Privacy by default: a look at Facebook’s settings

Facebook is, at its heart, a tool for sharing. But it has made several changes to how news is shared over the network introducing levels of sharing by individual posts.

That means users have more control over who can read what they post, but they also have to work with more menus and options on a regular basis. The changes have been confusing for many who use the site. Electronic Privacy Information Center Executive Director Mark Rotenberg said the group disagrees with about how Facebook tweaks its privacy settings — particularly regarding what information it shares by default — and pointed to the graphic below, created by Matt McKeon, to demonstrate how much information is available to the general public by default.