Facebook, privacy, and MORE!!!!!!

An extravaganza!  OK, maybe not.  I think I have mentioned in the past that librarians are a privacy-minded lot.  On the whole, we have taken the idea that what information you access and exchange is your business alone.  I suppose with the one caveat that you "do no harm" to others.  Hmm...does that make us weak libertarians?  People often accuse librarians of being liberal and prone to protecting the rights of criminals and perverts (you know, those folks who try to browse the naughty Internet sites on the public computers).

The truth is, from a certain perspective that's partly true, but with a very good reason.  Don't get me wrong, none of us (librarians) like criminals or perverts.  It is just that now more than ever before, the line between "acceptable" and "unacceptable" in societal terms, has been horribly blurred.  So librarians, as a group, tend to stick to our tried-and-true method of finding the best that we can provide and letting you, the individual, decide what is best for you and your dependents.

For me, it all boils down to an interaction I had with a friend of mine many years ago.  This friend holds many beliefs and opinions that are completely antithetical to mine.  However, we always got along well because we agreed to disagree in some cases.  A statement he made to me one time during a discussion about book banning types and their motivations exemplified what I mean.  Despite his very conservative values, he said to me that he could "never support pulling books from public libraries regardless of how I feel about some of them because that opened the door to someone else removing the books I want, and want others, to be exposed to."

So, how can librarians help patrons with their private pursuits?  With an open mind and good tools.  So where does the Facebook part come in?  This is a great tool to help protect your private information on Facebook.  Bear in mind that the ReclaimPrivacy.org tool is a free tool and provided "as-is".  That said, if you use Facebook, follow the instructions and run the scanner to see what you have out there available to all.  I made some changes to my account based on the results.  Here is an article with more information.