Today at 3:00 AM EDT I noticed that Facebook added a few new privacy features.

Last week we asked you guys what privacy controls you thought were necessary for the upcoming expansion. We read all of your suggestions and we have built these controls:
Hide yourself from all people in a type of network (e.g. people only in a region, high schoolers) in searches.
Prevent people in those networks from messaging, poking and adding you as a friend.
Control whether your picture shows up in your search listing.

These controls are all under the Search section of the My Privacy page. As always, please send us feedback here.

As usual, I send an email to them for thanks.

Facebook,
Thanks for implementing the new privacy features. I do believe that they are necessary, though they are making Facebook a bit more closed. Which, if the users like it, is good. But please, consider the implications of these moves; please see my blog article (this) for my warnings.

Thanks again for listening.

Steven Bao

What they don’t know (or they might) is that they’re paving the way for school administrators, faculty, and parents to be able to hold a Facebook and basically stalk students on Facebook. This is a very serious matter, and it should be taken seriously; the privacy features are useful for some, but the implications may be fatal. Before, it was somewhat hard to hold a Facebook account if you were not a student, as you would be found out sooner or later. If we resolve so that you need to be one’s friend to read their profile, then Facebook will become more and more closed.