Facebook Privacy

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The Unofficial Facebook Privacy Manual

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Table of Contents Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 5 A realistic look at privacy online .................................................................................... 5

Using Facebook’s Privacy Settings .................................................................................... 7 Customise and Preview Settings .................................................................................... 8

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Levels of Privacy ............................................................................................................... 9 Who can see your information on Facebook ............................................................ 10 Regarding Minors........................................................................................................ 11

Friends Only: A Quick Universal Setting ....................................................................... 11

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Search Results & Google ............................................................................................... 12 Remove Yourself From Facebook Search............................................................... 12 Remove Yourself from Google Search Results ....................................................... 13 Controlling ―Places‖....................................................................................................... 14

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Managing Friends With Lists .............................................................................................. 15 Changing privacy settings for certain friend lists ....................................................... 15 Viewing filtered news feed & editing lists ................................................................ 17 Using friends lists to manage chat priv acy ............................................................. 18

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Fundamental Privacy Controls......................................................................................... 20 Privacy of your basic updates ...................................................................................... 21 Deleting a Status Update .......................................................................................... 22 Posting on other people's walls ................................................................................ 23

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Photo Albums & Tagging............................................................................................... 23 Ev ents Privacy ................................................................................................................. 24 Facebook Message Privacy ......................................................................................... 25 Networks .......................................................................................................................... 26

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Groups.............................................................................................................................. 26 Pages ............................................................................................................................... 26 Questions ......................................................................................................................... 27 Controlling who can write on your wall ...................................................................... 27 Control w ho can comment on posts ...................................................................... 28

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Control w ho can see posts by friends on your w all ............................................... 29 Control w ho sees photos tagged as you.................................................................... 29

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The Unofficial Facebook Privacy Manual

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Introduction To fully understand priv acy on Facebook, and how it's likely to ev olve, you need to understand one thing. I n short: Facebook executives want everyone to be public. As the service evolves executives tend to fav our open access to information, meaning as time marches on information you think is priv ate will slowly become public.

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That doesn’t mean you can’t be priv ate if you w ant to; Facebook gives its users the option to lock things dow n. But users need to be aw are of the controls, how to use them and how to prepare for future Facebook privacy changes. Facebook hasn’t, and w on’t, make this information obv ious, and that’s w here this guide comes in.

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A realistic look at privacy online Think about the reality of your information online. I nformation about you is already av ailable in many places, so you need to remain aw are of the w hole picture in order to keep yourself, your friends and your family safe.

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Ensure that the information you put online can't be collected to put yourself or anyone you know in danger. For example: I f your name and address appear in the phone book, don't publicly tell people on Facebook w hen you're going aw ay for the w eekend.

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A basic w ay to guard your priv acy is to behave as if every piece of information online is already public. Given this premise, try not to add anything to a picture that allow s a stranger to know exactly where you w ill be, w here you live or puts you in danger in any w ay.

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I t's a good idea to understand the many w ays in w hich your privacy could be breached online. I t's not alw ays w hat you might expect. Your friends might share your information w ithout knowing you w anted to keep it priv ate. For example: Putting photos of you online or tagging you in photos (especially those w hich make it clear w here you w ere at a giv en time).

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Sharing your phone number, address or child's name.

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Mentioning publicly that you are going aw ay for the w eekend.

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Excitedly sharing new s you only w anted a few people to know.

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Accidentally sharing a screenshot that shows your private information.

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Someone might deliberately share your information. For example:

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The Unofficial Facebook Privacy Manual

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Using Facebook’s Privacy Settings Let’s take a look at the priv acy settings, shall w e?

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The Account > Privacy Settings page show s a quick table ov erview of your current priv acy settings. Most privacy setting changes can be accessed through this page. There is a ―Customise Settings‖ option in the middle, and at the top and bottom you can also see links to priv acy controls for directory information, applications, block lists and learning more. These are all important priv acy navigation links.

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The Unofficial Facebook Privacy Manual

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This prev iew shows you w hat a normal v isitor to your profile will see. If you type a friend's name in the search box it w ill show you exactly w hat that person sees when they v iew your profile.

