Facebook and it’s attitude toward our privacy is an issue that is really bothering me. I enjoy Facebook and have benefited from its service. I want to continue using it and probably will but I want to stay informed and inform others about how their changes in policies affect everyone who uses their services. I’m not terribly worried about the information they will share about me. I think I’ve got my settings pretty locked down and I haven’t added that much truly personal stuff anyway. I share a lot of thoughts etc via this space and Twitter so I’m kinda out there anyway. I’m worried about people like my parents who may not have noticed the privacy settings, taken the time to understand them and change them.
I won’t pretend that I understand all the in’s and out’s of everything Facebook is doing. I can’t even explain it all to myself. Luckily there are some very smart people out there who do know a lot and can explain things very well so I will list them here so I (and you hopefully) will be able to refer to them quickly. I will add more as I come across them. If you see any I’ve missed let me know.
- Facebook Blog – Building the Social Web Together
- DataPortability Project – Assessing the Openess of Facebook’s “Open Graph Protocol”
- ReadWriteWeb – Facebook Open Graph: The Definitive Guide for Publishers, Users and Competitors
- Mashable – Facebook Open Graph: What it Means for Privacy
- Smarterware – What Private Facebook Information Your Friends Can Publish
- Matt McKeon – The Evolotion of Privacy on Facebook
- Fast Company – Time to Audit Your Facebook Privacy Settings, Here’s How
- David Lee King – Tech Tuesdays: Facebook Privacy Settings
- Wired – Facebook’s Gone Rogue; It’s Time for an Open Alternative
- Electronic Frontier Foundation – Six Things You Need to Know About Facebook Connections
- Buzzmachine – Confusing *a* public with *the* public
The main take-away from all of these articles for me is: Check your privacy settings often and change them to fit your comfort level.
Matt Phillips 
Matt,
I’m in agreement with you about being concerned about Facebook. My main gripe is that they have changed their privacy settings under the ostensible reasons that it will help their users in some fashion. Their real reason, however, is to use people’s information to make money.
I’ll wait for the second or third generation of social media to come along and offer us a more privacy friendly network.
I’m not going to quit Facebook just yet. I still find it useful for contacting some old friends. I think I’ll just use it like Twitter though. No more pictures of the kids. More of a broadcast medium.