Facebook Changes Provoke Uproar Among Users

coastal984 writes, "Facebook, the college (and now, high school and professional) networking site, launched changes to their web site this morning, provoking a massive and immediate response, and not the one the company had hoped for. Hundreds of protest 'Groups' formed, the largest of which have over 10,000 members, and sites like this student portal sprang up to pour scorn on the recent changes. The biggest gripe is the new "News Feed" on every page that tracks recent changes, activities, and comments made by everyone the user is connected to, such as a change in a user's relationship status." These details were all public previously, but it was only through intentional browsing that they would be discovered. In the words of one user, "Stalking is supposed to be hard."

Comments

WAAAHHHHH

[ArchieBunker]

WAAAAHHHH A free website that I waste time on added features I don't like... WAAAAHHHH

Re:difference between "not private" and "announced

[MankyD]

However, you don't get all your friends on a Telephone conference call and say "My girlfriend and I broke up, thanks!", or take out an ad in the local paper saying "Attn to all my friends: I broke up!"

You see, you're getting confused again. You are exactly right - you don't hold a telecon. So why should you put it up on a public website? There is no difference. None. End of story. If you don't want to announce to the world that you broke up - don't.

+10 mods for the same goddam thing

[teamhasnoi]

Thank you. It's painful to read 'well, don't use the internet' 400 times. I can't believe this guy has gotten modded up over 10 times for saying the same fucking thing.

And guess what 'MankyD'? You would have earned no call-out from me if /. didn't have a feature where I can see the last 24 of your posts, all of which say the same thing.

Which may just prove the point at long last. Having a list of your seven posts all in one spot made it truly easy for me to become annoyed with you, whereas if that feature did not exist, you could've gone to bed thinking you were right, as chances are good I wouldn't have gone to the trouble of 'investigating'.

Of course, you could have NOT PUT THE INFORMATION ON A PUBLIC WEBSITE too.

sigh.

All the privacy concerns are all probably moot anyway.

Re:Yeah, stalking IS supposed to be hard

[plague3106]

Your name is Rick Blake.

You are the webmaster of CyberNexus.

You can be contacted at webmaster@cybernexus.net.

This was all public information. Now it's been announced. See the difference?

Nope, no difference. Its a poor example too, as its magnitudes easier for Joe Blow Collegekid to get information from facebook that it is to to do a whois.

Let's say I break up with my girlfriend. Previously, I would simply change my relationship status to "single." Eventually, my closer friends would notice that my relationship status changed.

Or anyone else that's look at your account. You don't really know who's looking do you? Oh, I'd like to point out how lame you are for telling your 'closer friends' about your breakup via a web site..

Now, it is announced to the world as soon as it would happen. There's a difference between publicly available and publicly announced. As an analogy: the former is adding a line in your slashdot personal profile that you had a divorce. The latter is having a story greenlighted on slashdot, that you just had a divorce. Both are public information, but would you really want it announced?

YOU announced both by posting. If you didn't want to known to the WORLD don't fucking put it on the internet.

Just because we choose to disclose something does not mean we wish to draw attention to it when the situation changes. Even something as innocuous as an invitation to a party shows up; if I decline the invitation, everyone knows I just declined.

So don't disclose it if you're that worried about it. If you posted something on your blog, and then that post became very popular (via /. or something else) you'd complain? If that's a problem for you, I suggest you password protect your information.

You are not a college student, and you do not live in the same sort of social environment where it is encouraged to share contact information publicly to be included in events and meet new people. We knowingly give up some of our privacy when we do so, but there is a limit.

I was a college student, and not too long ago. Somehow we managed to meet people and get included in events. You haven't limited in anyway YOUR information, because you posted it on a public site. (Yes, I could get on there too, as my college provides me with an email address still).

I'm sure if I dug around your website or google, I could find your (real) email address, so why don't you post it on slashdot? It's public information, after all? What about your phone number? Knowing your name and city, I could easily find it, so why isn't it in your slashdot profile? It's not in your profile because you don't want to call attention to it.

I didn't put my real name, email address or any other identifying in my /. profile. Its because I don't wish to have that information available to the world at large.