Palo Alto, California -- Amid escalating criticism from users, privacy advocates and lawmakers alike -- that the world's largest social-networking site Facebook lacks competent privacy controls, CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday overhauled its privacy controls to fend off dissatisfied users that it is betraying the trust that has made it the world's biggest social network. Now, keeping your personal information underwraps on Facebook just got simpler.
In a news conference at its headquarters, Facebook's 26-year-old founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg addressed the attendees with: “Quite a lot of users are upset with us,” while he took the stock of recent blunders that caused growing pains said as he announced simplified privacy controls.
“It has been a pretty intense few weeks for us, listening to all the feedback coming in from all the changes we have made.” “One of the big lessons we learned from this is: Do not mess with the privacy stuff for a really long time.”
He said that -- “Our engineers and designers are holed up in a conference room in their Palo Alto offices cranking for the last couple of weeks on new privacy settings.”
As Facebook has vehemently expanded into a global behemoth of nearly 500 million users, a boisterous segment of them have taken resentment at new features that make their personal information widely available on the face of the Internet. Many were also discomfited with a dizzying array of more than 100 privacy-setting options, which Facebook has acknowledged can be overwhelming.
Zuckerberg admitted during the press conference that executives at the remarkably successful social networking firm have made mistakes and have communicated badly with users about their privacy concerns.
“We do not pretend that we are perfect,” Zuckerberg said in an interview. “We believe in privacy. We believe in giving people control. We try to create new things, hear feedback and respond with changes to that feedback all the time.”
“But more and more, people desirous of sharing the information. As long as they have good control over that, I think that is where the world is going,” said Zuckerberg.
At the conference, Zuckerberg released a revamped privacy settings controls that offers a new one-click options to help subscribers protect their privacy, and “significantly reduce” the amount of information that is always visible to everyone, responding to a hordes of complaints that it had become far too hard to determine and control levels of protection.
Screen shot of Facebook's new privacy controls rolling out over the next few weeks, taken from the social networking site's privacy guide.
The changes, which will be introduced gradually over the next few weeks, mean that one click can block any third-party sites from tapping into Facebook's treasure chest of data on a user. A similar one-click option will allow a user to stop applications on Facebook from digging into user information unless otherwise authorized.
“This is a pretty big redevelopment to the system we already have,” Zuckerberg said while describing the changes during a press briefing at the social network's headquarters in the California city of Palo Alto.
“This alteration certainly indicates that Facebook has put a lot of thought into privacy issues. Their new privacy controls show that they now 'get it' and understand user concerns,” said Dan Olds, an analyst with The Gabriel Consulting Group. “What I especially like is how they are giving users a way to control what, if anything, is available to third-party Web sites and applications.”
Olds remarked that he is glad that Facebook not only included simplified controls but kept the more complicated, granular controls for users who want to really dive into the experience.
Still, privacy will stand in a way as an issue for Facebook, which was established as a private gathering place for college students but is now in the midst of tremendous expansion as an open computing platform, say privacy experts.
“I view [Facebook] battling between the communities of open communication and those who value privacy,” says Murray Jennex, a professor at San Diego State University.
Tour Facebook's new privacy settings ; Courtesy: Cnet
Showing posts with label Facebook. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Facebook. Show all posts
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Yahoo Makes Content Deal With “Farmville” Developers Zynga For Social Gaming
Sunnyvale, California -- Internet pioneer Yahoo seems to be on a tear has agreed to a deal with Zynga, makers of the monumentaly popular Farvmville and Mafia Wars games on Facebook, the alliance will see Yahoo integrating Zynga games across Yahoo's broad range of sites and service offerings, that includes Yahoo's home page, Yahoo Mail, and Yahoo Messenger, which is a significant indication that Zynga will not need Facebook alone to thrive.
Zynga has just announced a new partnership with Yahoo, a major victory for both companies. A representative for Yahoo quoted by WebProNews, “The partnership integrates Zynga's most popular social games across Yahoo!, empowering users to easily play games and access updates across some of its most popular properties including the Homepage, Yahoo! Games, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! Messenger and others. The incorporation is part of Yahoo!'s commitment to provide personally relevant experiences to people, from across the Web.”
“Hold your breathe for some exciting and engaging new titles coming to Yahoo that you can easily play with your friends, family, and fellow gamers and share with your networks across Yahoo, Facebook, Twitter, and Zynga,” wrote Yahoo senior director of developer network and social platforms Cody Simms.
“In addition to the recently endorsed Facebook and Twitter integrations, this relationship is a key part of advancing Yahoo!'s social experience that lets people share updates across Yahoo! and other social platforms,” the rep says. “This will motivate deeper user engagement, and create new opportunities for developers as an extension of Zynga's current platforms.”
“Yahoo is concentrating on delivering compelling, personally relevant experiences and social games are core to this experience,” said Yahoo Americas executive VP Hilary Schneider, in a statement. “Zynga will bring top notch social game experiences to Yahoo, including through our open platforms such as Yahoo Application Platform and Yahoo Updates.”
Zynga is popularly known for versions of its hot social games currently available on Facebook. Their titles are also accessible on MySpace and the iPhone.
