Facebook New Privacy Recommendations are a Joke

The long anticipated Facebook updated Privacy Settings are starting to be unveiled and, as expected, they do nothing different than what was already available.  I will even go one step further, since they have added the Facebook 'Recommended' settings, they are trying to tell users that it is ok to have personal information available.

Let's take a look at the information Facebook recommends for everyone: my status, photos, and posts; bio and favorite quotations; family and relationships.  Is that information that should be available to the world?  That seems a bit much.  Do I want someone I never met, who may or may not have just gotten out of prison for murdering and eating his family, to know my bio, about my family, and take a look at my pictures?  Probably not.

Here is what is friends of friends: photos and videos I'm tagged in; religious and political views; birthday.  Why the hell would friends of friends need, or care, about my religious views or my birthday?  They don't know me.  And, if they did, they would be friends with me.  Ugh.

Finally, friends only is: comments on posts; email (spelled wrong - it's e-mail) and IM; phone numbers and addresses.  Fine.

Now, look at everything that I put in the three paragraphs above this sentence and make sure each and every item is friends only and if you want to give Facebook the finger while doing it, that is acceptable. 

It is your call on 'Let friends of people tagged in my photos and posts see them'.  Theoretically, since your photos are set to friends only, friends of friends should only see the photo you took with the individual tagged and not other photos.  However, if you are like me - if they are not my friend, why would they want to look at my photos at all no matter who is in the image so...hell, no - unchecked.

All the other settings that I discussed in my last post still exist under 'Applications and Websites' (FYI Facebook, it is spelled Web sites).  In short, don't listen to Facebook and protect your privacy since they have shown over and over again that they will take any opportunity they can to expose it to the general web.