Facebook's new Privacy Settings: what's changed

Facebook has redesigned its site yet again; this time bringing privacy settings "up front" to try and make them easier to find.

It will still take a lot of getting used to as there are simply so many settings to contend with, so we'll be doing a series of tutorials over the next few days and weeks to help you figure it all out. Facebook has also summarised them.
Here are some highlights to expect:
Contextual tips: You will see some pop-up "information" boxes appear when you navigate these settings in Facebook for the first time.
Three privacy shortcuts:
Click the lock icon on the top right of the page to view a drop-down menu with three of Facebook's major privacy settings:

1. Who can see my stuff? Click this, and you'll be presented with three choices; in the graphic below you see my own settings. Under "Who can see my future posts?" you can select the default audience for your posts. Note that you can also tweak these on an individual basis.
The "Activity Log" shortcut will take you to the new-look area that lets you see exactly what you're tagged in (such as photos), along with all the activity you've conducted using various apps (such as all the songs you're guessing on SongPop) and who else can see this activity.
Under "What do other people see on my Timeline", click "view as". You can type in the name of a friend (or view as the public) and see exactly what information about you is accessible to them. In everyone's case, the cover photos will be public, along with the comments and Likes associated with them.

• Who can see my future posts?
  

  Friends except acquaintances

  PublicFriendsFriends except acquaintancesOnly meCustomClose friendsInternet MagazineSee all lists...SGGHSLimited ProfileFamilyAcquaintancesGo Back

  This is the same setting you find right where you post, and changing it there will update it here.
• 

  Where can I review all my posts and things I'm tagged in?

  Use Activity Log

What do other people see on my Timeline?

View As

2. Who can send me Facebook messages? Click this, and you'll see who can send you Facebook messages (or not).

3. How do I stop someone from bothering me? Click this, and you can type in the name or email address of someone who is harassing you and they'll be unfriended and blocked from sending you messages. Under "View All Blocked Users" you can see who you've blocked, if anyone. There are just the three main privacy shortcuts, but there are loads more. At the bottom of this menu, click "see more settings" and you'll be taken to the "Privacy Settings and Tools" page. (This is also accessible by clicking the cog icon on the top right of your page and selecting Privacy Settings from the menu.)

Privacy Settings and Tools:

On this page you will see a slightly different version of the privacy settings that were on previous Facebook versions. Most of these settings remain unchanged, apart from one major addition.

Under Timeline and Tagging on the left-hand side, there is a new setting called: "When you're tagged in a post, who do you want to add to the audience if they aren't already in it?"

This is a slightly confusing setting as it is meant to help restrict a photo of you from being spread around if you don't want it to, but people you don't know may still see it. For example if John tags you in one of his photos, and makes that photo accessible to his 700 friends, then those 700 friends will still see that photo and the tag. And if you haven't changed the tag settings on your own profile, then all of your friends will see it too, as the default sharing options for tagged photos if you is that all your friends will see it. You can change the tag settings in this section, so that all external photos that friends tag you in can only be seen by a selection of your own friends, (or even no one else except you if you like). However, that still doesn't prevent John from uploading a photo of you for his own friends to see.

The only way to solve that is to manage the photos you are tagged in and ask for the photo to be taken down. You can also untag yourself from the photo. The ability to do this is now available through the new-look Activity Log under Photos in the left-hand sidebar. Here, you can browse all the photos you are tagged in, and also view them according to who they are shared with. You can then request a removal of the photo, or simply untag yourself.

For now, this is just a brief overview of the changes. What do you think of them? Are they confusing or a welcome change? Does it make the site any slower or clunkier to use?

Facebook to simplify privacy controls

Facebook is streamlining its privacy controls in a bid to make it easier for people to ask friends to remove photos of themselves from the site.

