Facebook is Public ... and Permanent
Friday, February 20, 2009 at 11:47AM | Justin Bathon This is a great read for any of you Facebook defenders out there (yes, I am talking to you Miguel). Not only is Facebook public information, which I have said before. And, not only do I recommend against teacher's using Facebook for practical purposes, which I have been criticized for (in a friendly way). But, now we learn that Facebook is not just public ... it's permanent, as in Facebook's policy is that it has the right to "store" and "retain" any data on any page on Facebook. Meaning that those drunk college pictures of you and your friends don't go away so easily. Even after you delete your account entirely, the data remains on Facebook servers and can be accessed in various ways, including through discovery requests, which Scott taught us so much about.
Bottom line here ... Facebook is a dangerous place for people that don't know how to control their Internet identity ... which is probably most of us. Teacher's don't have the luxury of living so dangerously when they have so few lifestyle protections and are held to a higher standard then the rest of society. Its nice to finally find someone that agree's with me:
By now, it should be clear that I'm a Facebook hater. I think there is no way to use the site and maintain control of your privacy. In fact, I think there is essentially no way to stay off Facebook now, which offends my sensibilities. More than once I've arrived at work and had someone say something like this: "Hey, I saw you were at Murphy's last night," because someone I barely know posted a bunch of pictures of a happy hour. That's spooky.
Reader Comments (1)
Yes, social network users need to be careful of the content and who can see their content. Yes, people need to pay attention to their accounts and know how to use their accounts to avoid issues too. This, to me, really has been a warning sign about using anything online for along time... even email.
But to me, this Facebook craze... This new standard of social networking.. (as in, people can look at you as an outcast, because you don't use Facebook. "You don't use Facebook? really?.. why not?") isn't going to stop. More and more people will begin to be "open", and begin to share their lives more freely with friends and family. This is a new social trend, that can't be stopped (in my opinion).
Is it simply possible that eventually it will be more excepted that people have a social networking account? And that, yes, there could be a picture of you with a drink in your hand through the account.. and it will be accepted? (Would someone hiring assume that people don't have a social life... and when they search a social network, they don't see some pictures like this.. it's life?) Of course... I understand if it was something illegal though. Then you're just not be responsible of your account.
So I feel avoidance of a social network.. just may not be possible. Think about the history of all the content being posted up on Facebook.. right now.. starting with children using Facebook in the elementary schools. What happens when they are looking for jobs... will employers look into their account and find something wrong the person did in 7th grade, and not hire them?