Facebook Removing Option To Be Unsearchable By Name
http://techcrunch.com/2013/10/10/facebook-search-privacy/
Facebook Removing Option To Be Unsearchable By Name, Highlighting Lack Of Universal Privacy Controls
Josh Constine
Who can look up your Timeline by name? Anyone you havent blocked. Facebook is removing this privacy setting, notifying those who had hidden themselves that theyll be searchable. It deleted the option from those who hadnt used it in December, and is starting to push everyone to use privacy controls on each type of content they share. But theres no one-click opt out of Facebook search.
To be fair, the Who can look up your Timeline by name? feature was likely misunderstood by lots of people. At first glance, you might assume it means that strangers cant find your profile. But thats incorrect. There have been lots of ways to navigate to your profile, like clicking your name on a photo youre tagged in, finding your name in a friends friend list, or combing through Likes on a mutual friends News Feed post.
With the roll out of Graph Search, the avenues for sniffing out someones profile grew exponentially. Basically every piece of personal information (and soon the content you post about) could bring you up in a search. If you publicly list that you live in San Francisco, a Graph Search for People who live in San Francisco could lead someone to your profile...
For people with stalkers, though, Facebook may have just gotten a bit more dangerous. Facebook tells me the way to keep a specific person from finding your profile or viewing any of your content is to block them. But what if your stalker just signs up for a fake profile with a new name? Then they could search and find you.