In case you missed it, Facebook’s been getting grief for their most recent privacy policy. The changes, which directly exploit your private information, have even prompted many users to close their accounts and live Facebook-free.

You’ve probably seen chain status updating advising you to turn off a new feature called “instant personalization”. It’s a feature that Facebook, in partnership with three brands (Yelp, Pandora, and Microsoft Docs), has implemented to give you a “better” experience on those sites.

For example, you can view your friends’ Yelp reviews, or see their favorite songs on Pandora. On the face of it, it’s a pretty cool feature. But, what they’ve neglected to tell us explicitly, is that these brands are also getting a slew of private information: photos, location, interests, religious views, and all the other information you handed over to Facebook.

If you followed the directions in those status updates, and have turned off the feature, great. But, your information is STILL public to those brands. How? Facebook friends who are still opted-in to the feature are uknowingly sharing your data.

Here’s a short tutorial that shows you how to keep your friends from sharing your info:

That’s the good news. Now, here’s the bad news. If you opted-in to those sites and accessed them, they are still legally allowed to keep your data, even if you opt-out now. Do you hate Facebook yet? It gets better. The same goes for any applications (*cough* Farmville *cough*). The moment you “allow access”, you’ve surrendered your data. Eternally.

In a plan to capitalize on your data, Facebook is making it increasingly difficult to protect its users’ privacy. If you do decide to close your account, please note that “deactivating” and deleting are two different things. Deactivating, only puts your account to sleep, and your data is still available. Actually deleting it is a bit more difficult, but doable.

Hope this helps! Please leave any questions in the comments below.