One of the most interesting elements of the survey was just how many users are unaware — or don’t care — about privacy settings when it comes to social networks.
Consumer Reports says that one in four households with a Facebook account have users who aren’t aware of or don’t choose to use Facebook’s built-in privacy controls. While that may give some credence to Mark Zuckerberg’s “privacy is dead” declaration, it still makes us pause, especially when you consider how basic information used on Facebook — like your full name and birthday — can be utilized in identity theft.
Honestly, I'm surprised the numbers aren't significantly higher. Though, I guess that might be a function of the way they've phrased it. A lot of people are aware of the privacy settings, but don't use them. IIRC, academic research from only a year or two back (if that) was saying something like 80% or more people don't use the privacy settings of Facebook and similar sites at all, even after being educated (and given step by step instructions) on what to do.
I'm surprised. You can't throw a dead cat in my news feed without hitting a post telling you how do increase your privacy settings.