Privacy Issues on Facebook

I recently read an article that appeared in a 2009 edition of Dallas Morning News about the problems regarding privacy on social networks. Jacquielynn Floyd was the author of this piece and it really made me question if she has ever even used Facebook. She begins with what I assume was a play on the jargon of social networking. However, upon reading further, I questioned whether or not the play on words was really just her being uneducated rather than clever. The entire piece discusses that if people aren't careful with who they trust on Facebook, people (or strangers ) can see all of their personal information. However, if she took five minutes out of her day, she could easily set her privacy settings up so that wouldn't happen.

At any point in time, a user can change their Facebook settings to determine who can see their information and posts. You could make it so only your friends, friends of friends, or public could see what you post. Also, you can make it so they can't share it with others as to be sure that no strangers see your information. The essay addresses friends having embarrassing or potentially harmful photos of you as. If that's the case, perhaps you need to have other friends or maybe re-evaluate your life decisions. I mean, if you are that worried about your personal information getting out to the public, would you really risk friending that "friend you haven't seen in 20 years"? How can you bash a social network for not being secure enough with your own personal information? Here's a brilliant idea for you; DON'T POST IT. You don't have to put your personal information there and even if you do, any person reasonably intelligent will be able to figure out you can hide yourself well enough where strangers can't see it.

Granted, nothing is perfect, and there are still probably ways that someone who is bent on finding your personal information can get to it. However, if you go through the proper precautions, your personal information should never get out. People need to realize that social networks only display what you put on them, if you don't want people to see it, don't put it on the website. If you only want your friends to see it, set your security settings to it. Any other excuse about your shady friends you haven't seen in awhile or pictures that could lead to trouble is just a scapegoat for your own ignorance. Most people who use Facebook are smart and can understand how to protect themselves, but if you are incapable of figuring out one of the most basic setting changes on the website, you really should not be putting any information about yourself on the website. Facebook and other social networking websites can be dangerous if you put your information out there, but this article completely misses the fact that you can easily remove that threat. Much of the article talks about human error and not being able to distinguish between personal and private information. I very much hope that people on Facebook are smart enough to figure that out. This article bothered me a lot, as you could probably tell, because it passes of human ignorance on a website designed for people to share information (perhaps not personal information, but general information) about themselves or what they are doing. If you can't figure it out, don't use it. It is as simple as that.