1 in 4 Facebook Users Clueless About Privacy

Author:

Jordan McCollum

Source:

No, seriously. Consumer Reports’ Electronics Blog reports this week that Facebook users don’t seem to care that much about privacy. According to their National Research Center, 23% of Facebook users “either didn’t know that site offered privacy controls or chose not to use them.” 52% of social network users have risky information posted online.
 
I’m not sure what constitutes “risky information” according to Consumer Reports, but they do have some recommendations for Facebook privacy in next month’s magazine—which clearly aren’t written for people who work on the Internet. Or might have friends who aren’t already connected to mutual friends on Facebook—because following Consumer Reports’ recommendations will make it so only friends of your friends can find you on Facebook. So if you want to reconnect with that friend from college/HS/before, you’d better hope you already have a connection, or they aren’t quite as paranoid as you.
 
However, some of their suggestions are fairly common sense—like not announcing you’ll be away from your home for a month. (On the other hand, this also assumes that someone who knows you on Facebook and has your address will rob your house. As I’ve said before, that’s a pretty targeted effort for a crime that’s usually one of opportunity. On the other hand, 7% of Facebook users post their street address publicly on their profile, CNET reports.) But probably the best advice is to use the privacy controls the site features...