(Although I haven't confirmed it, I believe that my complex/ISP is blocking access to anything with 'data torrent' in the name. Oops - anything with 'torrent' as any part of the word, including 'torrential' and 'torrentially' and 'torrential floods' and 'torrential downpour'. All other searches work.)

Anyway, back to FB and data security. The security consultant who collected information from 171 million Facebook users supposedly only pulled public information. That's fine, if you wanted/knew your information was public. If you didn't and you haven't corrected the privacy settings - then that's a problem.

To check, log in to your account:

1. Click on Account, in the upper right corner of your home page;
2. Choose Privacy Settings from the drop-down menu;
3. Under Basic Directory Information, click on View Settings ;
   • Items tagged Everyone are, in a nutshell, public;
   • Anything you don't want to 'broadcast' should be changed to Friends, or at least Friends of Friends ;
4. Not sure what shows or what to change? Choose Preview My Profile on the top right:
   • This will show you what information on your profile is public / viewable to strangers;
   • Anything you don't want to 'broadcast' should be changed to Friends, or at least Friends of Friends ;
5. Don't log-off - we have more to check.

Another security / privacy issue on Facebook is enabled Public Search. What this means is that Google and Bing and Yahoo - and all those happy little search engines - have access to everything you post on FB, unless you tell them NO!

To do that:

1. Click on Account, in the upper right corner of your home page;
2. Choose Privacy Settings from the drop-down menu;
3. Under Applications and Websites (lower left), click Edit your settings ;
4. Under Public Search (last option), click Edit Settings ;
   • If Enable Public Search is checked, uncheck it to remove search engine access to your information.
5. Don't log-off - we have more to check.

Lastly, the information you place on Facebook is only as secure as the settings of your friends. While you could ask them all to tighten their security, that probably wouldn't happen - leaving your data exposed through their settings, posts, and gameplay. So, let's just place a few limits - for them - and Facebook's Partners.

1. Click on Account, in the upper right corner of your home page;
2. Choose Privacy Settings from the drop-down menu;
3. Under Applications and Websites (lower left), click Edit your settings ;
4. Under Info accessible through your friends, click Edit your settings ;
   • On the pop-up, uncheck everything that you don't want visible - to games and websites - through your friends;
   • Be sure to SAVE your changes .
5. Under Instant Personalization, click Edit your settings ;
   • If Enable instant personalization on partner websites is checked, uncheck it to remove FB Partner access to your information.

You are now done, to the best of my knowledge, protecting your information and your privacy on Facebook. At least until there's another update and everything resets. {sigh}