Levels of Privacy

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This w ill come in v ery handy w hen you start experimenting with controlling privacy information.

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You’ll notice, as you change these settings, that there are four main lev els of privacy av ailable.

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Things that most people think is private (but are public by default) include Google search results, letting applications your friends use know your information, pages you ―like‖, allowing websites and applications you use know your information, instant personalisation by Facebook partner sites, ability to add you as a friend, ability to send you a message, status updates, bio & fav ourite quotes, current location, hometown, interests, relationships and family.

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Things which friends of friends can see or do—w hich most people w ant to change to ―friends only‖ or make ev en more private—include photo albums, photos and v ideos you're tagged in, see your w all posts made by your mutual friends, religious beliefs, political beliefs, education, w ork history and your birthday.

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Things which your friends can see or do—which most people w ant to change to a subset of friends or make entirely priv ate—include status updates, show ing people which applications you use (and w hich ones you've used recently), posting responses on your posts, email addresses, IM details, phone numbers, address, posting to your w all, tagging you in photos, seeing your entire friend list, inv iting you to ev ents, inviting you to use applications and searching for you on Facebook.

Regarding Minors

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You may also w ish to block a particular user, meaning they can’t see anything about you.

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Under-18s hav e a little more protection on Facebook. Even if they change their settings to be public, Facebook w ill ensure they do not show up in Google searches, and their information is only v isible to friends of friends or their networks. What is still public to all is their name, profile picture, gender and netw orks.

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This means that if a teenager has joined a high school network, that netw ork information is v iewable by ev eryone. This is a big security concern; it means people know where they will be on a regular basis. Teenagers should also be reminded to check their security settings before they turn 18: the protection expires then.

Friends Only: A Quick Universal Setting

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Ov erwhelmed already? Well, if you don’t w ant to spend a lot of time messing around w ith settings, the ―Friend’s Only‖ option is a great first step. Make this change and only people you’v e allowed to see your profile will be able to do so. Brow se to Account > Privacy Settings, then click on ―friends only‖ on the left hand side follow ed by ―apply these settings‖.

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Under ―Search for me on Facebook‖, choose ―Friends Only‖ to be as secure as possible or ―Friends of Friends‖ if you prefer. Either of these options will remove you from public Facebook search results, as w ell as Google search results.

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Remove Yourself from Google Search Results

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I f your Facebook search availability is set to ―Ev eryone‖ you can still choose to remov e yourself from Google search results.

To remov e yourself from Google search results, go to your Account > Privacy Settings and choose ―Applications and Websites‖. Choose the ―Public Search‖ section, then ―Edit Settings‖.

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.co Deselect the option to ―Enable Public Search‖.

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Managing Friends With Lists

Friends lists can be used to filter your new s feed, choose who you want to chat w ith, make ev ent invitations easier and filter your updates and personal information from certain people. They're extremely useful and best set up as soon as possible, so that you can add friends to the right lists as you connect w ith them on Facebook.

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From the home page, click on the ―Friends‖ application. Then, at the top you'll see ―Create a List‖.

A few lists you'll probably w ant to make: Relationship to you: Friends; Family; Professional; Acquaintance.

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How much you like them: Best friends; People you w ant to hear from; People you don't w ant to chat to often. How you know them: Clubs & Associations; School/University; Conference; Mutual I nterest; Social Circle.

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These groups are just recommendations; you’ll discov er what’s useful for you as w e continue.

Changing privacy settings for certain friend lists

Almost ev ery privacy setting and update on Facebook can be fine-tuned to be controlled by friends list. I t's a v ery powerful privacy tool.

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For example: w henever you update your status, add photos or add a link you should see a little padlock. Click this to set the security level for just that update, ov erriding general priv acy settings.

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Note that the method for filtering priv acy settings by friend list is much the same as it is for an update. When you sav e the settings you can continue to post the update as normal. Click on the padlock if you w ant to re-enter the settings w e've just been through. Once posted, you can check the settings by hov ering over the padlock symbol.

