Facebook Changes Privacy Settings So Users Can’t Hide From Search

http://intellihub.com/2013/10/11/facebook-changes-privacy-settings-users-cant-hide-search/

Now anyone in the world can seek out your facebook profile

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

By JG Vibes | October 11, 2013 |

WASHINGTON (INTELLIHUB) —
Over the years Facebook has been slowly scaling back their privacy settings, taking more and more control away from the user.  One recent change that has been upsetting Facebook users is the fact that now anyone can find your profile by searching your name in their database.
The change was announced last year but hasn’t began to take effect for many people until this week.  Now you have another reason to use an alias while posting on social media.
The following notice was recently posted by Facebook:
Last year we announced the removal of an old setting called “Who can look up your Timeline by name?” along with new controls for managing content on Facebook.  The search setting was removed last year for people who weren’t using it. For the small percentage of people still using the setting, they will see reminders about it being removed in the coming weeks.  Whether you’ve been using the setting or not, the best way to control what people can find about you on Facebook is to choose who can see the individual things you share._[1]
Everyone remembers the mass exodus from MySpace to Facebook that took place a few years ago.
Facebook developed a following because it allowed people to connect with friends more easily, and due to these increased capabilities they became the dominant social network on the internet.
Over the years Facebook has become one of the most popular websites in the world, and recently the company has been taking advantage of their social network dominance.
The newest controversies surrounding Facebook have been the intentional censorship of activist profiles and the “promotional posts” scam which has cut off every single Facebook user from a vast majority of their posts.
Since these changes silently went into effect a few months ago, every single Facebook user can now only see a fraction of the stories which should be in their news feed.
For artists, activists and people with websites, there is now an option for them to promote their posts for a ridiculous fee and have more of their fans see their posts.
Many Facebook users don’t even realize that this is happening because unless you’re using the site for promotional purposes you don’t really notice.
Also, for years there have been so many rumors about Facebook charging that now when activists try to tell people about these new changes, it has turned into a “boy cried wolf scenario” and no one pays attention.
If we wanted to fight a losing battle we could protest Facebook, and try to get them to change their polices.  However, that doesn’t really seem like it would be effective, and it hasn’t been effective in the past.
What actually needs to take place is the same sort of exodus that we saw from MySpace to Facebook, and in order for that exodus to take place we are going to need a more appealing social network for people to migrate to.
There are already some newer social networks popping up, but it doesn’t seem like any of them can compete with Facebook, at least not yet anyway.
I know that there are masses of hackers out there that are way more intelligent than Mark Zuckerberg, and they can work together to create a decentralized, open source social network that blows Facebook completely out of the water.
so what do you say guys? is the challenge accepted?

Sources:
[1] Reminder: Finishing the Removal of an Old Search Setting – Facebook