[liberationtech] Fwd: [lauren at vortex.com: [ NNSquad ] Facebook changes reportedly expose at least 10 million accounts to public search that had previously been excluded]

[Rich Kulawiec]

[ Perhaps some precautions might be appropriate for those using FB in
less than hospitable circumstances. ---rsk ]

----- Forwarded message from Lauren Weinstein <lauren at vortex.com> -----

> Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2013 18:05:22 -0800
> From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren at vortex.com>
> To: nnsquad at nnsquad.org
> Subject: [ NNSquad ] Facebook changes reportedly expose at least 10 million
> 	accounts to public search that had previously been excluded
> 
> 
> Facebook changes reportedly expose at least 10 million accounts to
> public search that had previously been excluded
> 
> http://j.mp/10D1gMz  (ars technica)
> 
>     "Such profiles would hinder the progress of graph search, which relies
>      on profile content to cull information (for instance, "women who like
>      the TV show Homeland" or "Thai restaurants my friends have been to.")
>      Facebook asserts that a "single-digit percentage" of profiles had
>      previously opted out of being searchable. As Quartz points out, even
>      one percent is now 10 million people, so the change does affect a
>      large absolute swath of users."
> 
>  - - -
> 
> Exposing profile information to public searching that was previously
> excluded, without the affirmative consent of the parties involved, is
> inexcusable even if "only" 10 million or so accounts were affected!
> 
> --Lauren--
> Lauren Weinstein (lauren at vortex.com): http://www.vortex.com/lauren 
> Co-Founder: People For Internet Responsibility: http://www.pfir.org/pfir-info
> Founder:
>  - Network Neutrality Squad: http://www.nnsquad.org 
>  - PRIVACY Forum: http://www.vortex.com/privacy-info
>  - Data Wisdom Explorers League: http://www.dwel.org
>  - Global Coalition for Transparent Internet Performance: http://www.gctip.org
> Member: ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
> Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
> Google+: http://vortex.com/g+lauren / Twitter: http://vortex.com/t-lauren 
> Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 / Skype: vortex.com

----- End forwarded message -----