Privacy Isn't Everything on the Web

[Commentary] The latest push to regulate the Internet wants to save people from what they say about themselves on social media sites. But with Facebook approaching 500 million users, the people have spoken.

Whatever our views about privacy used to be, social media sites have radically changed our expectations. Privacy advocates this month filed a complaint against Facebook with the Federal Trade Commission, but would-be regulators need to recognize something unusual about privacy expectations on social media sites: The entire reason to use these sites is to trade privacy for other benefits. Some people give up information about themselves to find long-lost friends or to share pictures—there are some 48 billion photos on Facebook, making it the world's largest photo archive. Others use sites like Twitter to find links to news stories their friends find interesting or to see what colleagues think about the Senate finance-reform bill. The enormous popularity of these sites—more than 25% of people who browse the Web have been on Facebook during the past month—suggests a sharp break with how we used to understand privacy, as users are making different trade-offs now that technology lets us share information and decide with whom. Constantly updated access to networks of friends and colleagues provides enough benefits to overcome some privacy concerns.