Recently, without notification, Facebook made another change that has vastly increased the over-sharing prevalent in social networking. It’s innocently called “See Friendship,” and it makes stalking on Facebook even easier than it was before. You may not have it on your account yet, because it is still in the process of being phased in. However, regardless of whether you have it yet, it should be a matter of some concern.
The feature allows you to see the entire Facebook relationship between two friends, or one of your friends and one of his/her friends who hasn’t enabled certain privacy settings. Basically it replaces “See Wall-to-Wall” and adheres to whatever privacy settings users have for that feature, but it’s much creepier. “See Friendship” makes a page with a randomly selected photo of two friends, all of their wall postings, shared photos, events they both attended, comments on each other’s statuses, mutual friends, and mutual “likes,” with the option to “See All,” going back to the beginning of when they started to share on Facebook. If that isn’t enough, on the right side there are a few friendships ready for you to view, or, if you’re particularly curious or bored, you can type in two names to see any Facebook friendship you desire.
I am definitely a chronic Facebook user. At first I resisted joining, finding the whole thing way too creepy. Then one especially dull day at work on the 45th floor of the BMO building got the best of me, and I decided to see what it was all about. A few years later I am as dependent on Facebook as anyone else. Part of me would like to quit, especially after this latest addition, but then I’d miss out on all of the advantages I’m sure you are well aware of. I exercise my right to have a locked-down profile through the privacy settings Facebook allows and go about my business. Then sometimes I find myself looking at wedding pictures of people I don’t even know, and I think: “Is this really what Facebook should be used for?” The answer has got to be no.
Why do we want to stalk people over the Internet? Does the fact that it’s so easy make it acceptable? If you were sitting around your living room with friends and glanced out the window to see a bunch of people watching you, you would probably be freaked out. Yet Facebook allows us to do just that, and now with the option of seeing everything two friends have shared, in all its Internet glory.
Granted, privacy settings allow us to only share what we want to share. This “See Friendship” feature won’t give your friends new access to the FB existence you have, but it puts it all in one overly convenient place, which you may or may not appreciate. And it was done sneakily. Where is the notice explaining what it is, and where is the “opt-out,” Mark Zuckerberg? I feel violated.
What about people who have fairly lax privacy settings? Or what’s recommended by Facebook?
U of T Computer Science Professor Graeme Hirst points out that “it seems to be a useful feature for stalking people who are friends of friends (e.g. an ex- and his or her new special friend.) [Although] the information is technically ‘public,’ it can be a creepy kind of hearsay nonetheless. The way to opt out is to be careful about what you let friends of friends see.”
The biggest issue is that this is just another move on Facebook’s part aimed at making more information available to the public and third party developers so the company can earn more money. Applications such as Farmville have shared user information and send IDs to external companies, although FB has stated the situation is resolved, for now.
You may recall a new tool in December 2009 that made more information available, by reverting accounts to a default privacy setting until users reviewed and re-set their controls. In response to complaints, Canada’s Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart, launched her second investigation of Facebook. It was completed in September when the commissioner released a statement saying, “Overall, Facebook has implemented the changes it promised following our investigation. However, our work with Facebook is not over.” Neither should yours be. This latest development serves as a reminder that Facebook privacy may be an oxymoron, so be careful what you share.
