The point is that the users who were outed didn't "put secrets in the hands of facebook's whims" [sic], they were outed, when someone else assigned them to a group that the other person had created.
Simply put, you when someone assigns you to a group, by default you should get a notification along the lines of "So-and-so has added you to a group x. Are you part of group x?" Very much like how tagging in photos currently works, though I think there the default is to allow tagging.
I guess you're missing the respondent's POV - don't put anything, ever, in facebook, because ultimately they don't give two shakes about you or anything else other than making money.
Total answer to this is if the person wasn't on facebook, none of this would have happened.
True. But that's not a realistic solution for most people. It's like saying "don't have a cell phone". I mean, you can not do it, but you're out of a lot of people's loops.
The point of the article was that these people did everything right apart from that. They DIDN'T put anything on Facebook. They were added to a group without their approval.
Well, that could be the "answer" to every situation where someone got victimized. Participating in society of course opens you up to the possibility of being victimized.
How is the answer "don't participate in society" instead of "make society a better place?"
you should get a notification along the lines of so-and-so has added you to a group x
- so says you, but what you're entirely missing (again) is that it's entirely up to facebook what notifications they send and just because you think they should, because of your privacy concerns, doesn't mean that FB will because their concern isn't your privacy, but rather making money for their shareholders.
It's very simple. If I'm friends with you on FB I can create a group called "Gay HN users" and add you. If the user list of the group is public than and while you're sleeping all your friends will be notified that you're a member of the group even if you put them on restricted, because it's public.
Simply put, you when someone assigns you to a group, by default you should get a notification along the lines of "So-and-so has added you to a group x. Are you part of group x?" Very much like how tagging in photos currently works, though I think there the default is to allow tagging.