There's actually a website dedicated to helping you find the elusive 'delete' hidden in the unnecessarily complicated settings. You can find out how well you have protected your privacy at Profile Watch. There's also a handy bookmarklet at Reclaim Privacy that will similarly assess your profile. For a laugh, you can also read through some posts of other Facebook users, who probably think they are talking to their friends, not the entire internet: Openbook.
Are there real reasons to be worried? Well, after Facebook held a developer conference, lots of worried Google engineers left. And Google has hardly earned any privacy gold stars. And then there's Mark Zuckerburg, the man behind the company, with a few thoughts on privacy (taken from an IM conversation when he was creating the service, then called The Facebook):Click to view largeDownload full size (80 KB)Zuck: Yeah so if you ever need info about anyone at Harvard
Zuck: Just ask.
Zuck: I have over 4,000 emails, pictures, addresses, SNS
[Redacted Friend's Name]: What? How'd you manage that one?
Zuck: People just submitted it.
Zuck: I don't know why.
Zuck: They "trust me"
Zuck: Dumb fucks.Business Insider also has a fascinating expose on Zuckerburg. Decide for yourself if it holds much water, and if you think his character is likely to have improved in the last six years.
It's also interesting to witness how Facebook has eroded the default privacy settings over the years, from friends and family to almost completely exposing everything.
Click to view largeDownload full size (122 KB)While most users may not understand/care about these issues, there are plenty who do.
Click on link to read foomandoonian's article - at least interesting, possibly very worrying.
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