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It's hard for me to see what the problem is there - it's like me putting a bumper sticker on my car then being worried that everybody might see it, right? Do ma

It's hard for me to see what the problem is there - it's like me putting a bumper sticker on my car then being worried that everybody might see it, right? Do many people really 'Like' fan pages that they don't want other people to know they like? If so, what's the point? If I like something that I don't really want people to know I like, I just don't 'Like' it on Facebook. It's obviously very inappropriate to change the privacy settings in ways that deceive people or change privacy settings without users knowing (clearly, and well in advance) that they're going to be changed. But it's hard for me to foresee a coming Facebook diaspora over privacy when I don't think most people think of Facebook as being private... the incredibly vast majority of people that I know don't see privacy as a hierarchical set of access control lists that they're going to tweak to their contentedness: I think they see a particular site as either private (say, gmail) or public (Facebook) and treat their interactions on the site along that binary divide.

Qz 17y ago
A bumper sticker on your car can only be seen by people who actually see your car (small subset of the world). A public post on facebook can be found by anyone who wants to search for it (potentially large subset of the world). I have no way of knowing if you have some crazy bumper sticker on your car, but if you posted something on FB then I can find it via search.
- glhaynes 17y ago
  Indeed. But what bumper sticker am I gonna have that I don't mind the 3.5 million people in my city's vicinity potentially seeing but I'm worried about somebody on the other side of the world seeing? I'm sure some such items can be hypothesized (though I'd still ask the person why they're putting a bumper sticker on in the first place if there's anybody they don't want seeing it), but my point is that in practice this just doesn't concern most people and it's hard for me to see why it should. edit: I think there's perhaps a distinction here between things like personal profile information (one might not one's psycho ex to see their phone number or even wall posts, while not minding sharing them with friends) and things like fan page liking. The former certainly needs privacy controls, and they should be clearer than they currently are; the latter is hard for me to get upset about, and I think it dilutes the message of privacy advocates to mention it.
  - Qz 17y ago
    The idea that some kinds of information are more or less suitable for privacy controls is nonsensical. Say some college kid Bob is gay, but he hasn't told his parents. Bob goes to some fan page for a local GLBT organization etc, and 'becomes a fan', because previously that didn't show up on his profile where his parents might see it, and his parents wouldn't be visiting that fan page anyway. Well, now FaceBook goes and makes fan pages visible on your profile, and suddenly Bob's parents have a lot of questions for him. You may not find yourself in that kind of situation often, but it is a very real possibility -- there was even a study done where a computer could make a highly accurate guess of whether you were gay just by looking at who is in your friends list (also public), without any information from your profile. Everything on facebook is information. I could give you an example where the bumper sticker is also relevant, but I think the example above is enough to prove my point.
    - axod 17y ago
      It doesn't prove anything. His parents could be fans of that page. His teacher could be. Becoming a fan of a page, but wanting that to remain private seems contradictory to me.
      - Qz 17y ago
        If you've got an opinion that's fine, but if you post it on here, the least I expect is for you to back it up with reasoning rather than just 'seems contradictory to me'.
        axod 17y ago
        My point is, that people become a 'fan' of something, in part, if not often solely to announce to other people that they're a fan. It's inherently social. Maybe if you're a fan of something deeply unpopular - Java for example, then you'd want to keep that as private as possible. I think it'd probably just be best for facebook to make the leap and say "OK you privacy nerds, SHUT UP. From now on, everything is public apart from private messages. Now quit your incessant whining."
- philwelch 17y ago
  I would guess more strangers have seen the back of my car than anything related to my Facebook account, easily.
krschultz 17y ago
If you are a fan of Victoria Secret for their coupons do you want potential employers to see that on your public page? My girlfriend cut out a couple of "fan pages" like that because now they are all public. That reduces value for the user because they will find other ways to follow these companies (twitter) and to the companies who lose users.
- bruceboughton 17y ago
  Caveat emptor

Qz 17y ago

A bumper sticker on your car can only be seen by people who actually see your car (small subset of the world). A public post on facebook can be found by anyone who wants to search for it (potentially large subset of the world). I have no way of knowing if you have some crazy bumper sticker on your car, but if you posted something on FB then I can find it via search.

glhaynes 17y ago
Indeed. But what bumper sticker am I gonna have that I don't mind the 3.5 million people in my city's vicinity potentially seeing but I'm worried about somebody on the other side of the world seeing? I'm sure some such items can be hypothesized (though I'd still ask the person why they're putting a bumper sticker on in the first place if there's anybody they don't want seeing it), but my point is that in practice this just doesn't concern most people and it's hard for me to see why it should. edit: I think there's perhaps a distinction here between things like personal profile information (one might not one's psycho ex to see their phone number or even wall posts, while not minding sharing them with friends) and things like fan page liking. The former certainly needs privacy controls, and they should be clearer than they currently are; the latter is hard for me to get upset about, and I think it dilutes the message of privacy advocates to mention it.
- Qz 17y ago
  The idea that some kinds of information are more or less suitable for privacy controls is nonsensical. Say some college kid Bob is gay, but he hasn't told his parents. Bob goes to some fan page for a local GLBT organization etc, and 'becomes a fan', because previously that didn't show up on his profile where his parents might see it, and his parents wouldn't be visiting that fan page anyway. Well, now FaceBook goes and makes fan pages visible on your profile, and suddenly Bob's parents have a lot of questions for him. You may not find yourself in that kind of situation often, but it is a very real possibility -- there was even a study done where a computer could make a highly accurate guess of whether you were gay just by looking at who is in your friends list (also public), without any information from your profile. Everything on facebook is information. I could give you an example where the bumper sticker is also relevant, but I think the example above is enough to prove my point.
  - axod 17y ago
    It doesn't prove anything. His parents could be fans of that page. His teacher could be. Becoming a fan of a page, but wanting that to remain private seems contradictory to me.
    - Qz 17y ago
      If you've got an opinion that's fine, but if you post it on here, the least I expect is for you to back it up with reasoning rather than just 'seems contradictory to me'.
      - axod 17y ago
        My point is, that people become a 'fan' of something, in part, if not often solely to announce to other people that they're a fan. It's inherently social. Maybe if you're a fan of something deeply unpopular - Java for example, then you'd want to keep that as private as possible. I think it'd probably just be best for facebook to make the leap and say "OK you privacy nerds, SHUT UP. From now on, everything is public apart from private messages. Now quit your incessant whining."
philwelch 17y ago
I would guess more strangers have seen the back of my car than anything related to my Facebook account, easily.

krschultz 17y ago

If you are a fan of Victoria Secret for their coupons do you want potential employers to see that on your public page? My girlfriend cut out a couple of "fan pages" like that because now they are all public. That reduces value for the user because they will find other ways to follow these companies (twitter) and to the companies who lose users.

bruceboughton 17y ago
Caveat emptor