Socially acceptable?
Facebook has rolled out security functions including temporary log-ins for public computers, as BT's security head honcho has criticised the social network's privacy policy.
The social network has only recently rolled out a new ‘Download Your Information' feature that lets users securely store their uploaded archive and a dashboard to monitor user information surrendered to apps.
Facebook has now launched one-use passwords to make it safer to use on public computers in places like hotels and cafes, but the service looks like it is only available in the US, for now.
A product manager wrote on the Facebook blog, that Facebook can text a user a one-time password if they are concerned about the security of a public computer.
"Simply text "otp" to 32665 on your mobile phone (U.S. only), and you'll... immediately receive a password that can be used only once and expires in 20 minutes. In order to access this feature, you'll need a mobile phone number in your account. We're rolling this out gradually, and it should be available to everyone in the coming weeks," he wrote.
Facebook users will also be able to remotely log out of their account from their Account Settings, which could prove useful if they have been using a friend's computer and fear profile sabotage.
"Under the Account Security section of your Account Settings page you'll see all of your active sessions, along with information about each session. In the unlikely event that someone accesses your account without your permission, you can also shut down the unauthorized login before resetting your password and taking other steps to secure your account and computer," he added.
Finally, in a move to keep privacy protectors happy in their quest to get the public more educated about giving out their details willy-nilly, the site has promised to regularly prompt users to keep their security info updated.
Meanwhile as Facebook has been busy tightening its security, BT's chief security technology officer, Bruce Schneier has reportedly been busy slagging it off- or rather the fact that most people don't get how to use it properly.
Speaking at the RSA Europe 2010 conference, he was keen to draw attention to social networks' privacy policies and singled out Facebook as not being good at educating people about online privacy and the data footprint they can leave, which can be cashed in by third parties, ISP Review reported.
"We are witnessing massive invasions of privacy and businesses are deliberately manipulating this. The CEOs are killing it because technology is changing the balance of privacy. The social norms are being set by businesses with a profit motive."
Schneier also reportedly said: "Individuals should have the rights to see, challenge, delete and control their own private information [and] legislation without enforcement, at an effective level, may as well not exist."
He also is believed to have pointed out that people's personal data will outlast them as it is stored by various companies ‘ after you die and beyond'. However, Facebook has long vowed it does not share personally identifiable data with advertisers, which only have access to anonymous data.
While many people have jumped on the anti-Facebook privacy bandwagon, some commentators may be surprised that Schneier has been so vocal, especially as BT has supported website monitoring tool Phorm in the past.
