FACEBOOK USERS might suddenly find that the things they thought to be secret could become public knowledge.
The social notworking site has revamped its privacy settings so it prompts users to post their status updates and personal information directly to the Internet for everyone to see.
The big idea is to give users more control over who sees the
information they post on their personal pages, and it suggests users
publish posts and personal information, such as work and education.
If you log on to Facebook you will get a transition tool that
explains the changes and gives you an option to update your settings,
either according to Facebook's recommendations or to preserve their
existing settings.
However Facebook seems to be generally encouraging users to loosen their privacy controls.
Facebook's old privacy settings were confusing and only 15 per cent
to 20 per cent of Facebook users have specified their privacy settings.
Privacy advocates are worried that users will expose too much about themselves, inadvertently or not.
It does happen. A mate of mine found out that his girlfriend was
expressing undying love to another bloke on her "what are you thinking
about section". He didn't even know she was on Facebook.