Facebook announced on Wednesday some changes in its privacy rules for teenagers, where they can make their posts open to the public.
The current privacy rules of users aged between 13 and 17 are default to limited sharing. Only their friends and the friends of their friends are allowed to see their wall posts, photos, and other information.
The new privacy rules will now let teenagers to share their posts with anyone on the Web. This sounds good news for some but others consider this troubling as it increases the chances of these teenagers of leaving digital footprints.
A "digital footprint" is any information transmitted online such as forum registrations, e-mails and attachments, videos and photos which can leave traces of personal information that other people can use.
Facebook is aware that most will be concerned about the dangers of allowing teenagers to set their accounts ‘public. As a protective measure, the company will continuously display a note on the teen's accounts that opt to set their settings to "public."
Facebook said in a statement, "Teens are among the savviest people using social media, and whether it comes to civic engagement, activism, or their thoughts on a new movie, they want to be heard."
In a blog post, Facebook explained that it decided to revise its privacy rules to make the posting experience of teen users more exciting and to give them voice in making an important point or in supporting a cause.
Kathryn Montgomery, an American University professor of communications who has written a book about how the Internet affects children, is one of those people not in favor of the new Facebook privacy rules.
"On the one hand, you want to encourage kids to participate in the digital world, but they are not always very wise about how they do it. Teens tend to take more risks and don't always understand the consequences of their behavior," she told the Washington Post.
