Got a Rand McNally Handy? Because that's what you are going to need if you want to adjust your privacy settings!

You may or may not have read my rant on Google Buzz, but as a webmaster for a security company - I take security and privacy issues reasonably seriously. For that very reason, I am about to vent a bit about Facebook.

Now, anyone who knows me, knows my detest for Google and Facebook - yet I still use them. Some might call me a conformist. Some might even call me a hypocrite. I do not like to think of myself this way, I just use it as a method of staying connected to friends and family; on the other hand - as a webmaster, it would be silly for me not to exploit the features of each in order to further the reach of the company I work for.

Anyone who is anyone has seen Facebook pop up in the news lately. If not for the criticisms of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and how he supposedly swiped the idea from some classmates while at Harvard; then you have heard of them regarding their privacy issues. Their privacy issues have come under fire from not only the general public and its users, but United States senators also. While I am on the political note, Facebook's privacy policy tallies 5,830 words. This is longer than the United States Consititution by over 1,000 words. In there, is the fine print put together by their legal teams to justify their usage of their users' personal data.

Facebook recently started sharing publicly the users 'likes' without said members consent. This to me is a serious flaw in their business model. How do you respond when you are prompted in a registration page whether or not you want to share your personal information with affilliates? I sure know how I usually respond, and I'll bet it's the same for 95% of the public faced with the same decision. Facebook doesn't make it quite so easy. If you cannot find a way to 'opt out' of these publicly available bits of your profile, you can take a look at their 45,000 word privacy FAQ section.

Facebook's apparent business model is to make things as hard as possible for their users to make their information private. And this is just making it private to other users. I have no idea what the company does with my personal information on a personal level. I shudder to think.

What are your thoughts on this hot topic item?

UPDATE:

A friend sent me to this tool, definitely worth a look if you have not seen it already: http://www.reclaimprivacy.org

It aims to scan your privacy settings and let you know.

Check out the following links for additional resources.

• The Erosion of Facebook Privacy (eff.org)
• Facebook Privacy Changes (eff.org)
• 7 Things to Stop Doing Now on Facebook (yahoo.com)
• Facebook's Gone Rogue (wired.com)