Facebook Users: Four Privacy Concerns You Should Be Aware Of

The hugely popular social networking site, Facebook, makes it easy for you to stay in touch with friends and family, regardless of geographic distance. You can keep up with the news, new music, your favorite businesses, and upcoming events. The service is free for users, so cost is not a barrier. However, with all these advantages, you do give up some degree of privacy, and not all users are aware of these privacy concerns.

Super cookies used to track user visits to other sites

Although most regular cookies are considered harmless, Facebook users should be aware that the social networking site uses something called “super cookies.” With these great cookies, Facebook can track your visits for 90 days to other websites. Facebook claims that it uses this information to improve user experience by allowing the site to target ads based on the interests of account holders. Some privacy experts are concerned that Facebook could sell this information to third parties. If you are concerned about super cookies, you can delete them.

Deleted User Information Retained

Users who delete their Facebook accounts may feel like they’ve taken a step toward regaining some privacy. However, they should be aware that even if they have deleted their account, Facebook still retains all of their information, including photos and wall posts, so these users are still at risk in the event of security breaches. .

facial recognition

Some privacy experts are concerned about the use of facial recognition software and Facebook users’ profile photos. This auto-tagging can happen when a friend uploads a batch of photos. Facial recognition technology scans photos against a database of other photos to find matches and can automatically tag them. This can happen without your knowledge.

Automatic Passive Sharing

Some Facebook users may not realize they are sharing to Facebook when reading news articles or listening to music. Users had the option to opt-in to sharing when Facebook rolled out this feature, but many users may not have understood what they were agreeing to.

ways to protect yourself

If your privacy is important to you, you can take steps to help protect it. Stay up-to-date on what Facebook software updates entail. If you are presented with privacy options, please read the descriptions of each option carefully so that you understand what you are agreeing to.

Check the news regularly for stories about privacy issues on Facebook. This can help you take action quickly if a problem arises.

Please review your privacy settings periodically to make sure you are comfortable with them. Settings that may have been fine when you were a college student who was Facebook friends only with other students, may not be appropriate when you start “friending” bosses at your workplace.

One of the best ways to help protect yourself is to not post anything, even to a close group of friends, that you would be embarrassed to go public with.