Recently Facebook was found to have been violating the rights of privacy entitled to its users. Users’ user id’s were being sent to advertisers when a user clicked on an advertisement. This is a major violation of privacy which many people have been worried about, anda lot of users have been threatening to quit (boycott) Facebook until Facebook’s policies regarding their security of their users’ privacy changes for more protection to users.
Facebook did make the changes with the way the URL is coded when people click on ads so that their user id isn't sent anymore, but that this change occurred after the Wall Street Journal called them about it. It is a big deal, but it doesn't sound like Facebook itself was giving out that much information. All the information that people get depends on how much you want to put in your profile. If you don't feel it's very safe and don't want everyone knowing your phone number than don't put it on there. It is obviously not that safe to reveal all of your personal info on any internet published web page. After all, even your personal email isn't 100% safe anymore, so users should be more cautious with what information they provide online, especially to a public profile like Facebook.
Other articles concerning the issue can be found here:
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/05/latest-facebook-blunder-secret-data-sharing-with-advertisers.ars
http://gigaom.com/2010/05/21/for-facebook-the-privacy-snowball-just-keeps-on-rolling/
Regarding Facebook, there are some specific option settings that a user can change in order to protect privacy:
Click "account" at top of home page. Select "account settings". From there click the "Facebook ads tab". Then select "no one" in both drop down menus and click "save". This will prevent 3rd party ads from sharing your information and actions. Go back to "account" link on home page. This time select "privacy settings". Select "applications and websites". Click on "edit settings" next to "instant personalization pilot program". Uncheck the box giving them permission to personalize their features and ads with your public info. Always check privacy settings often because they do change every time Facebook implements a new application.
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