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September 17, 2007, 02:49 PM ET
Students Fret Over Facebook's Public Listings
Earlier this month Facebook made an announcement that, at first glance, seemed fairly innocuous: The social network decided to make “limited public search listings” available to people who weren’t using the site.
What that means, essentially, is that search engines like Google and Yahoo will now be able to locate Facebook users who haven’t designated their pages as “private.” Philip Fong, a Facebook engineer, wrote on the company’s blog that search-engine links would only show only the names and thumbnail photos of Facebook users: “We’re not exposing any new information, and you have complete control over your public search listing.”
But even that information is too much, according to the editors of The Cornell Daily Sun. In a fierce editorial, the newspaper accuses Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s founder, of invading the privacy of his site’s faithful patrons:At an age when most of us are just trying to enjoy college, it’s unfortunate that we have to be so conscientious about our every move — and that Zuck feels the need to play the role of Main Cop. It’s the latest in a string of indications that Facebook isn’t the plucky upstart of a cultural phenomenon it was three years ago.
The Daily Sun worries that Facebook’s new policy will make it easier for employers to scrutinize students’ Facebook pages, and that could be a valid concern. Certainly, some students and alumni might be less than thrilled to know that the bare bones of their Facebook entries might soon be Googleable. But previous privacy scares haven’t seemed to drive students away from Facebook. Will this one be any different? —Brock Read
Categories: Search-Engines, Student-Life
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