Facebook privacy issues, contd.

From Scobleizer

One of my friends caught his teenage son having a party because his son posted some pictures of that party to his Facebook page. Let’s just say that “dad” isn’t allowed into his Facebook profile anymore. This is yet another example of the problems that Facebook users are facing. Forget the fact that many of you believe that parents should have transparency into their kids lives. This was a case where a kid put some content up that he didn’t want someone else to find yet they did. Same thing as an employer finding a photo of you doing something that they would find to be a fireable offense.

There is going to be a lot of tension about Facebook until it adds much better privacy controls. Some things deserve to be open to the public (and to Google). Glad to see Facebook is recognizing that. But other things should only be kept for close personal friends. I wish I could set Facebook stuff to be shared with the audience I want to share that media with (whether or not I usually want to make my stuff totally public).

This one will run and run. The issue is surfacing all over the place. At the panel discussion after my Keynote Address at Leeds Metropolitan University last Monday, for example, there was an interesting discussion about whether lecturers should be in Facebook (i.e. whether their presence was an intrusion on what should be regarded as a ‘student’ space).