I can see Zuckerberg’s logic, even if it was hindsight, that more and more people are able to “brand” themselves on the Internet, and use FB to increase the exposure of their brand. Therefore, they would want information to be public. I know I was aware of a change in their privacy policies. And I know I had to go into my settings on more than one occasion to stay private. Either the notification that I had was incomplete, or my comprehension/attention was incomplete, but either way, my response was initially incomplete in keeping my privacy private.

I understand your stance that FB has become a force in the social network and no other is currently in their league. But it is still owned and therefore subject to an owners whims. This is where open-source would be a good alternative, but who would pay the server/bandwidth bills?

I realize the goal of ouronlineprivacy.com is to educate, and FB’s recent changes are certainly relevant for discussion and awareness. But it does remain an owned domain. I think we all realized at some level when we joined that someone had access to all this information about us and that they could use it for their own gain.

Thank you for the forum to educate and discuss.

“We view it as our role in the system to constantly be innovating and be updating what our system is to reflect what the current social norms are.”

I don’t understand how removing one’s choice to protect their privacy on this website is conforming to what “the current social norms are.” This claim he made seems poorly supported with evidence as he cites blogging as a big push behind the company’s decision.

My qualm with the privacy change also lies in the size of the participation in the social network. Facebook is how I stay connected with many of my friends and family because a majority of them are on there, aside from having offline interactions with them. There are alternatives to this service but none as populated or as deep as this one, so in my opinion, there are no better alternatives. I just want to see a social networking company that I can trust and feel comfortable with that has the interactivity, involvement, and depth that Facebook has.

I hope their competition steps it up and shows us that they will respect their users by providing them with options instead of steering personal information and privacy in whichever direction they so choose.

As users of the web, it is our responsibility to be vigilant in defense of our private information. Web site owners do have a responsibility to explain their use of our information accurately, and not to be deceptive. But they do have a right to change their policies and notify the community.

Finding information is easier than ever with the web. But that applies not only to research of products and services, but also of the users of the web. The web can be safe to travel, but a conscious effort to protect ourselves is more necessary here than many other avenues of accessing information.