If you want to keep sensitive information on your Facebook profile private, it only takes a few mouse clicks. But analysts at Sophos, a computer-security company, say even those few clicks are too many.
It’s already been well-documented that most of Facebook’s college clientele — and, indeed, many of the site’s off-campus users — don’t bother changing their privacy settings. According to a recent Sophos survey, three out of four people on Facebook’s London network have left their profiles open to all comers.
A researcher with the company tells InformationWeek that Facebook ought to make profiles private by default and let people open their pages up to the world if they see fit. That seems like a reasonable idea that’s very unlikely to happen, but it does raise an interesting question: If Facebook profiles started off private, how many students would decide to make them publicly viewable? —Brock Read
