Openbook, Facebook Privacy And Security

Depending on how you have set your privacy settings or more to the point, how Facebook has set them; all of your wall posts and information can be viewed by a search engine called Openbook. Even internet users who are not members of Facebook can do a search by keywords and depending on your security settings, wall posts, your profile and the content of your photo albums might appear in the search results.

I am seriously considering leaving Facebook because every time I turn around Facebook is changing how the privacy settings work. I no longer use any of the applications available on Facebook because I don't like sharing my information with companies I know nothing about. Facebook continues to be the leader in social network sites but recently they have lost a significant number of members.

I went to Openbook several months ago. A keyword was automatically loaded into the search box and a search wass completed using that keyword. Openbook had preselected the keyword 'sexting' in the search box. Everyone's wall posts who had their privacy settings for anyone to see, came up in the search results. Anyone within the last twelve hours who had the word sexting in their wall post, or photos showed in the search results. Thousands of people and I wasn't even logged into Facebook when I did this. Every time I scrolled to the bottom of the page it automatically loaded a new set of about 50 Facebook users.

I visited a blog on the subject of Facebook privacy and I found even more information on the subject of Openbook. Again I clicked on the Openbook link and this time it searched the keyword 'rectal exam'. I was able to read personal information about people thinking about getting an exam and even people detailing the results of their exam. You can guess how embarrassing these wall posts would be if the person knew how accessible their information is.

The irony in all of this is that the creators of Openbook say that they created the site to get Facebook to restore the privacy settings back to the way they originally were (Facebook's early years) so that sites like Openbook and other similar sites would no longer be able to access private information. Will Moffat says, “Facebook has a moral obligation to protect their users.” I agree. The information I post for friends and family should be For Their Eyes Only!

If you would like Facebook to return privacy and security settings back to when members had more control, I would suggest writing to those in charge at Facebook and express your concerns. Perhaps if enough people complain, they might listen to their members. Until then go to Your Account and alter any applications and information that you don't want displayed to the masses. It would be great if we had an alternative to Facebook.

Facebook Mailing Address

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO
Facebook
156 University Ave.
Palo Alto, CA 94301-1605