Communicate

The New York Times does the heavy lifting of actually plotting out Facebook’s headache-inducing privacy options, helping some of us to navigate 50 settings with 170 options, and the rest of us to shake our heads in disbelief.

It’s more than just a snarky scaling of how complex and overwrought Facebook’s privacy options have become—though the full-size graphic does point out that the actual policy is longer than the U.S. Constitution at this point. The Times’ chart does help you navigate from Facebook’s front page down to privacy settings you might not expect to find in certain places. Take particular note of how your friends’ ability to share your information is separate from your own personal privacy settings, and Facebook’s ability to customise ads based on your information is actually in a whole separate sub-category of privacy settings.

What’s been your method of dealing with Facebook’s hard-even-for-a-programmer privacy settings? What options are you most glad you found? Pass along the privacy tips in the comments.

Facebook Privacy: A Bewildering Tangle of Options [NYTimes.com]