Yahoo, though battling a lot in recent years, has one of the biggest audiences -- an estimated 600 million users on the planet. Zynga too, is also a Goliath in its own right, claiming to have over 230 million active users play its titles every month, so this partnership may end up benefiting both companies greatly.
This partnership is amongst the latest in a series of alliances and acquisitions the company has been making to strengthen its social and mobile offerings: Yahoo just days back announced a partnership with Nokia, over mapping and messaging software, just bought the Indonesian mobile social network Koprol, and recently announced partnerships with Twitter and Facebook to bring more of its users online social lives into the Yahoo framework.
Zynga games are expected to roll out across the Yahoo network in the coming months. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
Zynga has just announced a new partnership with Yahoo, a major victory for both companies. A representative for Yahoo quoted by WebProNews, “The partnership integrates Zynga's most popular social games across Yahoo!, empowering users to easily play games and access updates across some of its most popular properties including the Homepage, Yahoo! Games, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! Messenger and others. The incorporation is part of Yahoo!'s commitment to provide personally relevant experiences to people, from across the Web.”
“Hold your breathe for some exciting and engaging new titles coming to Yahoo that you can easily play with your friends, family, and fellow gamers and share with your networks across Yahoo, Facebook, Twitter, and Zynga,” wrote Yahoo senior director of developer network and social platforms Cody Simms.
“In addition to the recently endorsed Facebook and Twitter integrations, this relationship is a key part of advancing Yahoo!'s social experience that lets people share updates across Yahoo! and other social platforms,” the rep says. “This will motivate deeper user engagement, and create new opportunities for developers as an extension of Zynga's current platforms.”
“Yahoo is concentrating on delivering compelling, personally relevant experiences and social games are core to this experience,” said Yahoo Americas executive VP Hilary Schneider, in a statement. “Zynga will bring top notch social game experiences to Yahoo, including through our open platforms such as Yahoo Application Platform and Yahoo Updates.”
Zynga is popularly known for versions of its hot social games currently available on Facebook. Their titles are also accessible on MySpace and the iPhone.
Yahoo, though battling a lot in recent years, has one of the biggest audiences -- an estimated 600 million users on the planet. Zynga too, is also a Goliath in its own right, claiming to have over 230 million active users play its titles every month, so this partnership may end up benefiting both companies greatly.
This partnership is amongst the latest in a series of alliances and acquisitions the company has been making to strengthen its social and mobile offerings: Yahoo just days back announced a partnership with Nokia, over mapping and messaging software, just bought the Indonesian mobile social network Koprol, and recently announced partnerships with Twitter and Facebook to bring more of its users online social lives into the Yahoo framework.
Zynga games are expected to roll out across the Yahoo network in the coming months. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
Facebook overhauls privacy settings
San Francisco : Social networking site Facebook introduced a new set of privacy controls Wednesday in an attempt to quell criticism that it was lax about protecting users' personal information.
The new controls are featured in a streamlined privacy panel that allows users much easier management of who can access their information.
"We believe in privacy. We believe in giving people control," Facebook founder Marc Zuckerberg said at a press conference to announce the overhaul.
"But more and more, people want to share information. As long as they have good control over that, I think that's where the world is going".
The new settings feature a single control that limits who can see the content posted by a Facebook user, and allow users to control who sees their list of friends and their personal pages - information that was previously available to all Facebook users.
"We've heard that people want a simple way to take control of their information," Zuckerberg said. "We looked at a video someone posted about how many steps it took to stop sharing their information, and we thought, 'Yeah, that's too much.'"
Facebook is making it easier for users to opt out of instant participation on Facebook's partner sites. Zuckerberg said users can quickly and easily choose a setting that won't allow their information to be shared with third-party websites. The sharing of content will also apply to Facebook products launched in the future, he said.
Criticism of Facebook has been building since December, when the company introduced new settings that automatically shared more user information unless users took convoluted steps to opt out. In addition to the company's official policies, several security snafus allowed friends to snoop on users' Facebook chats and see which partner websites they had been surfing.
The new controls are featured in a streamlined privacy panel that allows users much easier management of who can access their information.
"We believe in privacy. We believe in giving people control," Facebook founder Marc Zuckerberg said at a press conference to announce the overhaul.
"But more and more, people want to share information. As long as they have good control over that, I think that's where the world is going".
The new settings feature a single control that limits who can see the content posted by a Facebook user, and allow users to control who sees their list of friends and their personal pages - information that was previously available to all Facebook users.
"We've heard that people want a simple way to take control of their information," Zuckerberg said. "We looked at a video someone posted about how many steps it took to stop sharing their information, and we thought, 'Yeah, that's too much.'"
Facebook is making it easier for users to opt out of instant participation on Facebook's partner sites. Zuckerberg said users can quickly and easily choose a setting that won't allow their information to be shared with third-party websites. The sharing of content will also apply to Facebook products launched in the future, he said.
Criticism of Facebook has been building since December, when the company introduced new settings that automatically shared more user information unless users took convoluted steps to opt out. In addition to the company's official policies, several security snafus allowed friends to snoop on users' Facebook chats and see which partner websites they had been surfing.
