Facebook confirmed today that it is working on a location-based product but said that it has re-evaluated its plans to focus more on places like restaurants.

As part of a larger blog post about clarifying language around privacy controls, Facebook deputy general counsel Michael Richter said today that the company now has “different ideas” that are “even more exciting” than what it previously planned to do with location. More details will be available, including regarding privacy, as the company finalizes the product.

That doesn’t sound like an open product development cycle with privacy policy discussions going on before the product is finalized, but from an innovation perspective it’s hard not to be excited about something “more exciting” than simply adding location to posted items.

Anonymous sources told the New York Times earlier this year that Facebook was developing a location feature to be released at the F8 developers conference in April.

Here’s the relevant section of today’s post:

The last time we updated the Privacy Policy, we included language describing a location feature we might build in the future. At that point, we thought the primary use would be to “add a location to something you post.” Now, we’ve got some different ideas that we think are even more exciting.So, we’ve removed the old language and, instead added the concept of a “place” that could refer to a Page, such as one for a local restaurant. As we finalize the product, we look forward to providing more details, including new privacy controls.

The reference to Pages like local restaurants may allude to a very close tie-in with local business advertising at the launch of the location feature.

The difference between location and “place” is a significant one. Substantial resources are dedicated by location-aware social networks to determine what “place” your location refers to. That might mean neighborhood, it might mean business name and it might mean recognizing when you are posting from home so that location can be selectively hidden if you so choose.

What kind of “place” analysis does Facebook have in mind that goes beyond location? Time will tell, but hopefully user privacy will be handled effectively. Location disclosure is a very touchy subject and Facebook’s recent about-face towards a default all-public privacy stance could cause a substantial backlash when it comes to the mainstreaming of location sharing.

Physical location is one of the most sensitive forms of information we posses and it’s going to be very tempting for Facebook to push people towards being more public than they might like. Can the company get the balance right? Privacy and useful features are the two big questions.

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Imagine visiting a website and finding that it already knows who you are, where you live, how old you are and who your Facebook friends are, without your ever having given it permission to access that information. If you’re logged in to Facebook and visit some as yet unnamed “pre-approved” sites around the web, those sites may soon have default access to data about your Facebook account and friends, the company announced today.

Barry Schnitt, Senior Manager, Corporate Communications and Public Policy at Facebook, told us in an email that “the right way to think about this is not like a new experience but as making the [Facebook] Connect experience even better and more seamless.” There will be new user controls made available, but this is a new experience: this makes Facebook Connect opt-out instead of opt-in.

The proposed change was first written about by Jason Kincaid on TechCrunch, who called it Facebook’s Plan To Automatically Share Your Data With Sites You Never Signed Up For.

Here’s the language Facebook used to describe the draft policy:

Pre-Approved Third-Party Websites and Applications. In order to provide you with useful social experiences off of Facebook, we occasionally need to provide General Information about you to pre-approved third party websites and applications that use Platform at the time you visit them (if you are still logged in to Facebook). Similarly, when one of your friends visits a pre-approved website or application, it will receive General Information about you so you and your friend can be connected on that website as well (if you also have an account with that website). In these cases we require these websites and applications to go through an approval process, and to enter into separate agreements designed to protect your privacy.

That sounds downright creepy. It’s nice to have one-click access to your Facebook info if you decide to share it with other sites – that’s what Facebook Connect does – but the prospect of having that information automatically shared when you show up on another website seems like an idea that won’t be well received by users. There’s a big difference between opt-in and opt-out “data portability.”

Schnitt says: “People love personalized and social experiences and that’s why Facebook and Facebook Connect have been so successful. We think there are some instances where people would benefit from this experience as soon as they arrive on a small number of trusted websites that we pre-approve.”

