Facebook Removes Privacy Setting For Searching Timeline

The Facebook security topic is one that has concerned many and with good reason.  Most people do not know how to secure their information whilst using Facebook. Such as how to keep their personal details personal, how to allow others to see their information etc.  Well, Facebook now has the ball and they are running with it.  The “Who can look up your Timeline by name?” feature was one that moderated the visibility of your account through a search from the search bar. You, as the user, could decide if you wanted to be found by everyone or selectively stay visible to your friends and friends of friends.  All this, however, is about to change.

Michael Richter, Facebook’s Chief Privacy Officer, said that this privacy was glitch prone as people could still come to your Timeline by clicking your name in a story on the News Feed and furthermore, it made things confusing for a circle of friends or the ones in the same Facebook Group as they could not locate each other through the search bar although they knew each other personally.   Now, every user of Facebook is searchable by anyone else on the social network. Facebook has announced that it has removed the privacy setting that allowed users to remain hidden from Timeline searches. The company reasoned that only a small percentage of its 1.2 billion users were using the privacy setting in the first place. (Really?) They say the best way to limit what people can find about you on Facebook is to choose who can see the individual things you share.

Facebook’s Graph Search has introduced different ways to search through the circle of friends (Is this really secure?).  The social network has, admittedly, improved its privacy features and now gives you more fine-tuned control over each individual item you share.

As always, your comments are greatly appreciated. What do you think about Facebook’s privacy changes?

[Image via: highlandernews]

S OURCE: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/facebook-removes-privacy-setting-for-timeline-searches/