Timeline: Is There Any Privacy Left on Facebook?

Facebook has made a new change in its social networking site by introducing Timeline, which has triggered new privacy concerns for users.

Compared to Beacon, Timeline only requires users authorization of a new application, such as The Washington Post Social Reader, The Guardian's new Facebook app, Yahoo news, The Wall Street Journal or Hulu. After adding these apps, the information about what you are doing on these Web sites will show right on your Facebook profile, and then on your friends' Facebook home pages. In other words, data on your private media consumption, exercise routines and other habits will go public silently and automatically.

Is this a good thing for Facebook users?

Users and privacy advocates have reservations about this change of Facebook, according to Washington Post.

The report quoted from Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, that the organization opposed to Timeline. Earlier Marc Rotenberg had also informed Facebook users that it was a dangerous thing that their user data was acquired by Facebook. This may force Facebook to review its privacy policies in future.

For common users, this change has made them confused. Facebook promised a baseline sharing settings in their personal privacy settings, while it also has set a default for users when they use these settings.

David Meyer, a Facebook user shared his uneasiness in his blog, There's a limit to how much I want out there, especially if I can't see what's in it for me.

As a part of Facebook's advertisement system, Beacon sent data from external websites to Facebook to allow targeted advertisements and users to share their activities with their friends. However, because of privacy concerns, Beacon stirred considerable controversy soon after it was launched.