. You can now virtually walk around streets in certain cities in England. A massive imposition on our privacy, or pretty cool?


http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/mar/19/google-street-view-uk

Nice video on BBC News:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7951873.stm

See for yourself:
http://maps.google.co.uk/streetview

Google behaviour

Google are going to start serving ads that are behaviour based.
These kind of things are always controversial, but I see why they'd want to do it. The more accurate the advertising is, the better for both the advertiser and the user. Still all kinds of privacy issues that will be raised.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7937201.stm