Privacy Settings in Social Networking Sites: Is It Fair?

Abstract : The present paper examines privacy settings in Social Networking Sites (SNS) and their default state from the legal point of view. The analysis will be conducted on the example of Facebook as one of the most popular –and controversial- SNS and one of the most active providers constantly amending its privacy settings. The paper will first present the notion of privacy settings and will explain how they can contribute to protecting the privacy of the user. Further on, this paper will discuss the general concerns expressed by users and data protection authorities worldwide with regard to the changes of Facebook’s privacy settings introduced in February 2010. Focus will be put on the implementation of the fairness principle in SNS. This principle implies that a person is not unduly pressured into supplying his data to a data controller, and on the other hand that the processing of personal data is transparent for the data subject.