Sunday, May 16, 2010
How to Get Notified When Someone Hacks Your Facebook
Facebook just announced a tool that notifies you by e-mail or SMS text message when someone logs into your Facebook profile from an unknown computer.
The idea is to help you recognize when a hacker has broken into your account so you can respond quickly by either changing your password (if that’s still possible) or contacting Facebook.
Once you enable the notifications, you’ll be required to identify each computer you use to log in when you first use it and choose whether or not it’s a private or public machine. You’ll be able to see a history of registrations from machines potentially used by hackers, and of course those hackers will be forced to type something into the identification field to get in, so you should be able to tell whether it was just a login that you forgot or not.
Here’s a quick guide to turning this feature on and using it.
Step 1: Go to Account Settings and Enable Notifications
When you’re logged into Facebook, you’ll see the word “Account” in the top right corner of the browser window. Click there to get a drop-down menu of options, then click on “Account Settings,” as pictured below.
You’ll end up looking at a page that lists ways you can customize your account, including “Name,” “Password,” “Linked Accounts” and “more.” As long as you don’t navigate away from the “Settings” tab, you’ll see “Account Security” close to the bottom of the list. Click “change” on the right to show the following option:
Check “Yes” when you see the prompt, “Would you like to receive notifications for logins from new devices?” Then click “Save.” The feature is turned on. Now we’ll show you how to use it.
Step 2: Log In and Register Your Computer
The settings won’t be customizable until you register the computer you’re logged in with, so you’ll have to first log out and then log back in. You can do this from the “Accounts” button in the top-right corner, as we mentioned before. When you log in again, you’ll see a screen titled “Register this computer.”
Type the name of the computer in (it can be anything you want as long as it’s something you’ll recognize and remember), and choose whether you want Facebook to remember this computer or not.
Facebook suggests a good rule of thumb: If the computer is a public one (like one you’d use at a library, a shared work computer or a machine in your school’s computer lab), leave the box unchecked so it will have to be registered each time a new login occurs, leading to an e-mail or text notification.
If it’s a machine you use every day, then go ahead and check the box; you probably don’t want to receive an email every time you log into Facebook from a safe place!
Now that your computer is registered, you can see more options when you revisit the “Account Settings” page where you first enabled the notifications. You’ll see a history of registrations; it won’t record every time you log into a computer that’s already registered, but it will record every new registration, which should include at least the first time any hacker logs in.
You can check or uncheck the option to have the immediate notifications sent to your cell phone via text message in addition to the basic email option.
The idea is to help you recognize when a hacker has broken into your account so you can respond quickly by either changing your password (if that’s still possible) or contacting Facebook.
Once you enable the notifications, you’ll be required to identify each computer you use to log in when you first use it and choose whether or not it’s a private or public machine. You’ll be able to see a history of registrations from machines potentially used by hackers, and of course those hackers will be forced to type something into the identification field to get in, so you should be able to tell whether it was just a login that you forgot or not.
Here’s a quick guide to turning this feature on and using it.
Step 1: Go to Account Settings and Enable Notifications
When you’re logged into Facebook, you’ll see the word “Account” in the top right corner of the browser window. Click there to get a drop-down menu of options, then click on “Account Settings,” as pictured below.
You’ll end up looking at a page that lists ways you can customize your account, including “Name,” “Password,” “Linked Accounts” and “more.” As long as you don’t navigate away from the “Settings” tab, you’ll see “Account Security” close to the bottom of the list. Click “change” on the right to show the following option:
Check “Yes” when you see the prompt, “Would you like to receive notifications for logins from new devices?” Then click “Save.” The feature is turned on. Now we’ll show you how to use it.
Step 2: Log In and Register Your Computer
The settings won’t be customizable until you register the computer you’re logged in with, so you’ll have to first log out and then log back in. You can do this from the “Accounts” button in the top-right corner, as we mentioned before. When you log in again, you’ll see a screen titled “Register this computer.”
Type the name of the computer in (it can be anything you want as long as it’s something you’ll recognize and remember), and choose whether you want Facebook to remember this computer or not.
Facebook suggests a good rule of thumb: If the computer is a public one (like one you’d use at a library, a shared work computer or a machine in your school’s computer lab), leave the box unchecked so it will have to be registered each time a new login occurs, leading to an e-mail or text notification.
If it’s a machine you use every day, then go ahead and check the box; you probably don’t want to receive an email every time you log into Facebook from a safe place!
Now that your computer is registered, you can see more options when you revisit the “Account Settings” page where you first enabled the notifications. You’ll see a history of registrations; it won’t record every time you log into a computer that’s already registered, but it will record every new registration, which should include at least the first time any hacker logs in.
You can check or uncheck the option to have the immediate notifications sent to your cell phone via text message in addition to the basic email option.
Some quitting Facebook as privacy concerns escalate
Concerns over Facebook's new privacy policy and the online social network's recent efforts to spread its information across the Web have led some of the site's faithful to delete their accounts -- or at least to try to.
On Wednesday's episode of a podcast called This Week in Technology, host Leo Laporte, a well-known tech pundit, said he had to search wikiHow, a how-to site, to figure out how to delete his Facebook account permanently.
