Online Privacy Doesn’t Exist

Posted: October 19th, 2010 | By: Steve Mullen | Filed under: Social Media Opinion | 1 Comment

We have yet another Facebook privacy flap going on. This time it has to do with certain application makers transmitting Facebook IDs to third parties. Using a Facebook ID number, these third parties could theoretically get a user’s name, phone number, friends names, and other personal information … even if the user’s privacy settings are set to maximum.

Don't expect pictures like this to stay "private" on Facebook for long.

While this is disturbing and should be handled, as Facebook appears to be doing, it once again brings up the issue of “online privacy” … an oxymoron if I ever heard one.

What we’re seeing in these continued concerns over online privacy is the struggle between the old way and the new way. The “old way” is when you were able to remain anonymous online and offline. That way didn’t last long after the advent of large-scale social networking. The “new way” is that if you don’t want people to know about it, don’t post it online.

You can’t rely on a third party to keep your information private because it’s close to impossible. If you put your phone number out there on Facebook, it doesn’t matter how high you set your privacy settings, it’s still “out there” and may eventually be found.

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