• Facebook Profiles Open to Public!

    Facebook Profiles Open to Public!

    Techtree News Staff, Sep 06, 2007 1622 hrs IST

    For starters, the public search function will allow anybody to search for a specific person on Facebook, which includes people not registered with the Web site.

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Facebook has reportedly announced a measure that can be described as 'risque' in the least -- the Web site is opening up details of its members to the World Wide Web and everyone within it...

For starters, the public search function will allow anybody to search for a specific person on Facebook. And this includes people not registered with the social networking Web site.

According to Facebook, the feature will show a thumbnail of the specific member from his/her profile page, plus links letting others interact with him/her.

However for a person to be able to add someone as friend or send a message, he/she has to register with Facebook.

Around a month down the line, the public search feature will allow people to find member profiles -- complete with names, photographs, and other details -- through search engines such as Google, Yahoo!, and MSN.

Despite Facebook's claims to the contrary, privacy advocates are voicing security concerns with respect to the move. They are hugely worried about private data falling into the wrong hands -- and of being used for all the wrong reasons...

Meanwhile, Facebook says the move is driven purely by profit motives and that the information revealed would be minimal.

Besides, the Web site claims that those who want to prevent personal information from being accessed by all-and-sundry on the Web can simply opt out of the feature or change their privacy settings. Either ways, they have one month to do so.

Whatever the case, Facebook is risking the ire of many with its latest move. Considering that just last year, users expressed anger when the Web site introduced a 'news feed' feature that informs everyone on a contact list as to when the user makes changes to his/her profile page.

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Discussion Board
(24) Comments
bhagyashri k.d.
,pune., on Oct 26, 2007 01:31 PM
its good to have new friends and know about each other.
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riyansh
,mumbai, on Sep 10, 2007 01:15 PM
Want to avoid Telemarketers calls ... log on to... National Do Not Call Registration Website -- ndncregistry.googlepages
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anonymous
,nowhere, on Sep 07, 2007 03:03 AM
lol dongs
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someguy
,south bend, on Sep 06, 2007 06:39 PM
hmmm looks like i am canceling my account
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Laur
,Washington, on Sep 06, 2007 06:49 PM
Why? Just click the privacy feature- I don't see how this is a big deal...
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mitch
,NYC, on Sep 06, 2007 07:26 PM
What a rediculous thing to do. Set your privacy settings accordingly (really tough to do...), and you will not be affected by this. It's remarkable that you are reading news on this site. Go get your news from Fox. You'll fit right in.
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ikam
,usa, on Sep 07, 2007 12:57 AM
facebook is soo overrated. i personally have 9 facebook accounts.. its ridiculous..
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Glenda Quinn
,Conception Bay South, on Sep 06, 2007 10:24 PM
I don't like the idea of opening up to the WWW. I will cancel out my accoount when this happens.
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Lance Quagmire
,Cleveland, on Sep 06, 2007 09:46 PM
Facebook has been going downhill since the opened it up to anyone with an email address. Guess I'll be taking my face off facebook. Maybe they can rename it randomfunnyimagebook.com
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FacebookIsCrap
,Lawrence, on Sep 06, 2007 08:20 PM
They are becoming Myspace- a new "Facebook" will appear and kids will flock to that.
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attention paid
,DC, on Sep 06, 2007 07:04 PM
This article is obvious sensationalism. Judging from the first commenter, it's working. Facebook has privacy settings that allow users to keep their private information out of the public eye. As a user, I was informed of this feature on the "news feed." The announcement informed me that since I already had privacy settings in place, I would not be affected by this change.
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reverseengineer
,new york, on Sep 06, 2007 08:06 PM
It's a matter of time before ppl will provide java scripted codes to get your private information anyway. Ask myspace..they can tell you that the rampant and aggressive nature of hackers will win in the end. Hey if they hacked myspace and made lists of ppl's information which was then made completely public why do you ppl believe that by clicking to disable your profile from being publicly searched will help. I bet every single last one of you, that if you do so I could find you easily..hell I can even log in as you.
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Bryan Schmidt
,Midvale, UT, on Sep 06, 2007 08:12 PM
This first replier speaks the truth. There is no amount of security on the web that an experienced hacker cannot break. Which goes back to another point of mine made earlier in this comment thread that if you don't want your information available to the public, don't put it on the internet.
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Dad
,Yakima, on Sep 06, 2007 07:23 PM
Don't you just love that Facebook is only opening the information about our children to the public for profit motives? I will advise and review my children's facebook list to insure that information that should be kept private is removed from their profile.
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Bryan Schmidt
,Midvale, UT, on Sep 06, 2007 07:59 PM
Seriously people, don't you do your homework? This has nothing to do with money. If they wanted money they would drape facebook with tons of ads, or start charging for membership. This is a noble move to allow people to get in touch easier with friends.
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Bret
,Denver, on Sep 06, 2007 07:55 PM
Facebook does give you the option of removing yourself from these public searches. I did it just yesterday. So rather than freak out, removing yourself from the search option may be a better choice.
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Tonya
,Topleka, on Sep 06, 2007 07:54 PM
Seriously...people need to get a grip. Give someone with half a brain acess to google and they can find all that information out with or without public acesss to you FB profile. (Most FB users have MySpace and they are already open to the public.) With yellow pages, public acess, blogs, google earth and google maps all that info is already public in some form. If your so worred about FB going public then you should probably rent a shack in the hills of montana and become a monk. (Even then... google earth has got ya then too.) Its the 21st century if you don't want your drunk-at-the-bars-kissing-another-girl pictures to be public then DONT GO TO THE BAR AND GET DRUNK! FB is a whole new way of communication. Its a whole new way of life. Deal with it or build a time machine.
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Maggz
,cyberjaya, on Sep 06, 2007 07:09 PM
Thats quite selfish of fb, considering they are the only ones benefitting out of all this.. count me out.
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Jeff
,College Park, on Sep 06, 2007 07:51 PM
I don't get the big deal. The only difference here is that the stranger doesn't have to sign in first before searching your name. You honestly believe requiring registration was actually a barrier?
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Miguel
,Guayaquil, on Sep 06, 2007 07:40 PM
A lot of people were gullible enough to fall in the hands of Hi5, WAYN, and Facebook. Now they are beginning to pay the price.
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Bryan Schmidt
,Midvale, UT, on Sep 06, 2007 07:50 PM
What do you mean 'gullible enough to fall in the hands of...'? It's not like they are scams or out to get you. They are social networking sites. Do your homework before you throw out ignorant phrases like that. The whole point of social networking sites is to bring people together, and the main point here is that if you don't want your information available to anyone, don't post it on the internet.
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john
,Brooklyn, NY, on Sep 06, 2007 07:38 PM
Either turn on privacy settings or don't put personal info in their in the first place. Ed Harris... welcome to the 21st century, learn to use technology, teach your kids to use it responsibly, and stop cowering in fear from it.
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Ed Harris
,Chesterfield, on Sep 06, 2007 06:56 PM
Thanks for the heads up. I will be instructing my two kids who use it due to the private nature of things past to remove their profiles and cancel their memberships immediately.
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matt
,West Allis, on Sep 06, 2007 07:32 PM
way to over react. Its simple to turn on the privacy settings and the change wont effect your kids account. I am happy with the change let ppl search for me and find a couple pictures and a little info. No cause for an alarm.
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