After finding the delete button, which he said is hidden deep within the site's menus, Laporte proceeded to delete his account during the online broadcast.
"That's it. It's gone," he said during the show. "And I think that's the right thing to do."
It's unclear how many people have chosen to delete their Facebook accounts in recent weeks. The popular social network doesn't publish statistics on how many people quit the site.
But there has been much uproar online about Facebook's alleged lack of concern for the privacy of its users' personal information, and its clear that some people have become so upset that they're leaving the networking site, which has more than 400 million members.
Still, the account deletions likely aren't numerous enough to affect the site's overall size. Facebook spokeswoman Annie Ta said in an e-mail that Facebook has grown by more than 10 million active users since late April.
iReport: Are you done with Facebook?
In recent weeks, the site has been hit with several privacy bugs and scares that, among other things, made private chat conversations briefly visible to Facebook friends. And on April 21, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced a new Facebook feature called the "Open Graph," which essentially brings Facebook-like functionality to a number of websites.
CNN.com is one of several dozen sites that partner with Facebook to display and share users' interests.
Some Facebook users, including Sam Schreiber, say they are bothered by the fact that their online preferences are showing up all over the internet now, instead of just on Facebook.com.
Schreiber, a 24-year-old who considers herself social-media savvy, says she may delete her account soon because she doesn't understand Facebook's privacy settings well enough to know that her information is being kept safe.
"People already use them like it's crack, so I don't see what the next step is aside from world domination," she said. "So I just think it's too much."
She was particularly concerned when one of her Facebook friends saw on the music site Pandora that she likes the band "New Found Glory."
"I was like, that's really creepy. I haven't logged in. I didn't give it permission. I didn't do anything," she said.
Schreiber said she tried to change her Facebook privacy settings to keep that from happening again, but had to turn to news articles for information about how to do so, which she thought was unreasonable.
Facebook: Read the site's privacy policy
Facebook appears to be rattled a bit by these changes. The blog All Facebook reports that the site's executives called an "all hands" meeting Thursday to discuss its privacy policy in light of recent criticism.
And there are rumors that the site may amend its policies, as CNET reports.
The site has had its detractors before. Each time Facebook makes changes to its privacy policy, thousands of users tend to complain.
But interest in deleting Facebook accounts appears to be rising.
If you type in the phrase "How do I" on Google, one of the first suggested searches that comes up is "How do I delete my Facebook account," a factoid discovered by Danny Sullivan, a blogger at Search Engine Land.
Sullivan looked at similar searches over time and published a graph that shows searches about deleting Facebook accounts have been on the rise sharply since 2009.
"Yes, there's definitely a rising trend," he writes in a blog post on the matter. "Over time, more and more searches at Google have involved [deleting Facebook accounts], it appears. In fact, if you go back to Google and start typing in 'del,' you get 'delete facebook account' as the top suggestion."
A number of tech pundits, including Laporte, have also written recently about deleting or deactivating their accounts.
The blog Silicon Alley Insider posted a list of these on Friday with a headline that says, "Suddenly, everyone is quitting Facebook!"
The blog lists Peter Rojas of the blog GDGT and Matt Cutts from Google as among those who have deleted or deactivated their accounts.
That blog also posted a list of 10 reasons most people will not be able to part with their Facebook accounts, an apparent nod to the fact that, as Facebook continues to grow and to spread into other websites, it may become necessary to have an active Facebook account to make full use of the Web.
The New York Times also reports that people who once made a career promoting Facebook now may cancel their accounts. The newspaper says Deanna Zandt, author of a book called "Share This! How You Will Change the World With Social Networking," may delete hers.
"It's getting harder and harder for me to say, yes it's worth it, you're giving up your privacy to get these services, and I have to put my money where my mouth is," she told the paper.
Tech blogs have asked whether a "Great Facebook Deactivation Wave" is about to take off, and have listed reasons people should ditch the popular site.
Meanwhile, there is a second set of concerns about how difficult it is to delete your Facebook account if and when you decide that's what you'd like to do.
Facebook says on its website that you can "deactivate" your account by following these steps:
"To deactivate your account, navigate to the 'Settings' tab on the Account Settings page," the site says. "Deactivation will remove your profile and content associated with your account from Facebook. In addition, users will not be able to search for you or view any of your information."
But the social network will hold onto your photos and posts if you only "deactivate" your account.
If you want to completely "delete" your account -- meaning that all of your information will be deleted from view, although some of it may remain on Facebook's servers for a bit -- you can follow these instructions from wikiHow.
The user-edited site lists several methods for deleting a Facebook account. One of them is a seven-step process.
In his podcast, Laporte said one of the main reasons he felt he needed to delete his Facebook account is that having one gives his friends and family members an incentive to join, too.
And, because many people don't understand that everything on Facebook can be public, Laporte doesn't think it's responsible to have an account. By having a Facebook page, he said, "I'm coercing people I'm in relationships with to do something bad.
On Wednesday's episode of a podcast called This Week in Technology, host Leo Laporte, a well-known tech pundit, said he had to search wikiHow, a how-to site, to figure out how to delete his Facebook account permanently.
