Facebook's new privacy controls, which we'vecovered in detail, have predictably come under fire. Both TechCrunch and ReadWriteWeb have argued that the new controls are actually just a thinly veiled push to get members to share more information publicly. The new privacy policy involved the debut of "everyone" updates which are viewable to the Web browsing public at large -- if privacy settings aren't tinkered with. These new universal updates could then be leveraged by Google and Bing as part of real-time search results. As part of this update, some information, formerly set to private by default, was opened to the public, including friends lists, hometowns, and profile pictures. When asked about the new default settings, Facebook spokesman Barry Schnitt told the Wall Street Journal that users are free to lie about their hometown, take down their profile photo, and now have the option to hide their friend list. The problem is, of course, lying about where you live is a clear violation of Facebook's terms of service, which states, "Facebook users provide their real names and information, and we need your help to keep it that way."
TechCrunch contacted Schnitt, who said the Journal was paraphrasing and that what he was implying is that a "profile picture and current city are optional." Though he did go on to say, "you can indicate that your current city is 'Atlantis,' 'Valhalla' or, again, anything you like." Of course, as TechCrunch points out, Facebook has built its reputation on having users list real information -- no aliases, cheesy camel-case handles, or 16-year-olds listing themselves as being 99. Yet, if we were Facebook we would start backpedaling. Quickly.
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