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Comment by skybrian | Hacker News Reader

So how do you find out whether they're ignorant of that? A good way is to search for things that people probably didn't mean to reveal publicly.

If a large number of people don't know what they're doing, that's a UI design fail. It doesn't matter whether they should have known.

(I suspect Twitter has the same problem. People should know it's completely public, but I suspect many don't.)

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When I talk to people about it, there seems to be a general apathy around the privacy aspects. Most are of the opinion "why would someone other than my friends be interested in me and what I did on Saturday night?". I think the first wake-up call comes when their parents join facebook. Otherwise it's being turned down for a job without knowing why, getting fired for bragging about throwing a sickie, being harassed/stalked etc...

Im about to move out with my girlfriend, and my realtor checked my background with Facebook. I only knew about this because that guy turned out to have gone to high school with my boss, and my boss told me.

Even though im a programmer, the only thing i do in facebook is add friends, it already affected me to just have an account there. The effect was neutral to good..this time.

I'm fiddling with a FB privacy thing. Would you mind if I used this example as an anti-testimonial?

Edited as follows: " [M]y realtor checked my background with Facebook. I only knew about this because [he] turned out to have gone to high school with my boss, and my boss told me.

[T]he only thing i do in [F]acebook is add friends[.] [I]t already affected me to just have an account there. "

OK to attribute, or no?

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