Facebook's Frightening New Feature

It goes without saying that an overwhelming percentage of us are on Facebook (photo courtesy of the Facebook website). It has it's benefits, that's for sure. Some of us may use it to keep in touch with old High School friends, and others may use it for business reasons. Whatever the case is, it does keep people connected.

However, there's a dark side to the social networking site. Facebook uses your personal information. Though there are privacy settings, there are several loopholes that Facebook uses to its benefit. Many applications such as "Farmville" or "Social Interview" also utilize your personal information.

To make matters worse, Facebook will soon have a new feature of Orwellian proportions: the "Place" feature. The "Place" feature allows you to post a link to where you are in your status, much like how you can post a friend's name in a status and it will link to their profile. Friends also have the ability to tag you in a particular place.

The following is a direct quote from Facebook's Privacy Policy page.

"Information from other users. We may collect information about you from other Facebook users, such as when a friend tags you in a photo, video, or place, provides friend details, or indicates a relationship with you."

Though the notion of having all of your friends know where you are may seem fascinating, it comes hand-in-hand with a ridiculous amount of privacy invasion. Now Facebook will have the potential to give away the names of your favorite music, books and movies, your address, phone number, interests, pictures, and current location.

Possibly the most frightening aspect of the situation is that Facebook's blatant invasion of privacy is practically common knowledge. Most of us are aware of Facebook's privacy stealing tactics, yet all of us (myself included) are still willingly checking our Facebook multiple times a day.