Formal Complaint About Facebook Filed With FTC

I'm confused. I know Facebook changed how the privacy settings worked, but didn't they just give users different options? I haven't been on Facebook in a while, I mostly use it from my phone, so I'm not sure if the site itself has changed.

Am I correct in guessing that FB just gave us more options to adjust our privacy settings? As opposed to turning our settings off/down?

napoleondk, FaceBook's new privacy settings are less secure with it's new default setting, so it has better privacy if you andjust the settings, but if you don't adjust the settings the default settings leave you out in the open

I'll never understand why people choose to put their lives on the world wide web, then complain about privacy? lol

FB is retarded. Deleted mine a few weeks ago. If you want to let all your friends and family know how you're doing, call them. If you need a website for something we've been doing naturally for tens of thousands of years you don't have as many friends as you think. Besides, everyone knows that the only friends that count are the ones that will help you move a body, that list should be small.

Some people just like to complaint and complaint.

FB made the default privacy settings lower, but in doing so they reset EVERYONE'S privacy levels to this new starting point. So stuff that was very private before is not now, unless you went back in to redo your privacy settings afterwards.

Moral of the story... know what information you're putting out there.

I use facebook because I've got friends spread all over the place and it's a good way to keep in touch... but after the anoucement I went in and manually reviewed EVERY setting in the app, making sure that they didn't open up any of my info to people I don't know.

DON'T USE FACEBOOK!!!! Simple solution, and one that will make your life better overall.

Appreciate the input, I'll have to fire up a full-sized browser and double check my settings. Too bad most people will never realize this...

eh... the day they imposed most of these settings, when i first logged it a pop up appeared asking me if wanted to accept their new defaults or keep my old settings... seemed to do it for most people i know as well. and settings that were beyond those in the pop up remained as they were before such ass photo album and game permissions... i'm guessing this didn't happen to everyone though...

Never used FB or MS and I used to think it was for lonely people or individuals that had no life and no real friends. I do agree that people who use some of these services are just so funny saying they've got so many "friends", but do they? I have co-workers that use it daily and I just kinda laugh that to me it's so impersonal. Cyber friends are just that cyber - unless you actually know and have met them. But just my thought.

GoodLuck on that one. They emailed everyone's account and told them they were changingand told them what to do if they wanted to maintain their privacy so too bad Jackers. I think what facebook did is alittle on the stupid side, but they did everything they were legaly reliable for and pre warned everyone so they have nothing to worry about. And yes, if you give out your personal info. out on the Web, you shouldn't complain if your info. goes public. That's the equivilent of going out and buying a gun and purchasing some Ammo and aiming it at yourself and pullling the trigger than suing the gun company for producing a harmful object............

...do we have the right (or the merit) to complain about a free service? I'm sure Facebook would follow what you wanted if you, you know, paid them.

How about... realizing that when you put information on a social networking site, people are going to see it.

Oh wait, I forgot. You don't need common sense anymore. Lawsuits have replaced it.

Yeah, there was a blog post at the top of my homepage for ages. It basically said, "New privacy settings available. Unfortunately some of your previous settings have been changed to the new default. Check your settings to make sure all is as it should be." So I did.

About a week later a pop up came up and said, "Come on, time to check your settings to make sure you know what you're sharing."You had to actively click 'cancel' or 'not now' or whatever to get rid of the pop-up.

I don't understand why people are complaining. You can't ignore the smoke alarm and cry when your house burns to the ground.

You've been calling your family for tens of thousands of years?!?! You must be Japanese.

If it's on the net, it's not private. What the fuck, are you stupid (EPIC)?

I look at the people who file the complaint and i wonder when America became such pussies. For the love of god people, that empty air chamber above your shoulders, you must use it once in a while. The site clearly tells you settings have changed, check yours now, then it will force you to after a week even if you have already done so. Stupid people who are to dumb or ignorant to read these messages or just ignore them should be sued by the rest of us for wasting space and oxygen. We get it people your DUMB, your mom wipes your butt and thinking for yourself is not something you can do. IF you can't use the site or don't get it delete your account, maybe FB should just delete accounts if you do not change the settings after 2 weeks, then these people would cry and bitch why did it do this, i ignored everything in front of me because i had to update my status and could not take the 2 minutes to run thru it.

