soco said:
I have no idea where they're getting this idea from. Sounds like they read something released by Facebook and started writing a response without properly researching it. This is par the course for a group like the EFF (which I still support). They jump to conclusions in effort to draw attention to themselves and to the
potential outcomes of a change like this. Unfortunately they often don't mention the
actual outcomes.
EFF Article Dated 4/19/2010 said:
Today, Facebook removed its users' ability to control who can see their own interests and personal information. Certain parts of users' profiles, "including your current city, hometown, education and work, and likes and interests" will now be transformed into "connections," meaning that they will be shared publicly. If you don't want these parts of your profile to be made public, your only option is to delete them.
The example Facebook uses in its announcement is a page for "Cooking." Previously, you could list "cooking" as an activity you liked on your profile, but your name would not be added to any formal "Cooking" page. (Under the old system, you could become a "fan" of cooking if you wanted). But now, the new Cooking page will publicly display all of the millions of people who list cooking as an activity.
Who cares if Facebook is compiling a directory of everybody that "Likes" cooking?
Edit: Oh I see what their problem is now, after doing more research on the topic. What the EFF is concerned about is that anybody that visits the "community page" of a topic you "like" could find your name among the list of people that like that page. Are they really up in arms about this?
It's important to note that a person cannot search for your name and find a list of things you "like" (unless you set your privacy to allow this). They can only search for a topic and find a list of people that "like" it.
Who is going to page through hundreds of thousands of fans of Cooking or another topic trying to find one person? And even if they DO find you, once they click your profile they won't be able to see any info about you (so long as your privacy settings are correct).
So in the end the most information they can attain (through an excruciatingly long and drawn-out process of manually scanning through thousands of people that "like" a topic) is that you like that topic. They can't find out where you live, your age, your friends, or even what other activities you like. Where is the harm? I suppose if you are some sort of moron and "like" the Neo-Nazi Movement on Facebook then you might be in trouble. Somebody might see your name on a list of all the people that "like" the Neo-Nazi Movement and find out that you are a Neo-Nazi (or at least that you like them...). But what Neo-Nazi is stupid enough to list that affiliation on a website like Facebook?
tl;dr: Pro Tip - Don't "like" Smoking Pot on Facebook and you will be fine (and even if you "like" Smoking Pot, the chances of anybody finding you among the 1,000,000+ other idiots that "like" Smoking Pot are slim to none).
