Web App of the Week: Reclaimprivacy.org

Posted 05/27/2010 at 8:19am | by David Murphy

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Can't go a week on any given tech site nowadays without seeing the "F" word. By that, of course, I'm referring to Facebook--and all the privacy implications for its users that have been arguing about on the Web for the past many weeks.

I'm not here to tell you that Facebook is good, evil, or a delicious chocolate-vanilla-strawberry mix. Make that decision yourself. What I can do, however, is point you to a wonderful tool for assessing your own privacy levels on the service. Trying to navigate Facebook's litany of settings and options for keeping this, that, and the other in (or out) of the public eye is indeed treacherous. Don't give up hope, though; salvation lies in the form of a tiny little bookmarklet that you can run on your profile at a moment's notice.

The bookmarklet--really, a Web tool--is run by a site called Reclaimprivacy.org. Hit up their main page to find the link to said tool and drag it into your browser's bookmarks tab. Once you've done that, you have to then navigate over to your Facebook Privacy Settings page. You can guess what happens next.

Click the bookmarklet and said site will run an unobtrusive scan of your settings that is itself private--the site will never see or share your information with a single soul. It'll tell you just what parts of your profile can be seen by the outside world in case, you know, you had no idea that your crazy interests or deviant friends could be viewed by anyone with a Web browser.

Every Thursday, Maximum PC picks a new Web App as its favorite of the week. Have a Web App that you can't live without? Twitter David Murphy @acererak with your latest suggestions.