The privacy debate isn’t new and spans well beyond the realm of social networking, but with the advent of increasing online participation the conversation takes on greater urgency.

I’ve been mulling over this issue more and more – especially since reading Anna Papadopoulos’s article, “There’s a Reason it’s Called “Social” Media” via the Huffington Post.

Privacy groups are at it again. This time they are going after social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, filing complaints about the network’s new social-targeting advertising platform. Essentially, Facebook’s Social Ads allows consumers to endorse a brand and then have their names and photos displayed along with an accompanying advertisement on their friend’s profile page. A friend is classified as someone who belongs to his or her network. Consent is done through the terms and conditions consumers agree to when registering for the site under the TRUSTe privacy regulations, which include the passage below and can also be found here.

There is a general apathy for such privacy agreements – especially as they pertain to online involvement. I agree that as users we need to be more mindful of where we are participating and what level of information we’re providing. But it would be refreshing to have an application available that offers a safe space to interact and communicate without fear of how our content could potentially be exploited. And maybe it’s not an issue of privacy at all, but rather of awareness and an increasing need for digital literacy across a very broad spectrum.

Ironically, I noticed this morning that Facebook has posted a short note regarding updates to its Terms of Use (only after excessively promoting it’s new “fan of” widget).

By posting User Content to any part of the Site, you automatically grant, and you represent and warrant that you have the right to grant, to the Company an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to use, copy, publicly perform, publicly display, reformat, translate, excerpt (in whole or in part) and distribute such User Content for any purpose, commercial, advertising, or otherwise, on or in connection with the Site or the promotion thereof, to prepare derivative works of, or incorporate into other works, such User Content, and to grant and authorize sublicenses of the foregoing (read full Terms of Use).

It’s a challenging read to say the least. While the responsibility may be on the participant to take the time to read such a document there should be a halfway point. A point where the application owner makes such a critical document digestible to the greater public. Maybe even an abridged version that outlines the recent changes and summarizes the items of importance. But then again, an informed participant could be a dangerous one – with the onset of awareness, active disagreement and a call for change may not be far behind.