Shnitt is the man who told us in a previous interview about Facebook’s fundamental shift away from being private by default (Why Facebook Changed Its Privacy Strategy) that users generally go along with the company’s default privacy settings because they agree with the company’s recommendations and because the world is changing to be less private. He cited the growth of Twitter, blogging and reality TV as evidence that the world was changing this way and that people are less interested in privacy.In that interview, Schnitt also acknowledged that business reasons, like pageviews and advertising, were part of why Facebook was transforming away from privacy as well. We asked if this new opt-out Facebook Connect was the first step in a Facebook Ad Network, where your profile on Facebook is used to target ads that Facebook sells on sites all over the web. Schnitt told us, “this has absolutely nothing to do with advertising.”

Do you buy all that?

Do you trust Facebook to select trustworthy websites to automatically share your data with when you browse around the web? If you don’t trust Facebook’s judgement, you will be able to opt-out of exposing that data. But by default you’ll be sharing it.

By default, you’re sharing more and more these days, with more and more people. Perhaps that’s because of your love for Twitter and reality TV, but perhaps its because of Facebook’s cultural and commercial agenda.

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Pedophilesare using Facebook to lure children, and the authorities are not happy about it.

Under governmental pressure, Facebook has stated that it has no objection in principle to adding a panic button to the website for kids who feel that they may be in danger.

What function the button would actually have has not been released in great detail, or if there is a time schedule in mind. Renewed calls for a panic feature comes after a high-profile murder involving a child and a Facebook stalker, pretending to be someone who he was not.

Facebook, like any other social network, has privacy issues. You cannot let everyone join, without letting everyone join. Some people are just not out to make new friends and connections.

Of course, even a new function on the website allowing children to alert the authorities of possible misconduct (if the feature is notblatantlyabused, which it most likely will be), will not stop the problem. Posting information and communicating online has risks, and nothing except careful parental oversight will help kids navigate those waters successfully.

While a panic button does not address the roots of the problem, it may help in a percentage of the cases, making it of endless use and value. Facebook has its own systems currently in place, but like anything else they can be improved on.

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Theres an email going round asking Facebook users to reset their password. The email is a fake and contains a virus, do not open or follow any of its instructions.

Facebook is reportedly in the process of letting its users know, but be sure to let anyone you know be aware of the email.

The message says the following:

The message appears to come from Facebook Support with help@facebook.com as the email address.

If you use a web based email client, you shouldnt be too concerned with the viral part of this but if you download your email, its worth virus checking your computer to be safe. The attachment contains a password stealer that can potentially access any username and password combination used on the computer, not just the login credentials for Facebook reports CNet.

More details to come.

Via All Facebook

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Social Networking site Facebook is now offering its users the opportunity to share cash with each other, real cash that is.

You can send and receive small payments via a Facebook application called Buxter and the company behind Buxter that will process the transactions is online payments company ClickandBuy.

Setting it up is easy. If you already have a ClickandBuy account, and millions of people across the globe do, then all you have to do to take advantage of the service is set up your Buxter account on Facebook.

If you dont have a Click and Buy account then you need to set one up before you can load cash in or out of your Buxter account.

Transactions on the Buxter system are limited to a maximum of 50 euros or less and are free to process between friends although there are small fees (minimum of 2 euros) for transferring money out of Buxter and into your bank.

You cant make purchases from anywhere though; you will only be able to trade with your friends on Facebook.

To send cash to a friend you simply select your friends name from a drop down menu and enter the amount you want to send. Easy!

People share their statuses, their information and their pictures on Facebook so the question is why not share money there too? said Christian von Hammel-Bonten, senior vice president at ClickandBuy.

He hopes people will use the service to share expenses for things like cinema tickets and restaurant bills or small gifts; its not designed for anything more than that.

Were not trying to compete with national banking systems. This is not somewhere to pay your gas or rent he said.

To receive any cash you send to a friend they just have to accept the Buxter application and enter an email address.

That friend will then be free to transfer the money to any of their friends or into their bank account if they wish.

Buxter is the application that will see Facebook members use the platform not just as a way to stay in touch, but also as a fast, easy and secure way to exchange money or buy and sell products or services said Charles Fraenkl, chief executive of ClickandBuy.

The only currencies offered by the service at the moment are US dollars and Euros but support for the UK pound will be added in the coming weeks.

It will be interesting to see how many Facebook users end up using it.

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