Facebook is getting out of control.
 
The social networking giant is already taking over people’s free time, easily becoming the country’s biggest procrastination tool.
 
Terrifyingly enough, Facebook is becoming the nation’s biggest stalking tool, as well.
 
Facebook does provide users with a large array of privacy and protection settings to keep their information on a “need to know basis.”
 
But, with more than 500 million users registered to Facebook, users’ identities are not as secret as they may think — as demonstrated over the summer with thousands of users’ personal information being leaked thanks to hackers.
 
Placing too much personal information on Facebook is a bad thing. Many people’s identities have been stolen by thieves using nothing but a name and a birthday. Those two seemingly worthless pieces of info can help people       figure out social security numbers, which can lead to a whole array of trouble.
 
People also may be watching your every move solely through your status updates. Stalkers and serial killers watch their victims for months — even years — to pick up noticeable patterns before they strike.
 
It’s a scary world we live in, and technology — while helpful for you and your everyday life — is also helpful to those bad people in the world.
 
Facebook has become the beacon of social communication, and the site’s creator, Mark Zuckerberg, knows it. Over the summer, after the huge privacy leak, Facebook beefed up its security settings, making them simpler and easier to access.
 
However, beefed up security aside, two weeks ago Zuckerberg and crew unleashed the ultimate stalker’s tool to the 500 million-plus Facebook users — Facebook Places.
 
“Places is a Facebook feature that allows you to see where your friends are and share your location in the real world. Use Places to experience connecting with people on Facebook in a completely new way.”
 
If by “completely new way” you mean scary and dangerous, you got it right, Facebook Help Center.
 
I really want to know what person getting paid way too much got paid way too much for coming up with this disaster of an idea.
 
First of all, you wouldn’t put a giant sign on your lawn saying, “No one is home right now. Please come rob me!” would you?
 
All it takes is one Places update for someone to know you’re not home and go loot all your belongings.
 
If you are at home, someone may simply click on the “Home” link, and thanks to Bing Maps, find out exactly where you live.
 
Doesn’t seem very safe to me.
 
Also, remember those patterns stalkers and serial killers watch for? Thanks to the power of the Internet, you just made their job much easier.
 
Congratulations, future victim.
 
Of course, to cover their own asses, Facebook has full details listed in their Help Center describing to users how to customize or completely disable Places on their account.
 
However, I shouldn’t have to weave my way through the giant web of the Facebook settings menu because Places defaults to “enabled.”
 
If Facebook really cared about their users’ privacy, the new feature should automatically be reset to “disabled” until the user decides they want to initialize the feature.
 
Because Places only launched 13 days ago, I didn’t learn of it until one of my friends tagged me at The Varsity one night.
 
That’s right, Places also allows you to have your friends stalked along with you.
 
Again, it is possible to disable this, but if you aren’t aware of the feature then you won’t be aware you must disable said feature.
 
While Facebook is fun and a great way to interact with others, Places is nothing but a huge blunder, and I strongly advise against it. Facebook’s privacy settings may be a pain to wade through, but personal security is well worth the frustration.
 
Everything you put online is public knowledge, so keep where you are private. If I really want to know where you are, I’ll just ask — or keep stalking your Places updates.
 
 
Adam Arinder is a 20-year-old communication studies senior from Baton Rouge. Follow him on Twitter @TDR_aarinder.
 
 
 
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Contact Adam Arinder at [email protected]