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Viewing filtered news feed & editing lists

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Go to the Friends application from your home page, then click on the list you need to edit. Note that this is also how you v iew filtered news feeds. Click ―edit list‖ in the top right and click on w hoever you need to add to or remov e from the list.

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The Unofficial Facebook Privacy Manual

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Drag them around and click ―Finished Re-ordering‖.

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To the right of each list is a green symbol – click to appear offline to all on the list.

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The grey symbol means that you're now offline for those people.

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Privacy of your basic updates

When a Facebook user posts and updates, it show s up in the new s feeds of friends. It also goes on the user’s w all, meaning v isitors to their profile can see recent activity. Depending on the priv acy levels chosen, an update can also be show n to friends of friends or beyond (ie, on netw orks and community pages.)

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Tagging a person, using status updates, notes tagging, photo tagging or v ideo tagging, w ill also make that update appear in that person's profile and in the new s feeds of their friends.

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When you tag an ev ent, group or page, not only w ill your friends see this on your w all and in their new s feed: the update w ill show up on the w all of the relev ant ev ent, group or page and the new s feeds of people following that group, ev ent or page. Your priv acy settings can offset this.

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For example, the follow ing exchange was one I saw in my home feed. I knew the girl listed at the top as commenting on the status. I don't know the person who w rote the original status or any of the people w ho w rote the other comments.

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―Clear‖ w on't remove the update from your w all or news feed; it just clears the ―current status‖.

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Consider w all posts to be the equiv alent of sharing an anecdote in the middle of a cocktail party. All their friends and family are there – and yours are too. Don't say anything you w ouldn't say in this crow ded room!

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Photo Albums & Tagging

Not sure about your priv acy settings? Don't add a location or your photos might be shared w ith far more people than you think. You can change the priv acy of each album by editing the album and clicking on the padlock. Ev en if you hav e changed your privacy settings to ―Friends Only‖ it w ill only apply to future photo albums. You need to change older albums manually.

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Or, w hen you edit the ev ent, make sure you un-check the public box. I f your event is public it is not just seen by all of your friends: it is also public for ev eryone on Facebook.

The other priv acy option listed: to show or hide the guest list. For larger ev ents, where the guests don't necessarily know each other, it's probably best to hide the guest list. Decide before you inv ite people.

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Also, be careful w ith exact addresses and too many details. Don't put priv ate details into a public ev ent!

Facebook Message Privacy

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As w ith email, be aw are when messages sent to a lot of people come in. The default reply option is to ―reply to all‖. Don't click this unless you w ant ev eryone to read your reply!

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By ―liking‖ a fan page you're show ing appreciation for the blog, product, organisation, political figure, company, activ ity or sentiment. I t will show up on your profile and you w ill see updates in your new s feed and messages.

Questions Question and answ ers are public, period. None of your security settings will stop these from being public.

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When you ask your first question you’ll be reminded of this:

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Controlling who can write on your wall

Not much control here: it’s either ―Your Friends‖ or no one. Go to Account > Privacy Settings and choose ―Customise Settings‖.

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Then look for ―things others share‖ and make adjustments as you see fit.

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So, in order to keep things in order, w e limit w ho can comment to just people w e trust.

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w. A setup like this should prev ent a lot of surprise comments. Control who can see posts by friends on your wall

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An added security measure is to control w ho can see updates your friends leave on your w all. This can be managed using friends lists, nominating exactly w ho can see your friends' w all updates and w ho can nev er see the updates from your friends on your w all. Note they w ill still be able to see your updates.

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From Account > Privacy Settings, choose ―Customise Settings‖. You'll find the w all v isibility controls under ―Things others share‖ and ―Can see w all posts by friends‖.

Control who sees photos tagged as you

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This is useful, and not just for keeping drunk pictures from your boss. What if your friend looks great in a picture, but you're stuck mid-sentence looking aw ful? What if high school friends decide to upload old photos?

What if a family member adds some pictures of you as a kid? What photos could an ex-boyfriend put up?

