Does Facebook privacy even matter anymore?

That’s the question I’m asking myself after polling the Victoria BC online community in preparation for my interview on CBC Radio (On The Island). 

QuitFacebookDay

Sure there are over 11,000 "committed" to quitting Facebook on May 31 on the QuitFacebookDay website. But considering there are more than 15 million Canadian Facebook accounts, that won’t even show up on their radar. I left a comment on the QuitFacebookDay website and spoke via Twitter to the two guys that started the site, @mmilan and @josephdee, however my comment seems to have disappeared. I can’t find it on the site anyway… 

Don’t get me wrong, I have the same concerns about my privacy as everyone else. I would like to have more control over what information Facebook shares about me and would prefer that Facebook stop changing the rules whenever they feel like. However, as that’s likely not going to happen, I choose to be more proactive about learning to manage my privacy settings. 

The good news is that every individual on Facebook has ultimate control over their privacy and what information gets shared. The bad news is that figuring out where and how to manage that isn’t easy. 

CBC Radio Interview

I took a video of my interview with Gregor Craigie on CBC Radio this morning. The lighting isn’t ideal, it is a radio studio after all, but the audio is good. If you weren’t able to catch it live this morning you can hear and see it in its entirety.

Feedback

Here are a couple of the responses I received from local #YYJ folk via Twitter: 

• "…don’t care, never assumed it was "private" in the first place, also wouldnt consider it a valid "backup" for my lifes memories"
• "FB privacy is an illusion. Clicking a checkbox is not going to protect you. If you want privacy don’t post anything personal online"
• "I monitor my settings very closely. Where it gets ugly is when something my friend does (or neglects) impacts my privacy."
• "…isn’t everything pretty much public already? Don’t share what you don’t want others to know."
• "I’m not concerned…in my opinion if you want privacy, you won’t find it on the Internet."
• "I kind of assume that everything I post is puBlic domain anyway… But would appreciate less surprises."

I also posted a poll on Linkedin asking what people plan to do in response to the Facebook privacy issue. You can see the results or vote here. 

If you’re reading this you obviously have an opinion – please leave a comment below, I’d like to hear from you.