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Facebook VS the FTC: Skating By
Posted on December 12, 2011 at 4:04 pm
An ongoing battle between Facebook’s 800 million users and the Zuckerberg overlords is finally heading toward conclusion. The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) came down on the social behemoth for engaging in “unfair and deceptive” practices but limped away without enough of a fight. Whether you know it or not, Facebook has been sharing your personal data with advertisers, making public what once was considered private. Without any specific authorization from you, Facebook makes your data open for the world to see. You must opt out of this process, and not in.
The FTC case stemmed from complaints that advertisers were able to easily access your information. But it goes much further than that. Before this settlement, Facebook would quietly update their privacy policies and layout with no real explanation. You then had to opt out, not into these updates. Such lack of security can have ramifications in your professional career too, as described in this article from MSNBC. The story describes a girl being denied a job after the hiring manager views her Facebook profile. It was written in 2007, which just goes to show how long this concern has been growing.
Websites are cached and indexed, pictures are stored and remain searchable and tweets never fade. Review your company and personal pages: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, even MySpace and Friendster if you still have them. As we continue on into a digitized age filled with social media, the ramifications of your online identity can come back to haunt you. On any new startup page, ensure your information is locked down as securely as you need to be. Sharing information with the world is a necessary evil in some cases, but your personal life is probably not one of them.
In light of the FTC settlement (Business Insider lays it out simply) Facebook is finally putting users before the advertisers and indexers. One thing the settlement requires is for Facebook to undergo “biennial assessments and reports regarding its privacy practices for the next 20 years.” This is good. Great, even. But why not revert all users to a new default, one where you have to allow circles (pardon my Google+ pun) to see different items? The FTC has allowed Facebook to circumvent responsibility and ownership of their own problem. As Biz Insider put it, the FTC ruling may “give users a false sense of security in how Facebook will run.” Yes, this ruling is a small step in the right direction, but will its influence continue? Facebook’s history shows evidence to the contrary. Any past security update has defaulted to “open” and you must go in and change their new settings yourself, to have (even previously hidden) your data restricted from public view. Facebook has already done their part as far as this settlement goes, and they may not go further. It’s a lazy remedy for what will certainly be a larger problem down the road.
What do you see for the future of social media? Do you know someone whose professional life has been affected by his or her online identity? Do you have questions about security settings and how you can change them properly? I’m here to address thoughts and concerns.
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