Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg finally gave in to pressure from critics this week and announced plans to update the site's privacy settings. In Lanai Vasek's article, published in The Australian on May 24th, it was reported that Mr Zuckerberg announced the plans by exchanging an email with popular technology blogger Robert Scoble who soon shared it on his website, apparently with Zuckerberg's permission. The announcement came little over a week after a Sydney teenager was allegedly murdered by a man who had befriended her on the site, with Zuckerberg stating: 'I know we've made a bunch of mistakes, but my hope at the end of this is that the service ends up in a better place and that people understand that ...we respond to the feedback from the people we serve'.With Facebook continuing to grow and expand it has come under fire from privacy and consumer groups over its fancy new features, most recently the ability to share data with Twitter, which compromise the privacy of its 400 Million+ members. These features basically make personal information available to third-party websites, and, according to user surveys, the site's current 5 830 word privacy policy isn't making that clear enough. Facebook said it would now move to make its personal information settings 'simpler and easier to use.'
May 31st has been declared Quit Facebook Day and more than 13,000 people signed up to the boycott led by Canadian internet consultants Matthew Milan and Joseph Dee. The pair, along with many others, believe Facebook makes it too difficult for users to understand the site's information and settings, ultimately compromising privacy.
According to RMIT University senior lecturer Jeremy Yuille, 'teenagers using social networking sites are often the most vulnerable online' as many spend hours a day unmonitered on social networking sites. This month the federal government has also stepped in by launching an inquiry into into cyber safety and urging parents to monitor their children online.
This latest bungle has also put 26 year old Zuckerberg's ability as CEO in to question, with claims, among others, that he is sex crazy and too young to run such a huge a company. In my opionion Zuckerberg probably shouldn't be incharge of everything on such a popular, largely used website, and more complicated legal issues like privacy should be handled both professionally and maturely. However, the guy created the thing from the ground up so we have to give him some credit, even if hes not the next Bill Gates.
No comments:
Post a Comment