Facebook parody site reveals holes in privacy controls

The last time you posted a status update to your profile, it may have gone farther than you think.

Facebook's privacy controls have been changing since the site's initial development. In an attempt to increase the amount of information users send to Facebook, social plug-ins such as the "like" button have been scattered all over the Internet, tracking your Web traffic with every click.

According to an article from PC World, this wealth of user data and information has businesses salivating. Information is power, and the personal preferences people post every day on Facebook have created an unprecedented opportunity for targeted marketing.

"You've filled out the biggest survey in the world for Facebook, and you didn't even know it," says Cappy Popp, founder and principal of Thought Labs, whose Doorbell application is one of the top 100 most-used apps on Facebook.

This user information could be dangerous if it fell into the wrong hands, and one website calls Facebook's privacy policy changes a "bait-and-switch" with "overly complex settings" that cause users to post messages meant for friends to everybody on the Web.

The site, YourOpenbook.org , lets anyone on the Internet search public Facebook updates using Facebook's search service. A few website developers based in San Francisco created the site as an attempt to reveal how Facebook's privacy-malfunctions could affect users.

According to the site's "About" section, the confusing privacy settings on Facebook "could have serious consequences if you're looking for a job, applying for college, or trying to get medical insurance."

A keyword search on YourOpenbook.org's main page returns every public status update containing that term. Searching for the word "drunk," for example, could uncover some embarrassing results.

The developers of Openbook say they want Facebook to simplify its privacy controls with an easy-to-use sliding bar so that users can adjust all their settings from completely private on the left side to completely public on the right.

Openbook's proposal says that Facebook should "publicly commit to never moving the user's slider to the right without their express permission."

An article on SearchEngineWatch.com says your privacy may not be entirely up to you -- even if you opt-out of sharing your information, it can still be shared by your friends to partner sites. Facebook's default setting allows the data to be passed second-hand.

The only way to completely opt-out of sharing your information? Go through your privacy settings, and block each individual partner application.

Information from PC World , YourOpenbook.org , and SearchEngineWatch.com .