Data routinely gathered in Web logs - IP address, cookie ID, operating system, browser type, user-agent strings - can threaten online privacy because they can be used to identify the activity of individual machines, Microsoft researchers say.

How to protect your security and privacy on Facebook

The Wall Street Journal just published the sixth article in its excellent series about Internet privacy, or the lack of it.

Privacy remains a concern for a significant portion of people who use social-networking sites, if the findings from two recent surveys are any indication.

Facebook, whose members upload more than 100 million photos every day, is testing a feature designed to streamline and increase the tagging of people in pictures.

A browser extension for Firefox has been combined with a set of privacy applications that give users more control over how their personal information is shared online.

For many of people, Facebook is the first stop in any Web surfing session. It has developed into a highly engaging combination of online bulletin board, personal scrapbook, and group communication network. But did you ever wonder why, being all those things, Facebook is free?

While governments and other organizations are stepping up efforts at providing more information for public consumption, they should also provide tools to allow people to interpret this data, argued a Microsoft social media researcher.

Facebook, according to its CEO, is built around the simple idea that people want to share things with "their friends and the people around them."  

Facebook claims to have more than 400 million active users. In fact, according to Web analytics firm Alexa, only Google is a more popular site. So, with all that going for it, why are so many users unhappy, with one poll showing that more than half of Facebook users are thinking about leaving?

Facebook deserves plenty of blame for messing too much with its privacy settings, but no amount of fixing will stop people from embarrassing themselves on the Internet.

Want an expert lesson in how to respond without actually responding and how to apologize without saying you're sorry? Then you need to read Facebook CEO Mark Zukerberg's quasi-mea culpa in today's Washington Post. Do it now; I'll wait.

New Yorker Barry Hoggard draws a line in the sand when it comes to online privacy. In May he said farewell to 1251 Facebook friends by deleting his account of four years to protest what he calls the social network's eroding privacy policies.

Facebook's privacy problems reportedly have the social network rethinking its approach, and a new poll suggests that the threat of user decline is real, but don't expect a mass exodus any time soon.

As complaints about Facebook continue to pile up to epic proportions, its competitors are receiving glittering press, financial support, and spikes in site traffic. Is this a signal that the Great Facebook Exodus has begun, and can the trend maintain momentum?

Facebook appears to be working diligently at establishing itself as the site that people love to hate. Don't get me wrong, passionate views are a mark of success--just look at Microsoft, Apple, and Google. Still, the trick is to foster that passion (and generate revenue) without inviting undue regulatory scrutiny or legal backlash.