Dangers of Facebook's new privacy policy

Are you on Facebook? A new change to the popular social networking site's privacy policy may be making your private photos and information very public. Even Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg himself had private pictures leaked into cyberspace!

Among the new info that's available is city, gender and a list of your friends. Some privacy experts are now suggesting you lie about your city and gender as a way to protect yourself. But that defeats the purpose of having Facebook as a safe venue where you can trust sharing info with your contacts.

A recent news analysis in The Financial Times of London decried the dangers of Facebook's new privacy policy. Chief among the dangers is a warning that you shouldn't post anything you don't want a potential employer seeing online.

And then there's the personal safety issue. When will the first lawsuit come because someone is harmed now that Facebook allows you to know where they live?

In related news, Clark has another warning to share about Facebook. Be wary of adding friends who are friends of friends, which is very common among users. Cyber-hackers can use you accepting them as a friend to compromise your financial accounts and steal your money.

The Financial Times reports one business had $100,000 stolen over two days because an executive visited Facebook while on a company computer and unknowingly downloaded a virus. The crooks were able to take over accounts and wire money out to Russia.

Remember, businesses have even less protection in this realm under the Uniform Commercial Code than individuals.