Since its creation in 2004, Facebook, the most popular social network in the world, has perpetually faced privacy issues. However, in this past year, constant, drastic changes to the company’s approach to privacy have greatly frustrated users of the site, some of whom are threatening to leave – or already have.

At over five thousand words, Facebook’s complex privacy policy is even longer than the United States Constitution (not including the amendments), according to a report published in The New York Times. Facebook’s policy states that they won’t “share your information with advertisers without your consent.” However, a Facebook spokesperson admitted that just a couple of weeks ago, personal information, such as users’ ages, likes, interests, and relationships, was sold to advertisers in what Facebook claims was an accident. When asked what he would do if his information had been sold, Kennyi Aouad ’13 commented, “I wouldn’t go as far as quitting Facebook, but I might start removing some of my information.” In the past month, Facebook has also started sharing data with other third-parties, including Pandora, Microsoft, and Yelp. For example, your Facebook friends can now see which music stations you’ve created on Pandora; the problem is that users don’t know that their details are being dispersed all over the Internet unless they happen to come across it. A large majority of Choate students interviewed were unaware of any new changes in Facebook’s privacy situation.

Over time, Facebook’s stance on privacy has morphed from one that treated users fairly to a completely one-sided contract with little-to-no user rights. In the past, Facebook’s default settings were fairly conservative; today, the default is that most information is public. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has always been a strong supporter of an open, public social network; in January, he said, “People have really gotten comfortable not only sharing more information and different kinds, but more openly and with more people.” They’re probably not very comfortable, though, with the latest version of the Terms of Service, which claims that any information shared on Facebook belongs to the company, not the users. 

Fifteen consumer and privacy protection organizations have already filed complaints with the Federal Trade Commission, criticizing Facebook for “violating user expectations, diminishing user privacy, and contradicting its own representations.” The privacy uproar has even caught the attention of the United States Senate; four senators have already requested the establishment of privacy guidelines for social networking websites, including Facebook. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, an FTC spokesperson said, “We agree that social networks provide a valuable consumer service, but that they also raise privacy concerns.”

With the recent changes, it’s highly recommended that you change your privacy settings- when logged into Facebook, click on “Account” (upper-right hand corner) and then on “Privacy Settings.” However, it can get fairly confusing- users have to go through fifty settings, with a total of nearly two hundred options to choose from. Reclaim Privacy (www.reclaimprivacy.org) is an excellent free solution to Facebook’s privacy labyrinth.

A number of Choate students have already decided to quit Facebook, and faculty are thinking about it as well. Mr. David Loeb, a faculty member in the English Department, said, “If it becomes a problem, I’ll just get out or change everything so that it’s not true. I only use Facebook to keep in touch with some alumni; I suppose that I could quit.” According to a survey conducted by security firm Sophos, roughly 60% of Facebook users are considering quitting the popular site, which could stand to lose over two hundred million users. 

In case you want to quit Facebook, there are two options available: you can permanently delete your account or just deactivate it. For those who don’t plan to ever come back, deleting your account is the smarter choice: go to https://ssl.facebook.com/help/contact.php?show_form=delete_account. In case you might consider rejoining Facebook in the future, a deactivation will keep everything intact: just go to “Account” in the upper-right hand corner and click on “Account Settings;” then scroll down to “Deactivate Account.”

Facebook head of public policy Tim Sparapani promised in a recent press release that Facebook is listening to user feedback and is working to simplify its privacy controls soon. He didn’t go into detail, but if more than half of Facebook’s user base is threatening to quit, he had better do something about it.