Facebook too in our faces

DKS editors

Facebook has once again found new ways to open your private life to the world. With its new feature, “Friendship Pages,” virtually every interaction between two people is public. Photos, posts, events — you name it.

Well, hackers actually created it, so you can thank them. Why Facebook would agree to something like this is beyond us.

It’s great that web developers are able to get together for all-night hackathons, enjoying a few beers with fellow geniuses, but creating features that lend no room for privacy is dangerous.

In a story posted on gawker.com, Facebook engineer Wayne Kao made an argument for the new feature, saying it’s good for new relationships. But if people have now resorted to basically stalking a person on Facebook to test his or her ability to be a compatible partner, what has this world come to?

Is a Facebook profile worth more than a face-to-face conversation?

Facebook has made it seemingly impossible to protect any information posted on a page. While the highest privacy settings enable you to remain unsearchable, a quick search through mutual friends or Google ousts you in an instant.

And if that doesn’t worry you, just sitting in a public place equipped with Wi-Fi puts you at risk of hackers.

So to top it off, Facebook has now created this feature that discloses every little move you make. Sounds like a governmental experiment.

With the already present concern that a future employer will see an inebriated photo of you or a status you wrote in a fit of rage, you now have to think about jealous ex-lovers or worse — parents.

Your best bet at this point is to take the time to delete any questionable photos or “Wall” posts while you still can. Or better yet, you might as well just delete your Facebook profile for good.

The above editorial is the consensus opinion of the Daily Kent Stater editorial board whose members are listed to the left.