Facebook Privacy, Groups & Interface (oh my!)
Last week, Facebook Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg made a much-anticipated announcement about the 500 million user website. Before the press conference, there was much speculation and excitement about what Zuckerberg would reveal, but he simply announced the following changes:
- tighter control over Groups to more easily share things with a limited subset of "friends"
- an option to download everything you ever uploaded to Facebook
- a dashboard in the privacy interface that will more clearly show which Facebook applications have access to your data, and when each application last took advantage of that access.
According to the New York Times, the changes were in response to Facebook’s confusing privacy policy and how it was sharing users’ information on the Web. The Times noted that the press conference was meant to position Zuckerberg as the user’s champion; Facebook was making these changes in response to their comments. After all, according to the Times, he repeatedly said, “it’s not about the money.”
Facebook users who are concerned about privacy will probably find this set of changes to be a step in the right direction. Apparently, they can now have a better look at how applications use their information to personalize their experience.
Also, according to the official Facebook blog, the new Groups setting will allow users to communicate with small groups of friends, and to share things in a “private space.” The default setting is Closed, which means only members see what's going on in a group. This, of course, does not preclude members from adding their own content, or sharing yours with others.
Nick Bilton of the Times observes that some of the privacy issues inherent in Facebook would be reduced if all the settings were “opt-in”; everything should be locked until you open it up, rather than the other way around.
Since our practice includes litigation, often employment litigation, I offer additional perspectives on these changes (1) even information in “private space” is most likely “discoverable” in litigation - - that means you may have to give it up or answer questions about it if you are party or just a witness in a lawsuit; (2) there is a lot of buzz in the legal blogosphere about what information employers can or can’t use and for what purposes (hiring, termination) and I’m sure some general ground rules will soon develop - - but if the information is “THERE”, can any rules be effective, in a practical sense, to restrict its use?
All in all, the social media sites can be helpful in protecting our privacy, but ultimately we all still have to exercise individual discretion.
