Facebook Profiles Open to Public!

Techtree News Staff, Sep 06, 2007 1622 hrs IST

For starters, the public search function will allow anybody to search for a specific person on Facebook, which includes people not registered with the Web site.

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Facebook has reportedly announced a measure that can be described as 'risque' in the least -- the Web site is opening up details of its members to the World Wide Web and everyone within it...

For starters, the public search function will allow anybody to search for a specific person on Facebook. And this includes people not registered with the social networking Web site.

According to Facebook, the feature will show a thumbnail of the specific member from his/her profile page, plus links letting others interact with him/her.

However for a person to be able to add someone as friend or send a message, he/she has to register with Facebook.

Around a month down the line, the public search feature will allow people to find member profiles -- complete with names, photographs, and other details -- through search engines such as Google, Yahoo!, and MSN.

Despite Facebook's claims to the contrary, privacy advocates are voicing security concerns with respect to the move. They are hugely worried about private data falling into the wrong hands -- and of being used for all the wrong reasons...

Meanwhile, Facebook says the move is driven purely by profit motives and that the information revealed would be minimal.

Besides, the Web site claims that those who want to prevent personal information from being accessed by all-and-sundry on the Web can simply opt out of the feature or change their privacy settings. Either ways, they have one month to do so.

Whatever the case, Facebook is risking the ire of many with its latest move. Considering that just last year, users expressed anger when the Web site introduced a 'news feed' feature that informs everyone on a contact list as to when the user makes changes to his/her profile page.

USER COMMENTS

its good to have new friends and know about each other.

by bhagyashri k.d., pune., on Oct 26, 2007 01:31 PM, Report abuse Reply

Want to avoid Telemarketers calls ... log on to... National Do Not Call Registration Website -- ndncregistry.googlepages

by riyansh, mumbai, on Sep 10, 2007 01:15 PM, Report abuse Reply

lol dongs

by anonymous, nowhere, on Sep 07, 2007 03:03 AM, Report abuse Reply

hmmm looks like i am canceling my account

by someguy, south bend, on Sep 06, 2007 06:39 PM, Report abuse Reply

Why? Just click the privacy feature- I don't see how this is a big deal...

by Laur, Washington, on Sep 06, 2007 06:49 PM, Report abuse

What a rediculous thing to do. Set your privacy settings accordingly (really tough to do...), and you will not be affected by this. It's remarkable that you are reading news on this site. Go get your news from Fox. You'll fit right in.

by mitch, NYC, on Sep 06, 2007 07:26 PM, Report abuse

facebook is soo overrated. i personally have 9 facebook accounts.. its ridiculous..

by ikam, usa, on Sep 07, 2007 12:57 AM, Report abuse

I don't like the idea of opening up to the WWW. I will cancel out my accoount when this happens.

by Glenda Quinn, Conception Bay South, on Sep 06, 2007 10:24 PM, Report abuse Reply

Facebook has been going downhill since the opened it up to anyone with an email address. Guess I'll be taking my face off facebook. Maybe they can rename it randomfunnyimagebook.com

by Lance Quagmire, Cleveland, on Sep 06, 2007 09:46 PM, Report abuse Reply

They are becoming Myspace- a new "Facebook" will appear and kids will flock to that.

by FacebookIsCrap, Lawrence, on Sep 06, 2007 08:20 PM, Report abuse Reply

This article is obvious sensationalism. Judging from the first commenter, it's working. Facebook has privacy settings that allow users to keep their private information out of the public eye. As a user, I was informed of this feature on the "news feed." The announcement informed me that since I already had privacy settings in place, I would not be affected by this change.

by attention paid, DC, on Sep 06, 2007 07:04 PM, Report abuse Reply

It's a matter of time before ppl will provide java scripted codes to get your private information anyway. Ask myspace..they can tell you that the rampant and aggressive nature of hackers will win in the end. Hey if they hacked myspace and made lists of ppl's information which was then made completely public why do you ppl believe that by clicking to disable your profile from being publicly searched will help. I bet every single last one of you, that if you do so I could find you easily..hell I can even log in as you.

