As social networking gains in popularity so does concerns about privacy. One of the most widely adopted sites, Facebook, offers a lot of customization when it comes to who sees what on a member's profile. Recently, Facebook gave users the option to open up their profiles and allow any section to be visible by everyone on internet. They also added a publisher control so users could modify who is able and not able to see content published on their profiles.
On my Facebook profile, everything was set to either "Friends of Friends" or "Only Friends" except anything that had to do with promoting my blog. The website was visible by everyone who visited my profile as well as any announcements about new blog entries. My default publisher control setting was set to "Only Friends" and I selectively choose when something was supposed to be publicly available. Personal status updates that had nothing to do with my site had a tiny lock icon under the post indicating only friends were allowed to see it.
After I upgraded to the Facebook 3.0 iPhone app, I noticed that status updates via the app did not have the tiny lock under the post. At first, I figured these updates would follow my default publisher control setting and would only be viewable by friends. Eventually, my curiosity got the better of me and I created a dummy account to see what my Facebook profile looked like to non-friends. To my surprise, every update made via the iPhone app was visible on my wall and did not follow my privacy settings. Since there are no privacy controls on the Facebook iPhone app, the most logical thing would be for any update to follow the default publisher control setting unless given the option to choose otherwise.
After my discovery, I felt my only option was to lock down my Facebook profile and make all my status updates visible by only friends until Facebook allows me to have more control over who sees posts made via my iPhone. I conclude with a word of caution for those using the Facebook iPhone app: If your profile privacy is set to "Everyone" yet you want to selectively control which updates are visible on your wall by non-friends, just keep in mind any updates made on the iPhone offer no privacy control and are all public.
UPDATE: 9/8/09 - According to TechCrunch, Facebook has resolved this bug with a server-side fix, although I have not tested it myself. The article also addresses other privacy bugs on the Facebook iPhone app.
UPDATE: Poll Results 9/2/09 - 9/9/09
How open is your Facebook profile?
00% Open to everyone
40% Visible to friends only
60% Customized privacy
00% I don't use Facebook
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
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This is a surprise to me, especially because Facebook was trumpeting the addition of those granular privacy controls like they had just cured cancer or found the Virgin Mary in their grilled cheese sandwich.
ReplyDeleteIf I might be so bold, I might suggest that you forward a link to this post to the developer in charge of the application. It wouldn't hurt anybody if you tried and didn't get a response, but it could make a world of difference if you bring attention to the fact that peoples' privacy is at stake.
When it comes to privacy, the highest level of permission I allow is Only Friends. And most things are customized by different groups (I've got about two dozen). I've decided that you can't be too careful when it comes to privacy on Facebook so it's better to lock it down then anything else.
ReplyDeleteI checked my privacy settings today and viewed my page as a friend on my Limited Profile and noticed that while most of my wall posts are hidden, including my status updates from my iPhone, the posts my boyfriend made on my wall from his iPhone are not blocked. Does anyone know a way to fix this problem? I don't want the people on my limited profile to see anything on my wall.
ReplyDeleteI am pretty certain it is a bug because I have already limited who can see my friends' posts to my wall. I will definitely look out for future updates. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI am having the same problem as Dana. Friends in a specific friend list that are blocked from seeing anything on my wall are able to see wall posts made by friends from their iphones. Any tips?
ReplyDelete