integratePR blog

Recently Facebook announced the release of its newest feature “Facebook Places”. This application allows users to add their location into their status. Facebook accesses the device the user is on to determine their location and then posts it at the end of their status.

True to Facebook’s history, this new addition is already making quite a stir across the nation. The California branch of the American Civil Liberties Union almost immediately released a response to the announcement, warning users against the feature.They argue that it is not necessarily the feature that they have a problem with, but the inability for users to opt out of it.

One of the primary concerns is that Places is based around the tagging capability. Tagging allows you to insert your friends into your location as well. Initially a feature of photos, its widespread popularity led to its recent integration into the status feature as well. So technically, whether you want to utilize Places or not, your location can be made known by a friend.

The ACLU is also voicing concerns about the fact that there is no setting that can permanently prevent your location from being posted via Places. Users have a window that comes up that gives them two options: ‘Yes’ or ‘Later’. There isn’t ‘No’ or anything in your account setting for that matter that allows you to deactivate the application completely.

Even more concerning, they say, is the “Here Now” tab, which allows people to instantly view other people who are in the same location as them at that current time. Regardless of if you are friends with them or not.

Facebook has responded that there are actually settings that can limit Places use to ‘Friends Only’ or ‘Me Only’ if you want to disable it completely. You can now uncheck a box to prevent people from accessing you on “Here Now”. All of these can be controlled in the ‘privacy setting’ of your account. Facebook is now trying to educate users on Places, and more material on the application can be found on their site.

Despite strong opposition efforts from the ACLU, it seems the public itself is unsure about how they feel. In a recent Mashable poll , to date approximately 27% of people say they will use Places while 26% say they don’t use location services period .19% say they prefer Gowalla and Foursquare over the new Facebook addition, and lastly, 28% are unsure of what they will do with Places, they are going to wait and see.

Privacy issues have plagued Facebook since its inception in February of 2004. This is only the newest complaint in the ongoing battle. It is too early to see where this debate is headed, but Facebook may have to make some future changes in the settings of this new feature.

What are your thoughts on the new feature? Will you use it? Are ACLU’s concerns valid? integratePR wants to know what you think!