[tbh2347]

It's not about the technical restrictions, the edge cases. It's about what a user expects when posting, the overall experience when sharing.

There will be the occasional embarrassing reshare, but for the most part users will (in theory...) feel more comfortable sharing more sensitive information if they better control who sees it. I found this post on technical vs social privacy interesting: https://plus.google.com/116222833568410151476/posts/QDwkrxrp...

[billswift]

The problem is that on the Internet you don't have that control. How and where you post something can influence how it can spread, but nothing can control how it spreads, just ask the RIAA. The problems are mostly caused by people who "feel more comfortable" because they wrongly think they can control it. As many people have said, "If you don't want it to get out, then don't put it on the Internet."

[tbh2347]

There's no control just like there's nothing stopping people from recording your conversation in real life and passing it around the office. Sure, on the Internet things are easier, but it's the same concept that you can make it socially difficult to reshare certain things.

Saying "If you don't want it to get out, then don't put it on the Internet" is coloring things too black and white. What about those tech articles that you'd like to share, but don't want to annoy your non-technical friends with? What about the nonsensical updates that you're _okay_ with people seeing but _would rather avoid_ having certain people see?

Not everything that people post are naked pictures or incriminating evidence. There's just some things that are socially awkward to share, and that's where "control" comes in.