After finding the delete button, which he said is hidden deep within the site's menus, Laporte proceeded to delete his account during the online broadcast.
"That's it. It's gone," he said during the show. "And I think that's the right thing to do."
It's unclear how many people have chosen to delete their Facebook accounts in recent weeks. The popular social network doesn't publish statistics on how many people quit the site.
But there has been much uproar online about Facebook's alleged lack of concern for the privacy of its users' personal information, and its clear that some people have become so upset that they're leaving the networking site, which has more than 400 million members.
Still, the account deletions likely aren't numerous enough to affect the site's overall size. Facebook spokeswoman Annie Ta said in an e-mail that Facebook has grown by more than 10 million active users since late April.
iReport: Are you done with Facebook?
In recent weeks, the site has been hit with several privacy bugs and scares that, among other things, made private chat conversations briefly visible to Facebook friends. And on April 21, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced a new Facebook feature called the "Open Graph," which essentially brings Facebook-like functionality to a number of websites.
CNN.com is one of several dozen sites that partner with Facebook to display and share users' interests.
Some Facebook users, including Sam Schreiber, say they are bothered by the fact that their online preferences are showing up all over the internet now, instead of just on Facebook.com.
Schreiber, a 24-year-old who considers herself social-media savvy, says she may delete her account soon because she doesn't understand Facebook's privacy settings well enough to know that her information is being kept safe.
"People already use them like it's crack, so I don't see what the next step is aside from world domination," she said. "So I just think it's too much."
She was particularly concerned when one of her Facebook friends saw on the music site Pandora that she likes the band "New Found Glory."
"I was like, that's really creepy. I haven't logged in. I didn't give it permission. I didn't do anything," she said.
Schreiber said she tried to change her Facebook privacy settings to keep that from happening again, but had to turn to news articles for information about how to do so, which she thought was unreasonable.
Facebook: Read the site's privacy policy
Facebook appears to be rattled a bit by these changes. The blog All Facebook reports that the site's executives called an "all hands" meeting Thursday to discuss its privacy policy in light of recent criticism.
And there are rumors that the site may amend its policies, as CNET reports.
The site has had its detractors before. Each time Facebook makes changes to its privacy policy, thousands of users tend to complain.
But interest in deleting Facebook accounts appears to be rising.
If you type in the phrase "How do I" on Google, one of the first suggested searches that comes up is "How do I delete my Facebook account," a factoid discovered by Danny Sullivan, a blogger at Search Engine Land.
Sullivan looked at similar searches over time and published a graph that shows searches about deleting Facebook accounts have been on the rise sharply since 2009.
"Yes, there's definitely a rising trend," he writes in a blog post on the matter. "Over time, more and more searches at Google have involved [deleting Facebook accounts], it appears. In fact, if you go back to Google and start typing in 'del,' you get 'delete facebook account' as the top suggestion."
A number of tech pundits, including Laporte, have also written recently about deleting or deactivating their accounts.
The blog Silicon Alley Insider posted a list of these on Friday with a headline that says, "Suddenly, everyone is quitting Facebook!"
The blog lists Peter Rojas of the blog GDGT and Matt Cutts from Google as among those who have deleted or deactivated their accounts.
That blog also posted a list of 10 reasons most people will not be able to part with their Facebook accounts, an apparent nod to the fact that, as Facebook continues to grow and to spread into other websites, it may become necessary to have an active Facebook account to make full use of the Web.
The New York Times also reports that people who once made a career promoting Facebook now may cancel their accounts. The newspaper says Deanna Zandt, author of a book called "Share This! How You Will Change the World With Social Networking," may delete hers.
"It's getting harder and harder for me to say, yes it's worth it, you're giving up your privacy to get these services, and I have to put my money where my mouth is," she told the paper.
Tech blogs have asked whether a "Great Facebook Deactivation Wave" is about to take off, and have listed reasons people should ditch the popular site.
Meanwhile, there is a second set of concerns about how difficult it is to delete your Facebook account if and when you decide that's what you'd like to do.
Facebook says on its website that you can "deactivate" your account by following these steps:
"To deactivate your account, navigate to the 'Settings' tab on the Account Settings page," the site says. "Deactivation will remove your profile and content associated with your account from Facebook. In addition, users will not be able to search for you or view any of your information."
But the social network will hold onto your photos and posts if you only "deactivate" your account.
If you want to completely "delete" your account -- meaning that all of your information will be deleted from view, although some of it may remain on Facebook's servers for a bit -- you can follow these instructions from wikiHow.
The user-edited site lists several methods for deleting a Facebook account. One of them is a seven-step process.
In his podcast, Laporte said one of the main reasons he felt he needed to delete his Facebook account is that having one gives his friends and family members an incentive to join, too.
And, because many people don't understand that everything on Facebook can be public, Laporte doesn't think it's responsible to have an account. By having a Facebook page, he said, "I'm coercing people I'm in relationships with to do something bad.
Facebook launches new security feature
(CNN) -- Facebook has announced a new security feature that aims to keep hackers from tapping into users' personal information.
The change comes amid rising concerns about privacy and security on the online social network, which has 400 million members worldwide.