by reverseengineer, new york, on Sep 06, 2007 08:06 PM, Report abuse

This first replier speaks the truth. There is no amount of security on the web that an experienced hacker cannot break. Which goes back to another point of mine made earlier in this comment thread that if you don't want your information available to the public, don't put it on the internet.

by Bryan Schmidt, Midvale, UT, on Sep 06, 2007 08:12 PM, Report abuse

Don't you just love that Facebook is only opening the information about our children to the public for profit motives? I will advise and review my children's facebook list to insure that information that should be kept private is removed from their profile.

by Dad, Yakima, on Sep 06, 2007 07:23 PM, Report abuse Reply

Seriously people, don't you do your homework? This has nothing to do with money. If they wanted money they would drape facebook with tons of ads, or start charging for membership. This is a noble move to allow people to get in touch easier with friends.

by Bryan Schmidt, Midvale, UT, on Sep 06, 2007 07:59 PM, Report abuse

Facebook does give you the option of removing yourself from these public searches. I did it just yesterday. So rather than freak out, removing yourself from the search option may be a better choice.

by Bret, Denver, on Sep 06, 2007 07:55 PM, Report abuse Reply

Seriously...people need to get a grip. Give someone with half a brain acess to google and they can find all that information out with or without public acesss to you FB profile. (Most FB users have MySpace and they are already open to the public.) With yellow pages, public acess, blogs, google earth and google maps all that info is already public in some form. If your so worred about FB going public then you should probably rent a shack in the hills of montana and become a monk. (Even then... google earth has got ya then too.) Its the 21st century if you don't want your drunk-at-the-bars-kissing-another-girl pictures to be public then DONT GO TO THE BAR AND GET DRUNK! FB is a whole new way of communication. Its a whole new way of life. Deal with it or build a time machine.

by Tonya, Topleka, on Sep 06, 2007 07:54 PM, Report abuse Reply

Thats quite selfish of fb, considering they are the only ones benefitting out of all this.. count me out.

by Maggz, cyberjaya, on Sep 06, 2007 07:09 PM, Report abuse Reply

I don't get the big deal. The only difference here is that the stranger doesn't have to sign in first before searching your name. You honestly believe requiring registration was actually a barrier?

by Jeff, College Park, on Sep 06, 2007 07:51 PM, Report abuse

A lot of people were gullible enough to fall in the hands of Hi5, WAYN, and Facebook. Now they are beginning to pay the price.

by Miguel, Guayaquil, on Sep 06, 2007 07:40 PM, Report abuse Reply

What do you mean 'gullible enough to fall in the hands of...'? It's not like they are scams or out to get you. They are social networking sites. Do your homework before you throw out ignorant phrases like that. The whole point of social networking sites is to bring people together, and the main point here is that if you don't want your information available to anyone, don't post it on the internet.

by Bryan Schmidt, Midvale, UT, on Sep 06, 2007 07:50 PM, Report abuse

Either turn on privacy settings or don't put personal info in their in the first place. Ed Harris... welcome to the 21st century, learn to use technology, teach your kids to use it responsibly, and stop cowering in fear from it.

by john, Brooklyn, NY, on Sep 06, 2007 07:38 PM, Report abuse Reply

Thanks for the heads up. I will be instructing my two kids who use it due to the private nature of things past to remove their profiles and cancel their memberships immediately.

by Ed Harris, Chesterfield, on Sep 06, 2007 06:56 PM, Report abuse Reply

way to over react. Its simple to turn on the privacy settings and the change wont effect your kids account. I am happy with the change let ppl search for me and find a couple pictures and a little info. No cause for an alarm.

by matt, West Allis, on Sep 06, 2007 07:32 PM, Report abuse