In case you are vigilant in your privacy settings Facebook released its updated privacy settings today:
http://www.facebook.com/policy.php
Most of it seems straight ahead. I did find one thing “good to know”:
If I click on an ad…MY privacy settings don’t apply – the advertiser’s do. No way of knowing what those might be.
And if I choose to purchase from a Facebook online page my shipping information also is not protected. Easy to understand the vendor needing the information, but hopeful THEIR privacy policy is in place. A reminder: read the privacy policies before purchasing.
This item is curious: “Delete uploaded contacts. If you use our contact importer to upload addresses, you can later delete the list on this help page. You can delete the email addresses of friends you have invited to join Facebook on your invite history page.”
The above really applies if you allowed Facebook to gather contacts from your Yahoo email client.
In conclusion the policy writes: “Risks inherent in sharing information. Although we allow you to set privacy options that limit access to your information, please be aware that no security measures are perfect or impenetrable. We cannot control the actions of other users with whom you share your information. We cannot guarantee that only authorized persons will view your information. We cannot ensure that information you share on Facebook will not become publicly available. We are not responsible for third party circumvention of any privacy settings or security measures on Facebook. You can reduce these risks by using common sense security practices such as choosing a strong password, using different passwords for different services, and using up to date antivirus software.”
Facebook does a pretty good job of allowing us to choose our privacy levels, and still relying on us to be responsible: not a bad mix.