[wipt]

Maybe I'm missing something, but this seems really pointless. What would be wrong with friends browsing your content when your not around? As if you knew they were accessing your profile and what-not anyways. The only way I could see this as being useful would be to keep friends from posting inappropriate material - but then setting filters/blocking would be more sensible.

[blahedo]

Some people simply cannot be dissuaded from occasionally posting inappropriate content. If they do it all the time, you might want to de-friend them. But it might be only occasional, and de-friending may have other real-life consequences (if only to your social life).

What kind of inappropriate content? The canonical example, I think, is for someone to tag you in a photo where you are doing something against the rules or otherwise inappropriate. It doesn't even have to be illegal; I've read a number of stories (and heard some personally) of elementary and high school teachers getting in trouble for simply being in a photograph where alcohol was also present. Even if they're over 21 and so is everyone else in the photo. I think it's horrifying that school principals and school districts are able to have that kind of policy, but some of them do.

[Splines]

The problem isn't friends looking up data when you're gone (I agree with you on this one), the problem is that you don't want your friends/classmates putting content on your wall when you're not around to mitigate it.

If you read the original article [1], it provides more details on why someone would to this.

[1] http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts/archives/2010/11/08/risk-re...

[BenSS]

I think it's actually smart given the way teens behave. You know how fast things can spiral out of control (look at Lamebook, etc). Someone trusted today might not be tomorrow.