The Right to Privacy is Not a Right to Facebook
Daniel Castro
The Information Technology & Innovation Foundation
April 30, 2010

Castro delves into the Facebook privacy issue in his latest article.  He states that the latest concern, which has drawn letters from several Congressmen, are two new features introduced at the recent F8 Developers Conference.  The two features are:

1. Instant Personalization – “…allows certain partner sites to use data from a Facebook user’s profile to customize their online experience.”
2. Social Plugins – “…allows developers to place a Facebook widget on their website so that visitors can “Like” a page or post comments.”

Castro believes that the uproar over privacy concerns with these new features is unneeded.  He believes these services are simply a “natural evolution of online applications as they increasingly make use of user data to offer more personalized products and services and find ways to monetize an otherwise free service.”  However, there are those that put a priority on online privacy.  And Castro believes there are two questions that should be asked when discussing this issue:

1. “Should Facebook be able to use private information to deliver products and services to its customers?”
2. “Should any company be able to do this?”

Castro believes they should as the social trend is more open use of personal information.  And he states that there is no reason for government to be concerning themselves with every change a website makes, and he also points out that you are not bound to use the service.  As he puts it, “Facebook is neither a right nor a necessity.”

You can find the article here.