Betcha never meant for that to be public

So Facebook is not exactly known for protecting people's privacy. Besides many grievous displays of poor security, they have only added decent privacy controls over time none of which matter because you can get to the pictures anyway and every installed Facebook app can get all your data too.

All that aside, assume that setting your privacy controls is still better than not setting them. Facebook pulled a real jerk move recently when it required all users when they first logged in for the day to make a decision about their privacy settings. You had to click to keep your current settings, but if you didn't, it would open your profile up using the new default settings.

Though it doesn't probably change anything in the long run, it's quite satisfying to know that Mark Zuckerberg, the founder and CEO of Facebook, fell prey to his own tactic.

In a bit of very interesting timing, Zuckerberg’s photos have been made public to the entire internet, mostly through a post from gossip blog Gawker, after Kashmir Hill at True/Slant discovered and reported that Zuckerberg was sharing photos with a wide circle — friends of friends — and his event calendar with everyone.

Serves him right.

Facebook did not immediately respond to a call seeking comment about whether Zuckerberg’s changes to his privacy settings were deliberate, leadership-by-example-style actions. But in a status update on his profile (pictured above), Zuckerberg says he sets most of his content open and “didn’t see a need to limit visibility of pics with my friends, family or my teddy bear :)”

Sure… He claims that he didn't mind that they were public and that he did it on purpose. Of course it wasn't proof positive that the settings changes are confusing and designed to nudge people out of their privacy into the public eye. Still, some would claim foul.

But why did Zuck suddenly decide to be less private than two months ago, when his settings were uber-private? You couldn’t even friend him before, and you certainly couldn’t see him shirtless..

The fact that Zuck drastically reduced his privacy settings makes me think the Facebook CEO did this accidentally, and now doesn’t want to change back for fear of the resulting PR disaster.

I wonder if Zuckerberg is regretting this move now. He can't go back towards privacy without making it seem that he's a hypocrite. Still, you have to wonder if he's going to start posting less information to his event calendar and photo albums than before since it's been forced for PR reasons to remain public.

18 and partying... do you want to broadcast this?

Did you know that once your kids graduate high school or college, they're going to need to find a job? It's true! Did you also know that employers can be just as tech-savvy as your kids (or more so)?

Take this picture. You can see some girls having a "good time" while possibly illegally drinking underage. Let's say one of these girls is your daughter (we'll call her Suzie). Not thinking that it would come back to bite her, she posted this picture and caption on Myspace, Facebook, or her personal blog site. Fast forward a few years and Mr. Employer has Suzie's resume sitting on his desk. Wanting more than paper information, Mr. Employer does a quick web search and brings up Suzie's page with years worth of blog entries and pictures. Will he like what he sees?

It gets worse. Besides biting your kid in the butt, this can come back to bite you as well. Let's say she posts the following in her blog:

Whether this post is based in truth or your kid is just "playing around", this kind of information could bring in law enforcement, child services, and who knows what other kinds of trouble. For example, what about the risk of drawing the attention of online predators?

The fears are well publicized based on a few exceptional cases: Someone finds your child through the Internet and does something bad to them. But according to the Crimes Against Children Research Center, the vast majority of real-life encounters of "Internet Friends" do not end in violence.. Stories of kids getting involved with older strangers usually involve teens (not younger kids) who voluntarily met them knowing their intentions. But it's hardly comforting to know that your 13 year old kid is in a "consensual" relationship with a 28 year old.

Whether consensual or not, the action is generally initiated by the predator and not your kid. Predators are going to "shop" online for information on likely targets and pick the ones that both match what they're looking for and then narrow it to the targets that are either especially interesting or especially vulnerable.

What to do about it

First teach them about Internet Safety including how to set up and use their social network profiles. But also make sure to Monitor their Internet and web service usage so that you can see problems before it's too late.

If you've only just discovered bad content online, it's not too late to do something about it. First, delete the data from any website under your control. As for ones that aren't in your control, check out these resources and the ones they point to as well:

• How to check your online profile before you get a job – I could have put together tips for finding and handling your online profile, but they already did it so check out their article. One thing they didn't mention is a DMCA takedown notice. You can only use this for copyrighted works and not just stuff you find embarrassing. If you try it anyway, you're likely to anger the recipient and could find yourself the victim of the Streisand Effect.
• How to create a positive online profile – This gives you advice on how to improve your online profile on purpose.

Remember that it's much, much harder to remove data once it's been posted (''you can't un-ring a bell'' as they say). Learn to be careful BEFORE you post and teach your kids the same.

(Image used under: Creative Commons 2.0 [SRC])

Of course this isn't a problem limited only to Facebook, but the FBI issued a warning about the rise of hijacking scams. This is where a bad guy gets your login information through various means and then poses as you on your account. They'll send an urgent request for help or money to all your friends who may be fooled and comply (as in the case of Bryan Rutberg).

Remember to use good passwords and protect them especially the password for your e-mail account (which can be used to unlock all your other accounts).

This topic is of particular importance because if you want to make sure that your personal life doesn't mix with professional, you'll want to make sure that your obligation-friends don't see your party pics.

The first thing you need to do to control your photos is make different albums for different topics. Note that your profile and wall albums are automatic, the rest you can make in the Profile > Photos area.

