At Stanford I heard a guest lecture by Danah Boyd on the failures and lessons learned from Friendster about social networks in general. The important points from the talk are captured in this paper. This guest lecture was easily one of the best I heard during my undergrad career.

The reason why I bring this guest lecture up is because Danah has impressed me again. This paper on the Facebook privacy mess is both comprehensive and creative. She nails it right on the head. I know this subject matter is a bit stale at this point, but this paper is a must read for anyone interested in privacy on the net.

Key Quote:

Privacy is not simply about the state of an inanimate object or set of bytes; it is about the sense of vulnerability that an individual experiences. When people feel exposed or invaded, there’s a privacy issue.