3) Facebook’s New “Open Graph” Or Why The Government And Businesses Love Zuckerberg
Facebook’s new Open Graph creates a permanent record over which the user has no control. Read that again: its new Open Graph creates a permanent record… over which you exercise no control whatsoever. Facebook collects the information — it keeps an eye on what you’re doing and records it, whether you want it or not. Here‘s a short explanation from tech website Mashable:
In the past, apps that accessed data from the Facebook APIs could only store that data for 24 hours. This meant that apps and app developers would have to download user information day after day, just to keep up with the policy. Now the data storage restriction is gone, so if you tell an app it can store your data, it can keep it without worrying about what was basically an arbitrary technical hurdle….
The author, Christina Warren, explains what the privacy issues involved are:
I took a look at the different documentation of the Open Graph API and the different social plugins, and gathered that the data collection and overall privacy settings don’t differ from what has already been available. Again, what changes is how that data can be displayed to different people and how it can be integrated in different ways.
Nevertheless, it is imperative that users who have concerns about privacy make sure they read and understand what information they are making available to applications before using them. Users need to be aware that when they “Like” an article on CNN, that “Like” may show up on a customized view that their friends see.
Lauren Weinstein — an expert on the Internet and privacy – adds rather succinctly:
Biggest fans of Facebook’s new Open Graph:
1. FBI, CIA, NSA, TSA, + (all Department of Homeland Security departments and assets)
2. Local Law Enforcement
3. Your boss
4. Your medical and life insurance companies
5. Your auto insurance company
6. Department of Motor Vehicles
7. All lawyers (especially divorce and personal injury)
8. Anyone else who might want to know how you’ve spent your time, at any point in the future, based on the permanent data record created automatically by your activities at vast numbers of sites, all collected in one place for ease of court orders.
Is it any wonder that
Big Government and
Big Business love Facebook?
You can't get rid of your Facebook account, you can only deactivate it (but feel free to come back and reactivate it, you'll still be there). Just one of the reasons I deactivated it. 
....because you can't have it both ways ya know.
