A survey released today by leading IT security company, Sophos,
reveals that controversial changes Facebook is planning to make to
its privacy policy are being universally slammed by users.
The study, conducted amongst 680 readers on Sophos's website and
Facebook page, found that an overwhelming 95 per cent of the
respondents think the privacy changes are "a bad thing."
Only two per cent of the respondents polled said that they would
support the change, with the remaining three per cent saying they
did not understand what changes Facebook was proposing.
In March 2010, Facebook
proposed a number of controversial changes to its privacy
policy, paving the way for it to share personal information with
"pre-approved" third-party websites. This means that, if you're
logged into Facebook and then visit a third party website, that
site will be able to access the following:
- your name
- your profile picture
- your gender
- your friends and connections
- your userid
- any content shared using the "Everyone" privacy setting
Consequently, users may find that when they visit a website it
already knows who they are; their date of birth; where they live;
and who their friends are. All, without ever having given the site
explicit permission to access that data. According to Facebook,
only a small number of pre-approved sites will be offered this
feature, and users will be given the option to disable the
feature.
As a result of a rise in public consternation around these
changes, Facebook published a
response which sought to justify its position and to reassure
users that the company would only offer personal data to "carefully
selected partners". It also outlines that partners would be
"required to provide an easy and prominent method" for users to opt
out directly from their websites and delete any cached personal
data.
"The results of this poll send out a very clear message to
Facebook - its users aren't happy. Most Facebook users still don't
know how to set their Facebook privacy options safely, finding the
whole system confusing and long-winded," said Graham
Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos. "The onus
should not be on Facebook users to "opt out" of this new feature
but to "opt in" - making a conscious choice to engage, rather than
having to make a conscious decision to decline."
"Once again, it feels like online privacy is being eroded by
stealth. Too many websites are chipping away at their members'
privacy and security, potentially exposing their personal data to
third parties that were never in the equation when they first
signed-up for the service," continued Cluley. "Facebook would be
doing its hundreds of millions of users a service if it thought
again about this new privacy policy."
More information about the poll is available on
Graham Cluley's blog.
Facebook users who wish to keep informed about the latest
developments in internet security and privacy are advised to join
Sophos's Facebook
page.
Sophos is headquartered in Boston, US and Oxford, UK. More information is available at www.sophos.com.