Since Facebook launched Open Graph API and brought instant personalization with web-release of “Like” button, everyone is talking about Facebook user’s privacy issues. Some of the Facebook users also decided to quit Facebook by joining Quit Facebook Day, which is an attempt by Matthew Milan and Joseph Dee in light of growing concerns around user privacy.
But there are many users who are concerned about privacy but don’t want to quit Facebook all-together. Even I am the same kind of user, I really like face-booking when I get time. But we have to admit that, Facebook’s privacy settings are really complex and not everyone’s cup of tea to fix that. You have to go through over 170 + privacy options and still you can’t see the changes instantly.
But now there is a new tool called ReclaimPrivacy.org to reclaim your Facebook privacy and make sure that your Facebook data is protected. ReclaimPrivacy.org is a simple bookmarklet that scans your Facebook’s privacy settings and shows which privacy settings is insecure when you click it.
The website and bookmarklet are the created by software engineer Matt Pizzimenti and is completely open-source and hosted on GitHub. According to them, their privacy policy is that they “never see your Facebook data” and “never share your personal information”.
To check your Facebook privacy settings, simply follow these instructions below :
1) Drag the link to your bookmarklet bar : Scan for privacy (Don’t click on this link)
2) Open your Facebook account and click on above bookmarklet.
3) Now, you will be able to see a 6 privacy scans that analyzed your privacy settings and warn you about which settings cause your data to become public. This bookmarklet will show you warnings in 3 different colors : “green” for good, “yellow” for caution and “red” for insecure. If you get yellow or red warning, it will help you to give steps to fix the problem so that you don’t have to waste time search for right setting.
As you can see it’s very simple to scan your privacy settings and you can fix it in few minutes. Now, as you are protected from Facebook’s privacy issues, I don’t think so you gonna opt for Quit Facebook Day.
Feel Free to share this information on your Facebook wall to help your friends.
Happy Facebooking !