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Another CIPPIC grievance is that user's privacy settings in Facebook are automatically set to share the most information when a new account is created.

Younger Facebook users, or less Web-savvy users may never think to change these, and are unknowingly sharing their information with the world, according to Harley Finkelstein, one of the law students that worked on the document.

“Facebook calls them privacy settings, but we've come to discover these are actually publicity settings,” he says. “Social networking and privacy don't necessarily go hand in hand.”

But even with privacy settings at maximum, users still face a number of vulnerabilities, Finkelstein adds. He's a member of the site himself. Applications available on the network can gain information through a friends' list linkage, for example.

“The developer could have zero legitimacy,” he warns. “They might have access to your sexual preference, what university you go to, or even your address.”

At least one avid Facebook user was surprised that his information could be viewed so easily.

Chris Centeno is a fourth year student in a communications program at Toronto-based York University. As an early adopter of Facebook, he's collected 1251 friends. “It's a bit scary, these companies are looking through your information and seeing who you are,” he says.

Centeno considers himself a careful user, not posting his full birth-date or any address information due to identity theft concerns. When strangers want to get on his friends list, he'll grant them access to a limited profile with less personal information. But now he'll reconsider how he uses the social network.

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