**Update**: Turns out Disqus was having a case of the Mondays, and my comment is still there. I've tweaked my post here but I'm leaving it up since I still think it's neat, and it summarizes my thoughts on Facebook's current kerfuffle quite well. I like Facebook, I think it's a great service—I just think it made a (really) wrong turn. **Original post**: This is a reply I posted to Mashable's piece, which was strangely deleted. My request as to why it was deleted was also deleted, but and since it was fairly lengthy, it bears re-posting here: "The web is a network of information, and information has no walls." Then why are Facebook mail messages still "private?" Why are Facebook chats still "private?" Why aren't their contents laid bare on the News Feed with Like and Share and Comment buttons? Why aren't our phones' SMS conversations automatically uploaded to our Facebook and Twitter and MySpace accounts with "Blog This!" and "Share That!" buttons? When you're in a coffee shop or on a conference floor telling your friend a story about your family's medical problems, or the DUI your significant other just got, or the idea you have for a book or business, why are you speaking under your breath? Why aren't you shouting at the top of your lungs so everyone can hear? Because Facebook simply hasn't found a kool-aid strong enough to trick people into knocking those walls down too. People's concerns over Facebook's frothing desire to murder privacy in the name of advertising revenue are rooted in the same beliefs and constraints as they always have been. It's just that the tools changed. In the "old days," things were written on a piece of paper—your social security card, your medical records, that idea you had for a business—and you could share them with no one, someone, or anyone. You could invite people into your home, but still not share those things with your guests. Even though they're in your home, those things are still private and not for their eyes. But lots of things need to be told or shared with someone, just not everyone. Facebook started as a tool for sharing things with someone, not everyone. Now it's quietly changing all the settings that *used* to protect our information, and unscrewing the locks from the doors that used to protect our private lives shared with someone (not everyone), and inviting the world to stop by while we're out at work. The fact that digital tools allow another person to breach your privacy and trust much easier and faster than ever before is meaningless. It was a problem in the old days, and it's a problem now. It doesn't mean privacy is dead, it's just the same old life lesson that's existed as long as humanity has: there are bad people whom you should not trust. When Facebook adds a new feature or changes its front page layout, it presents alerts, and popups, and static sidebar notifications which you have to click the next eight times you sign in to *actually* get rid of them. New features are shiny and fun and great, just like these new privacy changes that make us all friends and snuggly share-pals. So where were the alerts, and the popups, and the static sidebar notifications (which you have to click the next eight times you sign in) that let users know about this wondrous new privacy change? When you're doing something you love, and you know is great, you proclaim it to the world. It makes you happy, and you know it will make other people happy. When you're doing something wrong, or something for selfish or perhaps even malicious reasons, you don't tell anyone because you know they won't like it. You just do it and hope you don't get caught.