Facebook not as secure as one might think

Recently, a flaw in the design of face book has exposed millions of so called "Private" photo libraries to the view of anyone who wants to search.

Record numbers of people are posting intimate details about their lives online, despite warnings from privacy campaigners that photographs are extremely difficult to erase once uploaded to the internet. Even Paris Hilton had some previously private photo's leaked through the facebook security problem

Byron Ng, a computer technician from Vancouver, began looking for flaws in the site's security after an upgrade last week purportedly gave Facebook's 40 million users greater control over the way they shared material such as photographs with their friends.

Byron found he was able to pull up recent pictures posted by Facebook users, even if the owners intended them only to be seen by a select group of friends.

In related news, many want ban companies from trawling websites such as Facebook to gain access about potential employees, in a process known as "digital dirt-digging".

The Information Commissioner's Office recently reiterated its warning about the risk of posting details on social networking sites after a study found that the amount of information stored about us on the web will grow by a factor of ten between now and 2011.

In a statement acknowledging the security flaw, a Facebook spokesman said: "We take privacy very seriously and continue to make enhancements to the site.”

In June last year, Facebook was forced to update its privacy settings after it was revealed that certain information about users - such as their sexual preference and religious beliefs - could be ascertained by searching the site.