New Facebook settings may prompt its users into unwittingly over-sharing.
In an open letter to nearly 350 million Facebook users, Mark Zuckerburg, the social networking site's founder, laid out the terms for the new privacy settings this past December.
In his letter he said that the new settings would protect the users' privacy and Facebook will "suggest settings for you based on your current level of privacy."
However, the recommended settings on Facebook actually reveal much more information than a user might intend.
"The privacy "transition tool" that guides users through the configuration will "recommend" — preselect by default — the setting to share the content they post to Facebook…with everyone on the Internet, even though the default privacy level that those users had accepted previously was limited to 'Your Networks and Friends,'" says Kevin Bankston of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
According to the website TechCrunch this setting will allow Facebook to compete with Twitter for real time content searches but may create a privacy meltdown when its users unwittingly over-share their information.
On a positive note for its users, Facebook has started a drop-down menu that allows users to easily choose who they want to see a certain picture or status update on a per-post basis according to EFF.
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