The new feature, announced Thursday, makes Facebook a bit more like an online banking site. Users can identify certain "approved" computers and mobile phones that are allowed to access their Facebook accounts. If an unauthorized device tries to log in, the user will be notified of that activity by e-mail or text message, allowing them, in theory, to shut down an attack before any information is stolen.
In order to access a Facebook account from a new computer, or from a friend's phone, for example, users may have to answer a security question.
Facebook says the feature is unique in the social networking world.
"We're confident that these new tools and systems will do a lot to prevent unauthorized logins and the nuisance they can cause," Lev Popov, a Facebook software engineer, writes in a company blog post. "As always, though, the first line of defense is you. We need you to help by practicing safe behavior on Facebook and wherever you go online."
Facebook users must choose to activate this change. To do so, log in to Facebook and click the "Account" button at the top right of the screen. From that menu, select "Account Settings." Scroll down to "Account Security" at the bottom of the page and click the link that says "change."
The site asks: "Would you like to receive notifications for logins from new devices?" If you would like to receive such updates, then click the button by "yes."
Facebook has come under fire in recent weeks for changes to its privacy policy and its announcement of the "open graph," which essentially extends Facebook's social features onto a number of other websites, including CNN.com.
Some users have complained they are uneasy about their personal preferences showing up on sites other than Facebook.com. Recently, an unknown number of people, including some notable tech pundits, have deleted or deactivated their Facebook accounts in response to privacy concerns.
Last month, a group of U.S. senators sent a letter to Facebook asking the company, which was started in a Harvard dorm room and is now valued at billions of dollars, to give users more control of their private information.
The new security features do not address the issues most users have been complaining about, such as whether Facebook will keep their information private. Instead, the latest feature aims to protect Facebook users from external hackers. It does not change company policy.
The online media this week jumped on news, confirmed by CNN content partner CNET, that Facebook called an "all-hands" meeting in response to the swell of concern over privacy issues. Facebook makes no mention of this meeting in its blog post, and it remains unclear whether Thursday's changes were a result of that meeting.
Thursday's changes are drawing some skepticism online.
Dan Nosowitz, a blogger at Fast Company, questioned whether Facebook should have made its new privacy setting active by default.
"Oddly, this system is 'opt-in,' meaning by default it's not enabled. You have to dig through Facebook's labyrinthine privacy settings to turn it on," he writes. "This might be a mistake, given how complex and intimidating Facebook's privacy settings already are."
On PC World's website, JR Raphael writes that the changes may not do much to ameliorate the concerns of angry Facebook users: "Facebook has just unveiled a new set of user controls, but it isn't likely to do much in the way of calming anger about the social network's privacy policies."
Let us know what you think of the changes in the comments below. What do you think of Facebook's efforts to integrate into other websites? Do you feel secure when using the site?
The change comes amid rising concerns about privacy and security on the online social network, which has 400 million members worldwide.
The new feature, announced Thursday, makes Facebook a bit more like an online banking site. Users can identify certain "approved" computers and mobile phones that are allowed to access their Facebook accounts. If an unauthorized device tries to log in, the user will be notified of that activity by e-mail or text message, allowing them, in theory, to shut down an attack before any information is stolen.
In order to access a Facebook account from a new computer, or from a friend's phone, for example, users may have to answer a security question.
Facebook says the feature is unique in the social networking world.
"We're confident that these new tools and systems will do a lot to prevent unauthorized logins and the nuisance they can cause," Lev Popov, a Facebook software engineer, writes in a company blog post. "As always, though, the first line of defense is you. We need you to help by practicing safe behavior on Facebook and wherever you go online."
Facebook users must choose to activate this change. To do so, log in to Facebook and click the "Account" button at the top right of the screen. From that menu, select "Account Settings." Scroll down to "Account Security" at the bottom of the page and click the link that says "change."
The site asks: "Would you like to receive notifications for logins from new devices?" If you would like to receive such updates, then click the button by "yes."
Facebook has come under fire in recent weeks for changes to its privacy policy and its announcement of the "open graph," which essentially extends Facebook's social features onto a number of other websites, including CNN.com.
Some users have complained they are uneasy about their personal preferences showing up on sites other than Facebook.com. Recently, an unknown number of people, including some notable tech pundits, have deleted or deactivated their Facebook accounts in response to privacy concerns.
Last month, a group of U.S. senators sent a letter to Facebook asking the company, which was started in a Harvard dorm room and is now valued at billions of dollars, to give users more control of their private information.
The new security features do not address the issues most users have been complaining about, such as whether Facebook will keep their information private. Instead, the latest feature aims to protect Facebook users from external hackers. It does not change company policy.
The online media this week jumped on news, confirmed by CNN content partner CNET, that Facebook called an "all-hands" meeting in response to the swell of concern over privacy issues. Facebook makes no mention of this meeting in its blog post, and it remains unclear whether Thursday's changes were a result of that meeting.
Thursday's changes are drawing some skepticism online.
Dan Nosowitz, a blogger at Fast Company, questioned whether Facebook should have made its new privacy setting active by default.
"Oddly, this system is 'opt-in,' meaning by default it's not enabled. You have to dig through Facebook's labyrinthine privacy settings to turn it on," he writes. "This might be a mistake, given how complex and intimidating Facebook's privacy settings already are."
