Matt Pizzimenti is concerned about how Facebook’s privacy policies and settings have evolved over the last little bit; that is why he started the ReclaimPrivacy project. He has created an application that people can easily use after they login into their Facebook account.
The application scans their privacy settings and provides alerts about several settings that one can use to hide various aspects of their account from anyone’s view. One of the things that I particularly like about this application is that it provides instant links to the place where a person can adjust their settings to ensure that their information is only shared with those with whom they desire.
Pizzimenti links to several recent articles that explain that Facebook’s recent actions have aggravated privacy advocates. One thing that has irked them is that in some cases new settings have default values that allow the site to share account holders’ information with the public. Pizzimenti’s application will help individuals better understand all of the privacy vulnerabilities that they face. It appears that it will flag any setting that is set to share information with Everyone (versus "Only Me" or only friends). However, the application does not change anyone’s settings; it simply alerts them to vulnerabilities. I think that this is an excellent idea since some people may want to have some information publicly available as this facilitates people finding them.
Regardless of how one feels about Facebook’s actions towards privacy, it is a good idea to continually examine one’s account settings on a social networking site.
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