The changes, to be rolled out in the coming weeks, include:

• A request and removal tool which lets you ask someone to remove multiple tagged photos photos of yourself from Facebook. (There is no way to prevent someone from tagging you altogether in the first place, though -- only the ability to avoid that tag from being shared with your friends via your timeline.)
• Privacy shortcuts, so controls can be accessed from every page rather than in a sub-menu.
• Permission for apps to access or post information will happen in two stages (for most apps).

• Contextual messages that tell you what you're doing on Facebook. For example, if you hide a post on your timeline, Facebook may alert you to the fact that the post may still appear on people's news feeds or elsewhere on Facebook (say, if you posted a link that was publicly accessible and later shared by someone else on their own timeline).

The new privacy controls have been broadly welcomed, but there is some concern over the removal of one tool. Security firm Sophos says that the removal of the "who can look up my timeline by name" setting is a step in the wrong direction, as there should be a way to avoid being found on the site altogether.

In a blog outlining the changes, Samuel Lessin wrote that the feature was only used by a small percentage of people and "didn't prevent people from finding others in many other ways across the site". He wrote: "Because of the limited nature of the setting, we removed it for people who weren't using it, and have built new, contexual tools, along with education about how to use them."

Sophos says that the removal of the tool was a missed opportunity."If the original setting was limited in scope... why not rework it so as to actually protect people's privacy and give them the right to not be found?"

Facebook to unveil new privacy controls

Facebook will respond to privacy concerns with new, simpler settings, executive Mark Zuckerberg writes in a Washington Post column today.

He says: "The biggest message we have heard recently is that people want easier control over their information. Simply put, many of you thought our controls were too complex. Our intention was to give you lots of granular controls; but that may not have been what many of you wanted. We just missed the mark."

Zuckerberg says the controls will be introduced in the coming weeks, and there will be an easy way to turn off "all third-party services".

He also explains Facebook's principles –

You have control over how your information is shared.
We do not share your personal information with people or services you don't want.
We do not give advertisers access to your personal information.
We do not and never will sell any of your information to anyone.
We will always keep Facebook a free service for everyone.

Quit Facebook Day - 31 May

A website has been created where you can pledge to quit Facebook on 31 May. To date, more than 5,000 people have committed themselves to shutting down their accounts. What's interesting are the comments posted on the site. Infosolutionwiz writes, "Change your settings, don't put up your personal information, and stop complaining. If you don't want people to have personal information about you, DON'T POST IT IN A PUBLIC FORUM. In addition, there is no privacy on the internet in any case... Anonymity is an illusion" In response, meh says that's not necessarily true if you have apps installed. The reply to that, naturally, is not to install apps.

It's an interesting conundrum - I think people generally understand that their information on Facebook could be made public, but there's a difference between it automatically propagating all over the internet like a virtual billboard, and information appearing only if you look hard enough, like the classifieds section of a newspaper. Clearly there's a demand for information to be as private as possible, and for that information to be handled with care. Furthermore, while it's true that the internet is "public", we do do private transactions every day when we shop and bank online (although some of our information might be used by marketers or credit reference agencies). So why can't we trust our Facebook information be treated as such? Right now, it appears a lot of us can't.


Update: More than 13,000 people have now signed up.

Facebook to introduce "simplistic" privacy bands

After the huge backlash regarding Facebook's confusing privacy settings, Facebook is poised to introduce "simplistic" settings that show privacy bands. But will it work? And would they have done this if there wasn't a huge fuss?

In a radio interview, head of public policy Tim Sparapani said that: "Now we’ve heard from our users that we have gotten a little bit complex. I think we are going to work on that. We are going to be providing options for users who want simplistic bands of privacy that they can choose from and I think we will see that in the next couple of weeks."

Read more here: http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/05/facebook-simple-privacy-choices/#ixzz0oK6cMzcI

During the interview Sparapani defended Facebook's privacy settings and said that it was better than having none at all, and the reason why there were so many settings was because every element of information could be adjusted to a certain level of privacy.