While their PR machine claims Facebook is getting better about protecting your privacy, their new permissions prove the exact opposite. Here is a screen capture of the new Facebook request for permission:
Did you read that last one?:
Access my FRIENDS’ Information
Family Members and Relationship Statuses,
Current Cities, Likes, Music, TV, Movies, Books, Quotes,
Education History, Work History, Websites,
Groups and Photos and Videos of them.
In other words, if YOU or YOUR FRIENDS choose NOT to give Facebook permission to access that information, Facebook can get YOUR information AND THEIRS from any other Facebook user you interact with who clicks allow.
Make no mistake about this. MOST Facebook users will just click allow – and that means simply this:
Whatever you share with them on Facebook is shared publicly!
It is abundantly clear from these latest Facebook permissions and the new authorization Twitter privacy concerns that we don’t really have many choices. We either accept these permissions – knowing full well that in the future both Twitter and Facebook will be able to target our followers and friends with anything they wish – or stop using their services.
If you use Facebook your friends will – and many already have
given Facebook permission to access all your information
even if you refuse or object!
Besides what is written above, these permissions give other companies, Web sites, and individuals permission to post “status messages, notes, photos and videos” to your wall on Facebook or “Post Tweets on Your Behalf” (the exact wording on Twitter’s news permissions) to your followers on Twitter.
Others may do this even if you never see it yourself because
they could actually make ads or anything else
visible only to your followers and not to you.
Right now if we raise these objections we will most likely be told that they only mean posting Tweets we ask for using Tweet and Retweet buttons on various sites. But the wording is ambiguous and can later be used to post anything any time.
(If you know of ANYTHING ANYWHERE that contradicts this I challenge you to link to it in my comments.)
Facebook has a long history of moving to change privacy expectations. Even though there is nothing we can really do about where all this is going, if you wish to share what you think about it please leave a comment. Links to related content are always welcome.
What we need to offset this bummer news is some comic relief from Rhett and Link:
Whenever you could use a break, watching their hilarious commercials (how they do it to be documented by film producers @jokeandbiagio) is a good way to relax. On Twitter you can follow Rhett @rhettmc and Link @linklamont. Congratulations to all of them on their new Commercial Kings television show.
