This week social network Facebook revealed it was installing new privacy controls so that its 400 million users can have more control over who can see their personal information.
Courier reporter Stefan Morkis examines whether information can ever really be kept private in the internet age.
At 3.45am on Thursday, a student at St Andrews University submitted a status update to Facebook about her drunken misadventures on a night out in Dundee.
On Friday morning she awoke to a hangover and may have regretted the drunken joke she posted for her 642 “friends” on Facebook to see, but thought nothing more of it.
Except, her message wasn’t that private at all and with just a couple of clicks of the mouse it’s possible to find out a scary amount of information about the teenager where she went to school, where she’s studying, the number of brothers and sisters she has, her mother’s maiden name.
Everything from her love of the sitcom Outnumbered to her belief that “everything happens for a reason” can be viewed by anyone from a stranger to a potential employer within seconds.
But, according to the privacy settings on her account, she only shares some of her profile information with everyone.
All that information came from searching for a single topic ‘Dundee’ on youropenbook.org, which was set up to show just how much information is freely, and permanently, available once it has been posted to Facebook.
Other status updates mentioning Dundee include one man describing a fight he witnessed in the Hilltown, one Dundee University student posting about the planned V&A museum and even a link to a YouTube video of Wednesday night’s hailstorm.Serious consequencesOf course, most of the status updates posted on sites like Facebook are inconsequential fluff that range from the funny to the banal but the collapse of the space between thought and expression has had more serious consequences for hundreds of people.
Dozens of people have lost their jobs after posting uncomplimentary statements about their bosses yet a quick search of “hate” and “boss” finds dozens more people who are risking their livelihoods by letting off steam online.
Yet this easy access to personal information is not what has prompted 22,000 people to organise a ‘quit Facebook day’ on May 31.
The company, which was launched just over six years and is worth more than $22bn, has announced plans which critics said would make users’ private information available to third-party companies so they could be targeted with personalised adverts.
There were also claims that the company had made altering the privacy settings on Facebook more complicated so that it is more difficult for users to keep their personal information secure.
The apparent sale of personal information to third parties prompted a massive public outcry that has forced Facebook to rethink its plans.
In response, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg (26) has been forced to announce a raft of changes to be introduced over the coming weeks to simplify privacy settings on accounts.
Users will be able to view all their information on one screen and apply separate privacy controls.
Facebook has also reduced the amount of information available to online snoops.
Once the changes are introduced users will be able to control how much information is available for public view.More user controlZuckerberg said, “When people have control over what they share, they want to share more.
“Over the past few weeks the number one thing we’ve heard is that many users want a simpler way to control their information.”
He added, “Today we’re starting to roll out changes that will make our controls simpler and easier.
“We’ve focused on three things a single control for your content, more powerful controls for your basic information and an easy control to turn off all applications.”
Zuckerberg also denied that Facebook sells user information to third-party advertisers.
Despite these pledges, some believe Facebook may not fully regain its reputation and users may chose other networking sites that are perceived as being more secure.
Campaign group Privacy International said that most users will stick with Facebook’s default privacy settings.
A spokesman said, “The defaults unhelpfully described by Facebook as ‘recommended settings’ are still set for maximum disclosure to everyone.
“The company has done little to change this situation.”
Sadly, it appears that Scotland is a long way from being considered web savvy.
A survey by Ofcom found that Scots were the most willing people in the UK to divulge personal information online.
Photo used under Creative Commons licence courtesy of Flickr user pshab.