Facebook's Utopian Dream Hides Something Sinister

Clause giving site permanent license to content slammed

(NEWSER) - An outcry over a terms of service change has forced Facebook's founder to reassure users that they still own and control their own information, the New York Times reports. The update—which remains unchanged—removed a provision that said users could delete their content at any time, and added a clause saying users’ content would be retained even after accounts are terminated. More»

Also: Site poised for $2B in revenue this year

(NEWSER) - Get ready for another Facebook update: Next week, the site will start rolling out new face-recognition technology for photos, the Huffington Post reports. It’s “comforting” to know that the service won’t be automatic, writes Larry Magid. If the site thinks it recognizes someone, it will ask you for confirmation. Ignore it, and no tagging takes place. Privacy settings won’t change—you’ll still be alerted when you’re tagged and able to remove any unwanted tags. More»

The new controls are causing lots of embarrassment for people

(NEWSER) - In its quest to "simplify and enhance the privacy experience" on Facebook, the company appears to have stripped away key features forever, writes Ryan Tate writes on Gawker . Now, you can't:

• Hide group/page memberships: Thanks, FB, says one user who must decide whether to defriend grandma or let her in on a Queer Graduate Student Union affiliation.

Privacy protests result in a swift U-turn on terms of service

(NEWSER) - Facebook has done an about-face and withdrawn its new terms of service following a public outcry, CNET reports. The fine-print update appeared to give the site perpetual rights to users' content, prompting threats of a federal complaint from a major privacy watchdog and mass desertion from tens of thousands of users. More»

Site is all about sharing, so stop expecting a 'silver bullet' fix: Farhad Manjoo

(NEWSER) - Facebook is submitting to a government crackdown on privacy, and Mark Zuckerberg acknowledges “a bunch of mistakes” on that front. But the site’s privacy issues are as much our own fault as Zuck’s, writes Farhad Manjoo in Slate . The “idea that we can control the audience for anything we post online” is simply “misguided,” he writes. “The entire point of Facebook is to allow us to connect and share stuff.” More»