(December 20, 2011) -- Sophomore Christopher Kramer is one of the rarer types of people today: one who doesn’t have a Facebook, Twitter or any other type of social networking account. His main issue with Facebook is its security, and many people like him agree.

On Nov. 29, the federal government accused Facebook of “unfair and deceptive” practices. According to the Federal Trade Comission’s (FTC) official website, Facebook deceived consumers by telling them they would keep information private, and then “repeatedly allowing it to be shared and made public.”  

Facebook, with its features such as sharing with “Friends Only,” did not keep the information away from third-party applications, according to the FTC’s statement.  The FTC claims that when Facebook users deleted or deactivated their account, their photos and videos would still be accessible, even when Facebook claims that they would be deleted. Along with several other reasons, the FTC placed Facebook under scheduled “privacy checks” monthly for the next 20 years.

Facebook’s official statistics page states that there are over 800 million active users on Facebook, and about 250 million use the website daily. Several of these people have definitely been warned about the privacy issues of any social networking website, not just Facebook.

“The Internet is not always a safe place,” said Kramer. “Virtually any website can be hacked. For example, thieves were using Facebook not that long ago to plan times to rob houses. As Facebook users went on vacation, they would tell everyone where they were going and when they would be gone.”

Along with thieves, Facebook users also face the issue of hackers and keeping their reputation. “I know some of my friends that don’t care about what they post or say,” said freshman Michael Benliyn. “But I also have friends who are more serious who actually want to keep their image, and they think [the privacy issue] is a problem.”

However, not all Facebook users believe that their privacy is completely doomed. Sophomore Saikiran Ramanan believes that Facebook has actually done a lot to improve their privacy levels since the FTC’s settlement, but people just don’t use it.

“Hackers will always be hackers,” said Ramanan. “Even if all your information is taken off, they will still find you. You’re not supposed to put super personal information like your social security number, credit card number and other stuff.”