What if someone tags a photo as you and it's not you?

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What if someone's just trying to get your attention and they're actually selling an old bike?

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The default priv acy settings for photos you upload is controlled by ―Posts by you‖ along w ith status updates, links and other basic updates. Prev iously uploaded photos can be locked dow n on an album-by-album basis; follow the link from the priv acy settings page or go into the albums directly.

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w. Customise Settings

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From Account > Privacy Settings, choose ―Customise Settings‖ to see the many basic personal priv acy settings you can change. Almost all of these can be fine-tuned using friend lists. You should check most of them out.

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Things you share

I f you hav e confirmed family relationships, these can be seen by your Facebook contacts. Who do you w ant to hav e easy access to the Facebook profiles of your kids?

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Also think about potentially v olatile information. Do you w ant your w orkmates know ing your political preferences? Sexual preferences? And w ho should be able to see if you break up w ith your partner?

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Don't forget that ―Posts by me‖ controls photo uploads, links and general updates. Lock this dow n to av oid accidental exposure and to av oid over-sharing information w ith people w ho don't need to know.

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Control who sees your friend list

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There are a lot of reasons you might w ant to control w ho can and can't see your list of friends on Facebook. Primarily, you may w ant to think of the priv acy and safety of your friends. Go to Account > Privacy Settings, then choose to ―View Settings‖ of the Basic Directory I nformation.

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Choose your desired security level from the ―See my friend list‖ drop dow n menu.

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Don't forget that if you really w ant to lock things dow n, you can make the setting ―only me‖ by using the ―customise‖ option.

This doesn't necessarily stop people from finding out w ho your friends are. Friend connections are visible via your friends' profile pages, and a determined sleuth w ould find friend connections by looking at mutual ev ents, groups and comments.

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Basic Directory Information

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These are generally the things Facebook hopes you w ill leave more open, as it's better for Facebook socialisation. However, some settings leav e people a little more v ulnerable than they expect.

Things you can make more priv ate in this area of the settings include: Search.

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Friend requests.

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w. I f you can't find them, it might be that they'v e locked down their own privacy or they'v e possibly blocked you. You can still block them by contacting Facebook support, presuming you can tell the staff enough information to find them. This w ill stop them from finding you later if they choose to un-block you. Also, it's possible to quickly block and report someone v ia their profile page.

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The Unofficial Facebook Privacy Manual

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When you log in next, you w ill be asked to register the computer as one you regularly use w ith Facebook. Passwords Be careful about passw ords for security reasons. Don't use a passw ord you've used for another social netw ork or online account. If those accounts ever get hacked, someone might try to use the passw ord with your Facebook account, too. Logging Out

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Also in the interest of maintaining basic priv acy, get in the habit of logging out after ev ery time you use Facebook. The log out button is in the top-right of ev ery page.

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taf Quitting Facebook

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Ev en if you entirely trust ev eryone in your house, this habit w ill prepare you for using public computers. I t w ill also protect you from potential embarrassment if someone in your house innocently starts to use Facebook and thinks they are logged in as themselv es. Would you like your friends to think your son's comments w ere yours? Log out!

For quick access, Facebook have a page w ith links and processes for deactivating, deleting or memorialising an account here. Deactivating Your Facebook Account

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When you w ant to leav e Facebook, the quickest and easiest w ay to do so is to deactiv ate your account. You can do this through your account settings.

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Deleting Your Facebook Account

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You can delete your account here. When you ask to hav e your account deleted Facebook w ill deactivate your account and schedule the deletion. Once deletion is requested, you must not use your Facebook account for two weeks. I f you access your account in some w ay during the next tw o w eeks, your account will not be deleted. This includes sharing links, using mobile dev ices, chat accounts which access Facebook chat and Facebook Connect login on other websites.

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You could accidentally access your account by logging into a third party serv ice using your Facebook credentials, such as blog comments, Digg or Spotify. Make sure you delete all your allow ed apps from Facebook, log out of Facebook, delete all brow ser cookies and clear your browser cache.

