Do you mean privacy settings? Because on most social media platforms they are a joke. Plus, technically Facebook and other platforms can save, keep and monitor your information. No one really has any idea what that really means or what they can do with the information because no one has litigated against Facebook which would be almost impossible because you agreed to the terms of service.

And one of your Facebook friends could always swipe a picture off your page and do what they will with it. Which you also can't control. I mean look at that revenge porn website that was up and running. Yeah, that guy is going to jail but not after serious damage was done to those girls.

PatLib I guess I am being naive. My FB is very small, I trust my friends would never betray me. Kinda like in a real life.... No I don't have 800 friends, only people who are part of my life and I feel would never betray me and my privacy.

...and since they are all my real life friends, if they betrayed me, they would have to face me.

I guess I am "smart" in a way. I only let people in that I trust. -- Quality over quantity.

I don't have 800 friends either but, sorry, it's really not "smart" to trust Facebook or any social media site because they would not have a problem betraying you for their bottom line. Plus, we just went through the HeartBleed bug (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heartbleed) and people hack into people's account all the time.

Sorry, I am stickler for people protecting themselves. Our students at school have gotten themselves into a lot of trouble with that sort of stuff!

Yeah, PatLib is right to encourage caution. Don't ever assume that anything will remain private, no matter what your settings. And definitely don't think that anything ever disappears from the Internet - as ArcticMama mentioned, that stuff will stay around forever.

You seriously need to weed your FB friends.

I only have 50 and half of them are family. I think I'm good!

That is good. I don't feel paranoid about my friends, I trust them all.

Just as an FYI, Facebook frequently changes/updates it's privacy settings. What this means to you is the settings you had before no longer apply.

Facebook is better served if you aren't locked down, and this is one of the ways they work around it. Also, anything published on Facebook no longer is owned by you. Facebook is licensed to do X number of things with any content published on the site. Which includes allowing other businesses to scrape your information from Facebook.

It isn't just a matter of trusting friends.

i don't think it's ABOUT whether the gal in question is hot or is not hot, poses in a bikini or nearly naked in underwear, whether she's fat, skinny, or otherwise, whether she's insecure or full of herself. It's the endless ad nauseum of self promotion that is (specifically) "selfies" that most if not all would get really tired of seeing every single day. Enough already!

You don't have to be paranoid about your friends but you should have healthy paranoia for a corporate entity (Facebook) which monitors and stores all your movements and information. Perhaps, I have read 1984 one too many times but I don't trust Mark Zuckerberg () or Facebook one bit!

I am so picky ReillyJ. I don't have any friends in real life or online, like FB, who would shelf promote. If they did, they would have a real good reason and they would get the "like" button from me. That is my character and those are my friends.

YES.... My children read the 1984... they trust no one.... next question...do we trust this government??? Rep or Dem?? I have MANY opinions

I think that for most of us, the biggest risk is that the public can view our stuff - due to a privacy glitch, or FB sells stuff like who we searched for, or one day there's a glitch and all is revealed about who we stalked or sites we visited if we logged in through FB on that site - however, these are such common problems and at worst will only reveal us as semi-stalkers (which pretty much most people are). I doubt any of us are like, dealing drugs through Facebook or something. Plus none of us are D-list celebs or something that most people would be like "WOW did you see who soandso stalked?! She really went down the drain!" At worst we'd just look as lame as anyone else if that stuff is revealed lol. If someone finds out that all the bad stuff I do on the internet - watch free movies, download music, look at clothes I can't afford and look at people I went to highschool with to see if they gained/lost, ehhh then so be it! =P

Nope. My husband, among his many talents, administrated a mail server and two personal servers. It is absolutely shocking the tracks any email or post leaves, and even ''secure" and private settings are rarely so. True encryption is a pai in the butt and it only takes one unsecured data transfer or site to skim pertinent data. Photos are inherently unsecured though they can be hosted securely depending on the protocol on the back end.

And Facebook, which has made multiple public statements about owning ALL data on its site and subsidiaries and viewing its users as merchandise? There's a very, very good reason I'm not on there, and any online dealings I tend to do transparently, in a way I have no shame in having attached to my name for the rest of my life (because effectively it is).

It's a total aside, but my mother in law is a senator and we have helped on multiple other campaigns at all levels of government from school district to statewide and federal elections. Nothing will assure you of how utterly exposed one is with ANY online dealings than watching someone pay a team to dig up your entire life and acquaintances, just to kneecap your career.


Yeah.

*ahem* privacy rant over.