An open letter to Facebook about safety and privacy

Dear Facebook,

As you know, for some years we have been discussing with your security team our concerns about safety and privacy on Facebook.

Every day, victims report to us numerous incidents of crime and fraud on Facebook. They have been personally affected and are desperate for advice on how to deal with the consequences.

A frequent refrain from users who contact us is, ‘Why doesn’t Facebook do more to protect us?’

We have identified three simple steps you can take to better protect your users:

1) PRIVACY BY DEFAULT

No more sharing of information without your users’ express agreement (OPT-IN). Whenever you add a new feature to share additional information about your users, you should not assume that they want this feature turned on.

2) VETTED APP DEVELOPERS

It is far too easy to become a developer on Facebook. With over one million app developers already registered on the Facebook platform, it is hardly surprising that your…

Read more in my article on the Naked Security website.

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Graham Cluley •   @gcluley

Graham Cluley is a veteran of the anti-virus industry having worked for a number of security companies since the early 1990s when he wrote the first ever version of Dr Solomon's Anti-Virus Toolkit for Windows. Now an independent security analyst, he regularly makes media appearances and is an international public speaker on the topic of computer security, hackers, and online privacy. Follow him on Twitter at @gcluley, on Mastodon at @[email protected], or drop him an email.