On PC World's website, JR Raphael writes that the changes may not do much to ameliorate the concerns of angry Facebook users: "Facebook has just unveiled a new set of user controls, but it isn't likely to do much in the way of calming anger about the social network's privacy policies."
Let us know what you think of the changes in the comments below. What do you think of Facebook's efforts to integrate into other websites? Do you feel secure when using the site?
I Can't Quit You - Facebook
You see, I use you, Facebook, as part of my job. I'm a journalist and Web producer, and as soon as this blog goes live, I'll be posting a link to it on my professional Facebook page as well as the personal page, not to mention Twitter and Google Buzz, etc., etc.
So unlike the hoards of people that are dropping off Facebook like flies off a hot windowsill (and here are 10 good reasons to do it), I'll still be on site, buzzing around, hoping I don't get burned.
But Facebook, I'm not afraid of you. I know that a lot of my personal information is already out there on the Internet. Just Google my name. And when I surf the Net, I see ads come up for items that I've recently explored on shopping sites. Like those refrigerators. (Listen, I'm buying it at a local scratch-n-dent store, okay? So quit showing me the LG Stainless Steel French Door refrigerator in the right margin. I've got it covered.)
And I'm also used to having to "opt out" of choices, as opposed to opting in. Just this morning, I bought a magazine subscription for my roommate as a birthday present and I was told in small print that by making the purchase, which was just a 1-year subscription, that I was agreeing to renew the subscription annually and authorizing them to charge my credit card indefinitely or until the end of time, whichever came first.
So I'm not shocked by your behavior. You're pushing the limits, and I suspect that in a couple of years, no one will care. Sure everyone is all up in arms today because it's new and people feel threatened. But you're betting on the future, aren't you Facebook? We'll all become complacent drones in a society where all of our demands are met by us just existing. Bring on the Soma.
Nonetheless, I'm taking precautions, Facebook. And it's not that difficult, despite some of what I've already read suggesting that I have to spend hours and hours digging through menu choices and [GASP!] clicking on links. WHEW! I'm out of breath just thinking about it.
But here's what I did.
So unlike the hoards of people that are dropping off Facebook like flies off a hot windowsill (and here are 10 good reasons to do it), I'll still be on site, buzzing around, hoping I don't get burned.
But Facebook, I'm not afraid of you. I know that a lot of my personal information is already out there on the Internet. Just Google my name. And when I surf the Net, I see ads come up for items that I've recently explored on shopping sites. Like those refrigerators. (Listen, I'm buying it at a local scratch-n-dent store, okay? So quit showing me the LG Stainless Steel French Door refrigerator in the right margin. I've got it covered.)
And I'm also used to having to "opt out" of choices, as opposed to opting in. Just this morning, I bought a magazine subscription for my roommate as a birthday present and I was told in small print that by making the purchase, which was just a 1-year subscription, that I was agreeing to renew the subscription annually and authorizing them to charge my credit card indefinitely or until the end of time, whichever came first.
So I'm not shocked by your behavior. You're pushing the limits, and I suspect that in a couple of years, no one will care. Sure everyone is all up in arms today because it's new and people feel threatened. But you're betting on the future, aren't you Facebook? We'll all become complacent drones in a society where all of our demands are met by us just existing. Bring on the Soma.
Nonetheless, I'm taking precautions, Facebook. And it's not that difficult, despite some of what I've already read suggesting that I have to spend hours and hours digging through menu choices and [GASP!] clicking on links. WHEW! I'm out of breath just thinking about it.
But here's what I did.
- I didn't download any apps. I don't play your damn Farmville or Mafia Wars games.
- I took Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols, a writer at PC World, advice and went to my profile page where I edited down the basic information that shows up under my photo.
- Next, I went to Account > Privacy Settings > Personal Information and Posts and chose "Only Friends" or "Only Me" for the items. I clicked on photos and chose the same.
- I made similar choices in Contact Information and Friends, Tags and Connections.
- I noticed under Privacy Settings > Search that the most private choice in the pull down offerings was "Only Friends," for who can see my search results on Facebook. I'm unable to chose "Only Me." Why is that, Facebook? I think I know [dataCOUGHmining].
- And thanks to this scary story from Dan Tinan, a writer at ITWorld, I paid special attention to the line item controlling what my friends can share about me.
- Lastly, I followed Vaughan-Nichols' advice regarding your Instant Personalization Pilot Program and decided to not "Allow select partners to instantly personalize their features with my public information when I first arrive on their websites." You tried to stop me when I unchecked the box. Don't act like you didn't. I saw the pop-up box with it's warning, and my heart skipped a beat thinking that I might be missing out on something REALLY, REALLY IMPORTANT. But I'm better that, Facebook. I'm stronger than you.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Facebook plans to add 'place' feature
Facebook on Friday proposed creating a way for people to add their locations to Facebook pages but released almost no details about how the feature will work.
The location-based feature, hinted at in a post on Facebook's blog, would give the social network's 400 million-plus members a function that has been popularized on newer "location-based" Web sites like Foursquare and Gowalla.
