I read this entire piece out aloud to Dawn just now. Saying
‘This is what I’ve been saying. Isn’t this what I’ve been saying?’
She says ‘Yep! Just a pity you couldn’t articulate it as well as danah boyd”
Oh well, at least I can repost some of danah’s key points describing the Facebook approach:
For all of the repentance by Facebook, what really bugs me is that this is the third time that Facebook has violated people’s sense of privacy in a problematic way.In each incident, Facebook pushed the boundaries of privacy a bit further and, when public outcry took place, retreated just a wee bit to make people feel more comfortable
I kinda suspect that Facebook loses very little when there is public outrage. They gain a lot of free press and by taking a step back after taking 10 steps forward, they end up looking like the good guy, even when nine steps forward is still a dreadful end result.
Most people… will still believe that Facebook is far more private than other social network sites (even though this is patently untrue). And, unless there is a large lawsuit or new legislation introduced, I suspect that Facebook will continue to push the edges when it comes to user privacy.
danah also explains how Facebook expertly negotiates the confusion about how ‘defaults’ ought to be set. (after the jump) Continue Reading »
