Die Electronic Frontier Foundation hat in einer Zeitleiste aufgelistet, wie sich innerhalb der vergangenen fünf Jahre die Einstellung von Facebook zum Thema Datenschutz / Privatsphäre der eigenen Nutzer verändert hat: Facebook’s Eroding Privacy Policy: A Timeline.
Das beginnt 2005 mit:
No personal information that you submit to Thefacebook will be available to any user of the Web Site who does not belong to at least one of the groups specified by you in your privacy settings.
Und endet vorläufig mit:
When you connect with an application or website it will have access to General Information about you. The term General Information includes your and your friends’ names, profile pictures, gender, user IDs, connections, and any content shared using the Everyone privacy setting. … The default privacy setting for certain types of information you post on Facebook is set to “everyone.” … Because it takes two to connect, your privacy settings only control who can see the connection on your profile page. If you are uncomfortable with the connection being publicly available, you should consider removing (or not making) the connection.
Während in den Anfangszeiten (zumindest in den Verlautbarungen) die Kontrolle der Nutzer über ihre eigenen Daten im Vordergrund stand, hat man im Laufe der Zeit diesen Weg vollkommen verlassen.