Uber social networking website Facebook has come in for quite a bit of flak recently over the issue of users’ privacy. DNA tells you why you don’t need to join the ‘Quit Facebook’ movement just yet.
Facebook’s privacy policy may have sent users around the world on a protesting spree, and Indian users are increasingly complaining about privacy breaches on the superstar networking website too, but many FB fanatics say staying safe on the site is just a matter of adjusting privacy settings and avoiding sites that have a Facebook connect.
For Deepak Chandra, college student and avid Facebook user, the new privacy terms were a shocker initially. “I was a little paranoid when I first heard about the new privacy features, or rather the lack of them. Sure, the concept of being able to see the links shared by your friends from a particular site was exciting, but the amount of personal data given away seemed to be a bit too much,” he says. “The trouble was that the data wasn’t being used by any algorithm, but site owners could access most of this data within a few days of my visit.”
These fears are shared by users worldwide. According to research conducted by UK agency OfCom, only 80% adults who have a social networking profile are now likely to allow only friends and family to view it, compared to 48% in 2007. This has partly to do with the fact that most companies check profiles of future employees on sites like Facebook.
Sasi Reddy, like many of his peers, stayed away from Facebook for a few days before he found the right settings to reduce the amount of personal data shared. “The first social networking site I used was Orkut. Information posted on Orkut was accessible to everyone, which is why everybody revealed info accordingly.” One of the main reasons behind him shifting to Facebook was the fact that it offered greater privacy, at least initially. “I wanted a certain level of privacy, but over time it has reduced drastically. After the f8 conference (where the policy change was announced), I waited a while till major technology sites posted the right privacy settings for people like me,” Reddy says.
What you can do to ensure safety
Quit Facebook
If you can’t put up with these frequent changes in settings, you can bid alvida to the network and go back to the good old days before you discovered online networking. Check quitfacebookday.com for instructions on how to quit FB.
Ad blocker to the rescue
If your only gripe is with the way other sites with Facebook connect customise content for you, you can add a few filters to popular ad-blocker software with great effect. There are four separate filters for AdBlock Plus, which have been designed in a way that even the Facebook privacy scanner will not be able to see them. Go to Adblock Plus>preferences, click ‘add filter’ and copy and paste a few lines of code provided as separate filters. Now, even if you're logged onto Facebook, outside sites won’t get to know, so your accounts won't automatically link with one another.
Change settings for now and wait for the next set of changes
You can go to Account> Privacy settings> Applications and website and check the data you are ready to share with websites. But be ready: Facebook may change these settings yet again in the future and you’ll have to change them all over again.
Wait for Diaspora
Diaspora is a software being developed by four New York students. It will let you build your own social networking site of sorts. “With Diaspora, we are reclaiming our data, securing our social connections and making it easy to share info on our own terms. We think we can replace today's centralised social web with a more secure and convenient decentralised network,” the Diaspora website says.
Use SaveFace
SaveFace by Untangle is a simple-to-install bookmark utility that automatically resets your Facebook settings to restore your privacy. SaveFace sets your privacy settings back to ‘Friends Only’.
Just follow the three-step process listed on http://www3.untangle.com/saveface. www3.untangle.com/saveface
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