Sites like Facebook and Twitter provide users with a place to share personal information with friends family and the public — an activity that's proven to be hugely compelling to Internet users. In response to the demand technology is evolving to encourage the disclosure of information that was formerly discreet (like location) and to enable the sharing of information even when not sitting in front of a traditional computer (like from mobile phones).

But it doesn't take much forethought to realize that there are countless privacy pitfalls in a world where a near-endless stream of personal bits is indiscriminately posted indefinitely stored and quietly collected and analyzed by marketers, identity thieves, and professional government snoops in America and abroad. The public controversies that have erupted to date — Facebook's drastic terms of service changes and Google Buzz's forced sharing of email contacts — are only the first snares in a rapidly growing thicket of social networking privacy issues.

Here are some of the ways EFF is working to protect your privacy as the use of social networks grows:

Protect digital privacy and free expression. EFF's public interest legal work, activism, and software development preserve fundamental rights.
Protect digital privacy and free expression. EFF's public interest legal work, activism, and software development preserve fundamental rights. DONATE TO EFF