The Age Of Arrogance Should Be Over

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Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has stated that 'The Age of Privacy is Over' which has provoked a widespread reaction. I find his comments arrogant because as the founder he has a responsibility to the users of the social network! When asked the direction that privacy was heading, Zuckerberg responded by informing a live audience that if he were to create Facebook on today's web that the vision would be open by default with user information publicly available.

The social network was private from the offset, but the company changed stance in December and introduced a revised privacy policies. Should we be concerned that our personal information is considered to be Facebook's property and they decide the amount of exposure it should recieve? I'm not really comfortable with that and although the privacy settings have always been a farce, I'm certain that privacy should remain important. If you follow my activity you will know that I'm not unfamiliar with blogging and sharing information. Facebook still remains the main destination and through Facebook Connect many of the online services and applications I use frequently filter into the newsfeed! I'm happy that Facebook evolved to introduce the ability to lifestream to the mainstream but as a communication platform, with many tiers of social connections, sensitive information and relationships there needs to be structure. I'm sure that privacy will be a much discussed topic over the next few months and I will update with further developments!

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