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Many people suggest that you should delete your personal information before asking for your account to be deleted. This includes photos, w all posts, links, friends, applications, notes, fan pages and interests, message, groups etc. Everything that connects you to other people and information.

Facebook After Death

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Once your account is deleted, there is no option for recovery of the account. Facebook w ill delete all personal information associated with the account and w ill make photographs unav ailable and not associated w ith the account.

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When a Facebook user dies, friends or relatives can report it here and hav e the account memorialised. This means that status updates and personal information w ill be remov ed from the profile, but friends may still leav e w all posts. No-one w ill be giv en login access to the account. I f required by law , Facebook will supply information from the account to authorities directly.

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I mmediate family members can request that the account be remov ed, however if someone else requests the removal it w ill only be memorialised.

Other privacy issues to be aware of

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Here are a few things w hich compromise your privacy in w ays you may not expect: When you send a message to someone they get limited access to see your profile. When your friends respond to your status update THEI R friends can see your status update (by default – not for more secure updates). I f someone adds you as a friend and you hav en't said yes or no to them, they can see your updates in their home feed.

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Also read Facebook's privacy information from the Account > Privacy Settings page, under ―Controlling how you share‖.

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This w ill stop the applications your friends add from accessing your details. You nev er know who's going to add a dodgy application.

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Facebook's ―Instant Personalisation‖ is not yet enabled w orldwide. But, ―edit settings‖ and deselect the personalisation option if possible. Note that it's checked by default, so as soon as this is av ailable in your area you'll probably w ant to deselect it ASAP.

Understanding Facebook Application Privacy Issues

The section called ―What you're using‖ gives you a quick ov erview of all of your applications, allow ing you to delete them quickly.

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The ―game and application activ ity‖ section allows you to control which of your Facebook contacts can see your applications. It also controls w ho can see the applications you hav e used recently. So, w ho do you w ant to know that you've added a dating application? Should your w orkmates know you've been using Farmv ille recently? Lock this privacy setting down using friend filters.

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Click the cross to remov e applications or use ―edit settings‖ to control additional priv ileges you may hav e granted, such as seeing your information w hen you're not logged in, sending you email or posting to your w all.

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w. Blocking and reporting applications

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There are sev eral things you can do to report an application. When reading your new s feed, you can choose to ―Mark as spam‖. Facebook w ill add it to other reports to decide w hether the user or the application is spam.

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Just like profile reporting and blocking, you can click through to any application's page and report or block the application.

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Further Considerations There are numerous reasons w hy people w ant to retain their privacy online. I t's not up to you to decide for them w here they draw the line. Don't post/tag photos of people unless it's okay by them.

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Alw ays protect the safety of yourself and your friends. Don't post addresses and phone numbers in places w here they might be seen. Don't w rite embarrassing things on other people's walls or in response to status updates. Don't do anything w hich might get someone fired, disow ned or dumped.

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Consider Your Updates

1. No drunken updates. They're embarrassing – don't do it! 2. Don't update w ith anything you couldn't show your grandmother, boss, or police. Ev er.

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3. Don't ov ershare. People don't often w ant to know the inner details of your nostrils/sex life. This includes checking what's in the background of photos you post (see http://www.lamebook.com/ for other people's mistakes). 4. Remember your comments on other people's posts could be more public than you think.

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5. Think for a little w hile before you become friends with your ex, a friend's ex or family members on Facebook. 6. Learn w hen to mov e a conversation to a message, Facebook chat or a pub. 7. Av oid controversial topics (or proceed w ith caution): Politics; Religion; Activ ism.

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Remember Your Privacy

Remember that nothing is REALLY priv ate on the internet. Accounts get hacked, people take screenshots, people lie about w ho they are, mistakes happen etc.

Don't w aste time on Facebook at w ork.

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Your secrets might accidentally be shared by a friend discussing something they saw /read about you on Facebook.

Don't lie about anything and think you'll get aw ay w ith it. Calling in sick can get you fired if there's photographic proof you w ere at a party. Keep your w orkmates on a limited filter. Seriously.

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