A report this week by the New York Times revealed that Facebook's privacy policy has 50 different settings and 170 options. The paper also found that the policy is longer than the US Constitution with 5,830 words.
Facebook's employees have been holding meetings after many people have begun complaining of the way it's been handling members' data lately, the BBC reports. This isn't the first time of course that Facebook has been the brunt of criticism from privacy campaigners and everyday folk concerned about Facebook's privacy policies. But recently, things have been particularly fraught.
Last week, TechCrunch reported how a security hole – which was quickly patched – allowed you to view your friends' live chats (ironically via a privacy feature that let you view how your page looks to other people).
And a couple of weeks back, Facebook announced a major initiative which would link your profile to the underlying architecture of the web using the "Like" feature, thus extending its reach and power beyond the walls of its web page. Businesses and other organisations can put the "Like" widget onto their web pages, and people can instantly become a Facebook fan of the said product/person/organisation. But a security setting within Facebook lets third party websites use your info for marketing and "personalisation" services. You can choose to "allow select partners to instantly personalise their features with my public information when I first arrive on their websites". Some people I know had this box already ticked!!
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