Privacy and The Facebook and The Google

Two important technological events in privacy this week. One has made headlines many times over, and stopped qualifying as "news" about two days ago in the fast-paced Internet echo chamber. Facebook tried to roll out a new Terms of Service that would have given the company ownership over all things posted to the site by its 175 million users. Privacy rights be damned.

Folks weren't too happy to learn of the threat to their ownership of their photos, notes, videos, beings, etc. The mass Internet protests caused CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook to cave. Privacy/ownership rights were reinstated, and a new Bill of Rights will be established for users. Any James Madison version 2.0's should surf over to Facebook and get involved in the drafting of the social networking site's Bill of Rights.

Privacy is still a major issue on Facebook. Check out this guide to privacy settings on All Facebook (The Unofficial Facebook Resource) to make sure that the things you want private stay that way. And the guide doesn't say it, but hide your birth date. Depending on your settings, your friends will still know to write on your wall on the big day, but pseudo-friends and scary strangers won't be able to use your DOB for bad things. (More on that in a future post.)

In privacy ebbing news, a less-reported story is Google's win in a privacy case over its Street View application. The application allows us to map an address and zoom in to street level-- you can see people on the street, the facade of homes, cars parked in front of houses... but not in real time. A couple in Pennsylvania, The Borings, had sued Google Street View for violating their privacy by putting photos of their house online, despite "private road" signs at the end of the street leading to their home. A judge dismissed the case. From CNet:

Google claims to be legally allowed to photograph on private roads, arguing that privacy no longer exists in this age of satellite and aerial imagery.

"Today's satellite-image technology means that...complete privacy does not exist," Google said in its response to the Borings' complaint.

Yep, that's right. The Google won. Because complete privacy does not exist.

Facebook Withdraws Changes in Data Use [New York Times]
10 Privacy Settings Every Facebook User Should Know [All Facebook]
Google wins Street View privacy suit [CNet]