By Alessa Pang
I love Facebook. I really do. I could easily waste a few hours away on Facebook, doing absolutely nothing but flipping through profiles of friends and strangers alike. Nothing intrigues me more than newly uploaded (and possibly mundane) photos of people who have made their lives accessible to all on Facebook. A few days back, I even found myself looking at the profile page of an American soldier, who proudly posted almost 3 entire albums with photos taken during his stint in Iraq. It was pretty cool.

Unfortunately, for all its perks, Facebook has had its fair share of detractors. For one, it has become an absolute pain for those who have found themselves victims to the lack of privacy that Facebook affords them. (A quick look through failbooking.com is evidence of this.)

The power of Facebook is clear. It has ruined relationships, caused people to lose their jobs, and has even been used as a form of alibi in court in New York, where the accused was successfully acquitted.  In fact, in Florida, courts have gone so far as to bar judges from befriending lawyers on the social networking website in order to protect the integrity of the courts. Back home in Singapore, it became the centre of attention recently when the police arrested three young men for creating a Facebook group that was apparently ‘racist’ in nature.

Given that such consequences often result from stupid mistakes made by individuals themselves while creating such accounts: Wherein lies the legal problem, then?

Perhaps it lies with Facebook itself. With more than 200 million users who willingly update personal information and upload photos onto the website, Facebook has become more than just another social networking website.  For one, its terms of service – which usually goes unnoticed to an unsuspecting user whenever he or she creates an account – have come under scrutiny with every revision that has been made. Under the privacy policy, it is stated clearly that Facebook reserves the right to track and collate information with regard to a user’s activity on the site: i.e. whenever you decide to ‘like’ a photo, upload a video etc.

Furthermore, with regards to the sharing of information with third parties, it is stated that: ‘We share your information with third parties when we believe the sharing is permitted by you, reasonably necessary to offer our services, or when legally required to do so.’

I don’t know about you, but with one semester of Contract Law behind me, I think that this sentence is vague enough to give them a lot of discretion to decide whenever they ‘believe’ that we would consent to such information being shared, assuming that we were asked beforehand. Another criticism was raised in February 2009 when Facebook revised its terms in a manner that appeared to give the site total rights over information uploaded by users. It was only a matter of three days before pressure by privacy rights groups and journalists caused them to cave and reinstate the original terms.

Singapore has no law that specifically pertains to protecting one’s right to privacy. Perhaps the most relevant law we have in place with regard to the Internet would be the Spam Control Act. Even then, this is highly limited as it merely serves to – as the title clearly states – control spam. Thus, responsibility is left entirely to the individual to ensure that he does what he can to protect data that he would otherwise prefer not to have published to the rest of the world.

Furthermore, a more objective view of this issue would reveal that most sites already have similar terms. The problem is that many people never bother to read the fine print before signing up with these sites and often realize too late whenever the spam and ads come in. Living in a digital age has created new legal conundrums and grey areas that need to be dealt with effectively, either by law or by policies. However, the most effective preventive tool would really be the individual. If you fear risking information being shared, then do not publish the information at all. Every friends-only post on your Livejournal is still susceptible to being shared. Every wall post that you have ever made still sticks around on Facebook, even if you have deleted your account. Every notification that has been made on your profile is still public, even if you think that it is semi-public.

So think twice before you upload a photo or make a statement on Facebook! Friends-only is never truly friends-only.