Why Facebook has expanded its search options
Public posts on Facebook will now be much easier to search, thanks to new and expanded options. But what does this mean for user privacy?
In this Dec. 13, 2011 file photo, a sign with Facebook's "Like" logo is posted at Facebook headquarters near the office for the company's User Operations Safety Team in Menlo Park, Calif.
AP Photo/Paul Sakuma/File
, more than 1.5 billion searches occur per day on the site, and more than 2 trillion posts have been made by users of the site.
This week, Facebook has introduced a new feature called 鈥淪earch FYI,鈥� which the company believes will make it much easier to find information across the social network.
Search FYI will not only make posts from close friends and family much more accessible, it will also enable users to find what strangers and organizations are saying about the same topics.
鈥淲hen you search, you鈥檒l now see the most recent, relevant public posts along with posts from your friends. Search results are organized to help you cut through the noise and quickly understand what the world is saying about a topic in the moment,鈥� Tom Stocky, vice president of search at Facebook, wrote on the company鈥檚 official blog.
However, the feature does raise some privacy concerns. Though the feature will display only Facebook posts which were made public, users鈥� old public posts will be more visible than ever before. Facebook has said it will allow users who don鈥檛 want to be included in results to change it in their privacy settings. And users who are concerned about who can see what they post on the site should carefully examine Facebook's privacy settings.
Still, Facebook鈥檚 various changes to its settings, some of which have been introduced unannounced, continue to draw concerns how they either are or could be dissolving barriers to privacy in the online space.
In 2011, for example, Facebook with the Federal Trade Commission over allegations that it had made users鈥� information public without their knowledge. In 2013, Edward Snowden revealed in leaked documents that the National Security Agency (NSA) collects personal data from users鈥� public Facebook profiles, although that it keeps such electronic records for 鈥渘o longer than five years in any event.鈥� 聽聽
Europe has recently been critical of Facebook privacy practices. On October 6th, the European Court of Justice ruled in favor of Austrian privacy advocate Max Schrems, who expressed concern over the ease with which the United States government could access his personal information on Facebook under so-called "Safe Harbor" regulations.
The Safe Harbor Framework makes it possible for Facebook and other large technology companies to store information about consumers in Europe on American servers. Many worry that the information could end up in the hands of the US government.聽
, the court鈥檚 advocate general said that the ease with which US government officials can view Europeans鈥� personal information 鈥渃onstitutes an interference with the right to respect for private life and the right to protection of personal data.鈥�
Facebook is taking pains to change this perception, however. Earlier this week, the company announced a new policy in which they would warn Facebook users聽whose data is suspected to be under government scrutiny.