Responding to concerns about privacy Facebook came out with a new security feature… except it doesn’t address any of the fears that users of the site are having.
Facebook has announced a new security feature that aims to keep hackers from tapping into users’ personal information.
First off, they should already be doing everything they can to prevent hackers from gaining access to your account. That they are just now addressing that issue is a cause for alarm. That’s not even the issue at hand though. The real issue is Facebook sharing your data (data that they even said would remain private) with “partner” websites. We’ve already seen two massive data leaks from Yelp since this program was introduced. Not only does this not go far enough, it’s opt-in.
“Oddly, this system is ‘opt-in,’ meaning by default it’s not enabled. You have to dig through Facebook’s labyrinthine privacy settings to turn it on,” he writes. “This might be a mistake, given how complex and intimidating Facebook’s privacy settings already are.”
More settings to confuse people. It’s beginning to look like they do this on purpose so that as much data as you can possible have is out there and fodder for their advertising partners.
Some users have complained they are uneasy about their personal preferences showing up on sites other than Facebook.com. Recently, an unknown number of people, including some notable tech pundits, have deleted or deactivated their Facebook accounts in response to privacy concerns.
Last month, a group of U.S. senators sent a letter to Facebook asking the company, which was started in a Harvard dorm room and is now valued at billions of dollars, to give users more control of their private information.
The new security features do not address the issues most users have been complaining about, such as whether Facebook will keep their information private. Instead, the latest feature aims to protect Facebook users from external hackers. It does not change company policy.
Translation: We have you locked in. You’re not leaving us. We don’t care about your privacy, we want money. Go < expletive > yourselves. Nice, Facebook. Nice.