Access your albums through your profile, then create a new album

Once on this screen, you can create a new album by clicking the button labeled as such.

Create an ablum

On the creation screen, enter a descriptive name and details if you wish. The location is just something so you and people will know where the photos were taken (Europe, the Diner, or whatever). The important control here is the Privacy option. Just like in privacy control screen, you can select Customize and choose specific groups of friends.

I'll let my (real) friends and family see this

So now my Mom, my sister, and all my real friends can see these pics, but not my Boss, or those obligation-friends. Piece of cake!

One of the most important things you can ever do on your Facebook account is make groups so you can divide your friends. Think about it: do you want your boss, your mother, and your drinking buddies to all have the same access to the same things?

By grouping your friends into categories like Work, Family, and Friends (actual friends, though I wouldn't call it that :D), you can separate which posts, which activities, and which photos each group can see.

New list means new friend group

First, you click on the "Make new List button on the left side of the screen as shown. If you don't see it, click the "More" button and it should be right there at the bottom.

A pop-up will appear that shows you some of your friends, but the thing you're looking for is at the top where it says "Create New List". Enter a descriptive name (as far as I know, the people in the list won't be able to see the name, but just in case don't enter a name like "People I Hate"). Click on all the friends you want in that group or do a quick search by typing part of a name. Once you're sure everyone is there, then click "Create List" at the bottom.

Just enter a name and go

You're taken to a new page where you can see the activity for just that group. You're done!

Controlling your access by group

The magic customize option

Well, almost done. You still have to go and set your privacy based on the groups.

Go into your settings under Privacy > Profile. You'll see the standard list of permissions for who can see what, but check out that bottom option: "Customize…". That's the one you want.

Another popup will open giving you several advanced controls for managing who can see what. For example, if you feel obligated to "friend" your boss, but don't really want them to see the things you post to your wall, click customize in that group and you'll see something like this:

Who can see this?

Click on "Some Friends" and now you can type the names of specific friends OR the group that you created 🙂 (also note the VERY important function of being able to exclude specific people by name).

Besides making sure that only the right people see the right things, this saves time from having to constantly be adding every single friend to something. This is particularly useful when posting photos (explained next).

So as I'm learning how to use this goofy site that everyone seems so attached to, I'm also learning some of the neat tricks you can use to protect yourself. Today's victory was the "See how a friend sees your profile".

Not surprisingly, as time goes on, Facebook changes this and makes it harder to find. I don't have time for a full update at this time, but as of Feb 2012, go to Account Settings and click the link on the left for "Your profile" (it's small and hard to see, but it's there). Then on the upper right side of the screen you'll see the Veiw as option.

The old way

If you go to Account > Privacy Settings > Customize Settings , you'll see a list of all your privacy settings and who can see what on your page. But up at the very top, you see a buttons labeled "Preview my Profile". Click that and you'll see what your profile looks like. At the top, enter the name of one of your friends to see your page as if you were them.

In privacy settings, find CUSTOMIZE SETTINGS

Then click PREVIEW MY PROFILE

At the top of the page, enter a friend's name

This is very helpful if you want to be selective about who sees what particularly if you take my recommendation to group your friends. You might want to be sure that your obligation-friends can't see what your real friends can see.

(Image used under: Creative Commons 2.0 [SRC])

Here's another example of how someone's Facebook profile was used against them (First example here).

"If you are alleging that, as a result of an accident, you have not been able to enjoy life the same way and there is a photo taken after the accident showing you skiing or exercising … that could be relevant," the civil litigation and intellectual property lawyer said in an interview yesterday.

Well duh. If there are cases where people's personal diaries have been subpoenaed, I guarantee you an online record like Facebook is fair game.

(Image used under: Creative Commons 2.0 [SRC])

Whether or not the officer in question really did use excessive force, the main point here is that the things you write about online can come back to haunt you in the most unexpected ways.

Officer Ettienne said he is now being careful to mask his identity on the Web and that he has curbed his tongue because of the acquittal. "I feel it's partially my fault, he said. It paints a picture of a person who could be overly aggressive. You put that together, it's reasonable doubt in anybody's mind."

Even your "private" Facebook or Myspace account isn't so private under the force of a subpoena.

(Image used under: Creative Commons 2.0 [SRC])

This is so wrong, I barely know what to say. I sure hope this trend doesn't start to catch on, because a lot of people would give up the information when they're pressured instead of doing the right thing and refusing.

"Please list any and all, current personal or business websites, web pages or memberships on any Internet-based chat rooms, social clubs or forums, to include, but not limited to: Facebook, Google, Yahoo, YouTube.com, MySpace, etc." the form reads. But Bozeman isn't simply interested in finding out where to look for potentially embarrassing personal details; the city wants full disclosure, since the form demands username and password information for each.

This is way worse than all those sickening social networking sites asking for your e-mail address password.

Update

Here is the contact information for the relevant people in the city if you want to ask them why they thought this would be a good idea. And just in case someone were to change the form, here's a copy of the original found on their website:

This is for real... they actually expect you to give up your account details!

(Image used under: Creative Commons 2.0 [SRC])

Even if you did everything right to keep you private photos and information private, a Facebook security flaw allows people to access it anyway.

This isn't the first time something like this has happened and I'd bet that it's far from being the last.