Facebook announcement: a promising start but mainly a red herring

26/05/2010

Privacy International's response to the latest Facebook announcement is one of disappointment and frustration. Rather than being a bold step forward in the advancement of consumer rights, the latest changes merely correct some of the most unacceptable privacy settings on the site. Very little has changed in terms of the overall privacy challenge that Facebook and its users need to navigate.

While we acknowledge Facebook for putting right the mess that it created last December by deploying unusable settings, this latest action is only the first of many steps to be taken before the company can even hint that it understands the nature of privacy. To be clear: Facebook did not simplify its privacy settings. It merely made them less complex.

Only a minority - possibly a small minority - of Facebook users will either use or understand the privacy controls. For most social networking sites, the figure is around twenty percent. If Facebook claims a higher proportion, we would like the company to explain how this higher take-up has been achieved.

The defaults - which Facebook unhelpfully describes as "recommended settings" - are still set to for maximum disclosure to everyone. That means the vast majority of users will continue to operate on the site fully exposed. The company has done little to change this situation.

It could be reasonably argued that this latest announcement is merely a red herring to divert attention away from a much larger issue. Facebook operates on a business model that requires it to monetise the data harvested from customers. That means ensuring that the maximum flow of information is achieved. Changing the settings will marginaly affect that business model, but for the vast majority of Facebook users, nothing has changed.