I'm not sure this warrants a "formal complaint" to the FTC, but I did find Facebook's automatic change in privacy settings a bit unusual. People who long on through a desktop browser got a notice that the privacy settings were changing... but a lot of people, who access the service from mobile browsers or mobile apps weren't prompted to update their settings. They just kind of took effect without consent. And that's just not cool.

That was great, +1 to you Sir.

SOOOOO Ill admit I never read the terms etc for facebook BUUT Im pretty sure they would have had a clause that says "We reserve the right to change etc etc etc" in it somewhere. Would that not give them the right to do what they damn well pleased?

I agree. People don't pay for FB and they aren't required to use it. Seems to me like FB can do whatever it wants. This complaint sounds like a load of shit though. The people complaining probably don't care about the changes and were at least aware of them; they're just a bunch of douches trying to sue for some big money. I hate people like that.

Facebook is asking you to "Trust Us" with your information and then they go and make it available to the whole world by changing the privacy settings. The suggested defaults expose a LOT more of your information and information which you used to be able to keep private now cannot be made private. That is not something that shines with "Trust Us" and should never have happened.

Took like a minute to log in and adjust the settings.
That's about the amount of time I spend on it a month anyway.

No they didn't. They offered up a choice when I logged in and asked whether I wanted to use the new default settings or us my old settings. I chose the old ones and everything is exactly how I left it.
Now, I'm not a 100% on this part, but if I'm not mistaken, they changed it to offer more control. They slacked the defaults back a bit because people before were complaining that no one could find them on FB in the search. So they stopped those complaints, only to start up a whole new slew of them.

Simple! If something is THAT private, don't post it on the Internet! People are stupid.

I had a slightly different experience. I was given a selection to keep the old settings or change to the new ones. I did as you did, selected the old settings. And due to this article I decided to check again, and found that there were quite a few settings that were set to "Everyone". I obviously don't share inappropriate information on FB, but I did find it inconvenient as I do like to keep the information I share private within family/friends. And sharing your favorite movies with people make it easier for them to REMEMBER, especially when you have a couple hundred friends.

I personally use FB as I travel a lot and it allows me to keep in touch with friends and family.

As for others who say they do not like FB, everyone has their own choice, but people don't live the same in every part of the world. I know many Asians who use the service and they find it to be more than just a hobby.

As an American, I can understand the problems with privacy, but it does seem that we are reluctant to use technology such as this to improve our relationships. "Ideally" it would be just great to meet all your friends, but if you are trying to stay in contact with friends from your early school years (Middle/High School) as many tend to travel to other cities looking for work, etc...

It can be argued that snail-mail/email/websites can be used instead, but this is an idea to incorporate all of them together. If you choose your friends correctly, you shouldn't care what they post on your FB and who reads it, as they are your friends. If you need serious talk (1-on-1) obviously you wouldn't talk about them in public, but this is the new age and with many people spending countless hours on the internet, shopping, studying, etc... It would seem to follow that we also brought our relationships online.

I understand this post is about privacy, but I thought I would also incorporate some replies to other messages and bring a different point of view to the table about social websites.

not true, a girl just invited me to a party via FACEBOOK. Seriously, a real GIRL!!

"Say no to social networking sites!"

Yes, lets bash all americans for what a tiny special interest group is saying/doing. I mean, all americans are the same, right?

Too bad the FTC can't regulate the internet. Also, too bad that people sign up for a Facebook account of their own free will. I guess then that it's also too bad that idiots post information about themselves on the internet that they don't want others to see, and then act surprised or get mad when somehow others may find a way to access it (especially when you yourself call attention to said details). Failing these, it's too bad that they decided to make any possible "privacy" (since it's only information they themselves are giving willingly) issues moot by calling attention to all of their private matters by stupidly trying to get the FTC involved (which can't do anything about anything involving the internet outside of harassing ISPs or a company at large for bad business practices (and not necessarily because of internet activities)) Facebook likely posted all the changes that would be made by switching to the new privacy agreements which you yourself HAVE TO agree to to be affected by them. So, as usual, you're the only one to blame for your own situation.

Nice.

Also, Facebook has free registration, so stop bitching. If you don't like it, use something else.