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EPIC Files FTC Complaint Over Facebook's New Privacy Policy
An anonymous reader writes "The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) today filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, asking the agency to investigate the recent changes made by Facebook to the privacy settings of Facebook users. The complaint discusses the sharing of user information with third-party developers and the new, widely-opposed 'Everyone' setting, which allows certain user information, such as name, profile picture, and friends lists, to be publicly available. EPIC also urges the FTC to compel Facebook to restore privacy safeguards. The complaint was signed by nine privacy and consumer organizations."
My privacies are slipping away! Paedophiles and murderers will now know where I live! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, SOMEBODY STOP THEM
They just maintain an illusion of privacy, that's all.
Palm trees and 8
Prediction: In response to these new privacy concerns, Facebook will change their privacy policy, tightening up security over the information people are concerned about. At the same time, they will loosen security over other information, starting a new wave of complaints.
Let's be real - this is, what, the fourth or fifth time this sort of thing has happened and every time it does, Facebook changes their policy by tightening "here" while loosening "there". This will be no different.
Do you think they're doing it just because it sounds like Epic Fail?
Always proofread carefully to see if you any words out.
Feel free to confirm their fears by visiting their facebook page
i was going to release my site, ssnbook.com, where users could enter and exchange thier social security numbers. Now i'm worried someone to will file a complaint with the FTC against me :(
Let's see, we can either sue somebody, or use the helpful selection screen to change our privacy settings back to the way they were.
Lawsuit it is!
Isn't enough that I ruined a pony, making a gift for you?
Please tell me how I can make it so that my name, profile picture, and friends list would not be publicly available (short of quitting facebook).
kthnxbye
If you don't like it, don't use it.
Your stupid faux outrage over you posting your own pics on an internet site designed to share pics.
Just STFU. "Civil libertarians" are fucktards.
What are these people trying to hide the fact that they're friends with Hitler or something?
^EOF
Lets be honest. How many more advertisement, apps, data mining opportunities would Facebook earn by making its privacy options really ensure privacy? Facebook would be out of business that way. But what is ridiculous is the owner of the company writing an open letter (with apology) stating that he will work to ensure greater privacy, while disabling even the existing measures that controlled several information (esp activity) of users. This is outright dishonesty and needs to be challenged. I prefer the honesty of some other companies that don't falsely claim to be respective of user's freedom and privacy rather than those whose rhetoric is high on values and action reminds of thugs. If they have to sell products with the aid of values, they'd better choose more 'practical' values. Practice what you do not preach ?
one man's constant is another man's variable.
I fully admit I'm pretty uninformed on this stuff - but why the FTC? What can they do about it? What control or influence do they have over what a private business does with their member's website?
EPIC FILE!
I used to work for NetQoS. I no longer do, but want to keep the excellent karma attached to this account.
Ever since I, somewhat reluctantly, started using Facebook, I have followed the simple policy of making everything I post as public as possible, while simply not posting anything I don't want any random web surfer to see. If this change will make more people snap out of their false sense of Facebook privacy, all the better, I say.
Headshot!
M-m-m-m-Monster Kill!
Oh, not that Epic. I feel so embarrassed. Does anyone else know how to get blood out of your Facebook profile?
The only dumb move, and I mean really dumb move, is that facebook didn't default all privacy settings to "no one" upon adding their new feature. Users need to opt in to things like this, not be forced to opt out. They opened a huge can of worms. Literally.
Am I the only one who thinks the new facebook is buggy as hell?
AJAX + unresponsive backend = awkward moment
If users don't like certain privacy policies, they can restore their privacy by leaving the privately owned site whose policy(ies) they disagree with.
Can someone sue because facebook allows photos to be right-clicked and saved? What if they started with some flash based photo system that didn't allow "easy" saving and later transitioned to one that did? Would that warrant a complaint to the FTC?
On the whole, we're still in the middle of a huge transition in the ways we communicate with each other, and the degrees to which we trust third parties with information that rightfully belongs to us. Facebook is no more accountable to its users than any other service; and no matter how much we might bitch and moan about changes in their privacy policies, the fact is that they are going to use our information in as many ways as they can to make money. Sharing information directly with third parties is the most obvious, but there are plenty of indirect means.
Now that we can't hide ourselves, we're bound to attract more friends. Every one of those relationships is a potential revenue stream, either directly or indirectly. Folks at MIT recently demonstrated that they can determine to a high probability who on Facebook is gay without knowing anything about them except their friends. I'm sure the same technique applies to religion, various types of hobbies, and a number of other things we don't always give as much thought to, like criminals, terrorists and the like. These affiliations and attributes have to be a gold mine for someone, and the policy changes are a new mother lode.
I'm glad that EPIC, FTC, etc., are interested in our privacy, as they can exert pressure to change things in ways that we as users cannot. What I'd really like to see out of all this might be some kind of formal privacy impact review before changes to social networking policies are made. Any change that degrades privacy would need to be identified by third parties, justified or mitigated by the social network, then reviewed again until it's clear that users will be better off after the change than they were before. I think that expecting users to flee a service following troublesome changes is unrealistic. The users are caught between a rock and a hard place, and Facebook will continue twisting their arms as long as the users are paying more attention to their friends and apps than they are to their privacy.
It will be sad, yet very interesting at the same time, to see what happens when lost privacy demonstrably results in crimes of various sorts. Facebook may find that its greed has a higher human price than it might ever have realized.
Well, as Facebook (and other"social networking sites) are thinly disguised data mining sites, why would anyone that uses such sites ever have had any expectation of privacy? The dats is sold to anyone who wants to pay for it as soon as it is entered on the site.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
If the FTC doesn't respond to their complaint, will this be reported in the press as an "EPIC Fail"?
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
I don't understand why the FTC even has jurisdiction here. Remember folks, Facebook is FREE. That's right. You don't pay to sign up. True, they make money from advertising, but that doesn't constitute any kind of contractual relationship between Facebook and its users, implied or otherwise. (This is quite distinct from sale of a product or service, in which case the acceptance of money carries all sorts of implied warranties.) If you don't like their privacy policies, then don't use Facebook!
If I can be modded down for being a troll, can I be modded up for being an orc, or a balrog?
I've pored through the new Facebook privacy settings. My main objection is that I can't leave my name/face indexable on Google and to Everyone, without leaving my list of friends also visible to Google/Everyone. I don't mind if Facebook Inc or my Friends or even Friends-of-Friends can see my whole social graph, but why the hell should that be totally totally public and indexable for all time for any viewer? That just doesn't make any sense to me.