[puffythefish]

Do you guys list a series of illegal activities as public interests on Facebook or something? Google's lack of privacy boundaries are much more disconcerting than this -- "Orwellian" seems to imply one being watched, which Facebook is not doing; you are publishing it yourself, to the Internet. This is just an example of poor UI design.

[ebiester]

I list gay marriage and other socially liberal causes. I'm sure that some socially conservative HR managers that look at my pages will not choose me for a contracting gig. Is it foolish? Perhaps, but simultaneously they were signals that I wished to send out for other reasons.

Similarly, people who include the tea party should not be discriminated against in employment. Yet people will do this subconsciously.

[indigoviolet]

You can choose to not display your interests on your Profile. They are still "public", but hidden on your Profile.

[flipbrad]

i have no idea what the hell that means, and quite frankly, therein lies facebook's problem.

[indigoviolet]

This is explained on your Profile settings page: "These settings only control the information people can see on your profile. This information, such as your Pages and list of friends, is still public, so it could appear elsewhere on the site and be accessed by applications you and your friends use."

Here's a more detailed explanation: http://www.facebook.com/privacy/explanation.php