Those two sites feature mobile apps that are set up like games, encouraging smartphone- or laptop-wielding users to "check in" at restaurants, businesses and public locations. When a person checks in to a certain spot, his or her friends are alerted about their whereabouts.
Posting locations in addition to status messages and Web links has become a major theme of online social networking this year.
In a blog post on Friday, Michael Richter, Facebook's deputy general counsel, provided few details about how the places feature would work but did confirm that Facebook is working on features that use people's locations.
He writes that the addition is "more exciting" than a location feature the company had been planning.
"The last time we updated the Privacy Policy, we included language describing a location feature we might build in the future. At that point, we thought the primary use would be to 'add a location to something you post.' Now, we've got some different ideas that we think are even more exciting," Richter wrote.
"So, we've removed the old language and, instead added the concept of a 'place' that could refer to a Page, such as one for a local restaurant. As we finalize the product, we look forward to providing more details, including new privacy controls," the post says.
This month, The New York Times cited unnamed sources saying Facebook would unveil its location-based feature at its annual f8 conference for Facebook application developers, which begins April 21 in San Francisco, California.
Friday's Facebook post also says that the massive social networking site will make changes "sometime soon" to the policies that govern how it works.
Such alterations typically draw raucous debate, and often backlash, from the Facebook community, but the site says it is announcing the changes for review before they go into effect so users will have time to read them and post comments.
The idea of a "place" is mentioned at least twice in the proposed policy.
"Once you register you can provide other information about yourself by connecting with, for example, your current city, hometown, family, relationships, networks, activities, interests, and places," the policy says.
In a section about information the site collects about you from other users, the policy says: "We may collect information about you from other Facebook users, such as when a friend tags you in a photo, video, or place, provides friend details, or indicates a relationship with you."
The addition of "place" into Facebook lingo is an important change, Marshall Kirkpatrick writes on the blog ReadWriteWeb.
"The difference between location and Place is a significant one. Substantial resources are dedicated by location-aware social networks to determine what 'place' your location refers to," he writes.
"That might mean neighborhood, it might mean business name and it might mean recognizing when you are posting from home so that location can be selectively hidden if you so choose."
On the tech blog VentureBeat, Kim-Mai Cutler writes that the "place" feature could make Facebook pages for businesses and television shows more interesting.
"This could make Fan Pages for restaurants a lot richer and maybe even competitive to Google's Place Pages or Yelp's listings," she writes.
"If you could tag an update or post with a venue, you probably attach comments, mini-reviews and photos to the Fan Page."
The location-based feature, hinted at in a post on Facebook's blog, would give the social network's 400 million-plus members a function that has been popularized on newer "location-based" Web sites like Foursquare and Gowalla.
Those two sites feature mobile apps that are set up like games, encouraging smartphone- or laptop-wielding users to "check in" at restaurants, businesses and public locations. When a person checks in to a certain spot, his or her friends are alerted about their whereabouts.
Posting locations in addition to status messages and Web links has become a major theme of online social networking this year.
In a blog post on Friday, Michael Richter, Facebook's deputy general counsel, provided few details about how the places feature would work but did confirm that Facebook is working on features that use people's locations.
He writes that the addition is "more exciting" than a location feature the company had been planning.
"The last time we updated the Privacy Policy, we included language describing a location feature we might build in the future. At that point, we thought the primary use would be to 'add a location to something you post.' Now, we've got some different ideas that we think are even more exciting," Richter wrote.
"So, we've removed the old language and, instead added the concept of a 'place' that could refer to a Page, such as one for a local restaurant. As we finalize the product, we look forward to providing more details, including new privacy controls," the post says.
This month, The New York Times cited unnamed sources saying Facebook would unveil its location-based feature at its annual f8 conference for Facebook application developers, which begins April 21 in San Francisco, California.
Friday's Facebook post also says that the massive social networking site will make changes "sometime soon" to the policies that govern how it works.
Such alterations typically draw raucous debate, and often backlash, from the Facebook community, but the site says it is announcing the changes for review before they go into effect so users will have time to read them and post comments.
The idea of a "place" is mentioned at least twice in the proposed policy.
"Once you register you can provide other information about yourself by connecting with, for example, your current city, hometown, family, relationships, networks, activities, interests, and places," the policy says.
In a section about information the site collects about you from other users, the policy says: "We may collect information about you from other Facebook users, such as when a friend tags you in a photo, video, or place, provides friend details, or indicates a relationship with you."
The addition of "place" into Facebook lingo is an important change, Marshall Kirkpatrick writes on the blog ReadWriteWeb.
"The difference between location and Place is a significant one. Substantial resources are dedicated by location-aware social networks to determine what 'place' your location refers to," he writes.
"That might mean neighborhood, it might mean business name and it might mean recognizing when you are posting from home so that location can be selectively hidden if you so choose."
On the tech blog VentureBeat, Kim-Mai Cutler writes that the "place" feature could make Facebook pages for businesses and television shows more interesting.
"This could make Fan Pages for restaurants a lot richer and maybe even competitive to Google's Place Pages or Yelp's listings," she writes.
"If you could tag an update or post with a venue, you probably attach comments, mini-reviews and photos to the Fan Page."
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