Another round of policy revisions for The Facebook

I’ve been thinking about Facebook’s privacy policy for a while now… trying to encourage users to maximize their privacy settings, and informing them of their rights when they upload content to the site… In fact, I was writing so much about Facebook back in 2007 that I thought I had said all there was to say about it.  Then, this morning, when I woke up and logged on to check in with all my pals, I noticed one friend’s update said something about Facebook violating our “rights” to privacy.

After a discussion with my husband about the semantic implications and inappropriate nature of using the words “privacy rights” and “Facebook” in the same sentance, a quick google revealed the probable source of the status update.  Apparently, Facebook wants to own your Facebook Data Double even if you decide to commit Facebook suicide.  So even after you disable your profile… even if you go that extra step and send Facebook an email requesting to have your profile deleted… Facebook will not remove the little bits of yourself that you leave behind on people’s walls, in people’s inboxes, or in the massive consumer databases Facebook investors have come to rely on for those great big bonuses and market research.  But, they promise not to fuck with your privacy settings… so I guess that’s something…

The policy shift is causing such a ruckus, Facebook is on the defensive.  But ultimately, they probably aren’t that worried about losing users because come on, let’s face it, Zuckerberg has achieved his goal of making Facebook the Windows for Web 2.0… we are hooked now, whether we like it or not.

The way Facebook is implementing this new poilicy is unfair.  Users who signed up under the original user agreement and are now being informed that it is being replaced with a new user agreement that they don’t get a chance to accept or decline.  One which sees you give up the rights to the “soul” of your Facebook Data Double.  It seems to me that The Facebook can easily quiet the protesters by simply giving them the option to continue on as Facebook users, or not.  Because I am fairly certain most users would simply do what they did the first time they signed up… click “I accept” without even reading the damn fineprint.

Frig, even those who are well-versed in The Facebook’s policies will click “I accept” without blinking an eye, because ultimately, Facebook is such an important part of our lives.

For everyone who is so up in arms about this new policy shift, I ask, what’s the big deal?  So Facebook chooses to clog up it’s servers with outdated information that you didn’t care about posting in the first place.  Sure Facebook will still have a record that you posted “25 things” about yourself on January 30, 2009… but who cares?

If you are worried, like I once was, about Facebook selling your information to market research firms so that they can devise updated tactics of psychological warfare in their advertising schemes… this little shift shouldn’t bother you that much… because it’s all so fluid these days… data from last week is so last year.  If the Facebook data mining practices while you are a user don’t disturb you, then why should you get anxious about how they use your practically useless data after you are gone?

In the end, and in my interpretation, this is not a new privacy issue… As a user of Facebook, you should expect no more privacy in the conversations you have with your friends on their walls and in the other public spaces of Facebook than you would having the same conversations with those friends in a pub, or on the bus… Besides… there are far greater Internet Privacy Concerns on the horizon for Canadians…