Facebook Settles With FCC, Basically Unrepentant

After learning that Facebook had settled with the FCC (pdf) for what is basically a slap on the wrist regarding its history of privacy violations, this is what I tweeted Tuesday:

Facebook’s settlement with the FTC shows the company cannot be trusted with your personal info: econ.st/vUlr51

Why? From The Economist:

On November 29th America’s Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released the results of an investigation it had conducted of Facebook. They showed that the world’s biggest social network, which now boasts more than 800m users, has been making information public that it had pledged to keep private.

Last year, Matt McKeon charted the evolution of Facebook’s default privacy settings over time, documenting that the company was pushing customers to be more public. Pushing, however, was not enough for Mark Zuckerburg. The extent of the changes over a six-year period show why the FTC order to obtain a third-party audit “every two years after that for the next 20 years” is a joke.

Facebook Privacy Settings, 2005; Click Image To See Evolution Over Time

Last year, Mashable commissioned an infographic that traces Facebook’s rocky privacy history.

Yesterday, Liz Gannes at All Things Digital provided a historical review of Mark Zuckerberg’s privacy apologies :

Of the 25 posts Zuckerberg has published on Facebook’s corporate blog in the past five years — including today’s acknowledging a long-term privacy settlement with the FTC — I count 10 that were written to address complaints….

There are some common themes. Zuckerberg almost always tells users that change is hard, often referring back to the early days of Facebook when it had barely any of the features people know and love today. He says sharing and a more open and connected world are good, and often he says he appreciates all the feedback.

Most of all, Zuckerberg seems to take pride in offering an explicit, earnest apology, but doesn’t actually admit he was wrong, just that he’s sorry for how things were rolled out or perceived.

You’ve been warned. I would leave Facebook in a minute if I felt that I could. But the nature of the work that I do means that’s not an option for me. And until news organizations stop relying on Facebook for commenting, until businesses “get” than a “like” is a meaningless gesture … those of us in the communications field are stuck so long as the masses continue to congregate at Facebook.com.