Australians Online

As Facebook grows in popularity in Australia, it struck me that many seem unaware of some of the aspects that made headline news across the oceans in North America.

The debacle of 2007 is to what I refer. Many people logged on to Facebook to see things they had done elsewhere online posted to their Facebook page, as Facebook employed the use of cookies to track all net activity of their users. Link

Also, there was much ado about some aspects of their terms of service. A main point of contention for many people was the understanding that any photos/text you post on Facebook, even if your account is set to private, are automatically given to Facebook, and can be used. - splashed on the front page of any newspaper or billboard etc. Used for say some nefarious activity or ad. A clipping below:

"By posting User Content to any part of the Site, you automatically grant, and you represent and warrant that you have the right to grant, to the Company an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to use, copy, publicly perform, publicly display, reformat, translate, excerpt (in whole or in part) and distribute such User Content for any purpose, commercial, advertising, or otherwise".

Also from Facebook themself:

"Facebook may also collect information about you from other sources, such as newspapers, blogs, instant messaging services, and other users of the Facebook service through the operation of the service "