Today’s Quick Hits are all about Facebook privacy. Check out these articles from Wired, the New York Times, and PC World.

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Is There Such a Thing as “Personal” Data Online?

In a GeekDad column for Wired.com, Curtis Silver discusses the definition of data online, and why he believes “personal” data becomes non-existent as soon as you agree to a website’s privacy policies.

From the article: “When you click the little check box and hit continue, you are agreeing to pages and pages of legalese that pretty much state you don’t have any personal data and you have absolutely no privacy on that site. They own it all…The lesson here is that you should only put data on the internet that you are comfortable with being shared, viewed or sold by people that are not you. In this era of social media and sharing, there have been so many cases of just blatant ignorance. What do you think will happen if you put inappropriate pictures on Facebook when your boss is on your friend list? Nothing? This isn’t the era of anonymous postings in forums and BBS chat rooms anymore. We remember that, but do our kids?”

Facebook Bug Adds Secret Apps

PC World recently uncovered a bug on Facebook that secretly added applications to user profiles. If you visited a website linked to Facebook through Facebook Connect (TechCrunch for example), the bug would add an application from that website to your profile. The bug has since been resolved, but if any apps made it onto your profile, you will still have to remove them manually. You should double check your applications in your Facebook settings to make sure that you’re not accidentally sharing information with unapproved apps.

Facebook Teams Up With McDonald’s for Location-based Marketing

According to an Ad Age report, McDonald’s will be the first major company to use Facebook’s new geolocation platform for marketing. Users will have the ability to check in from a McDonald’s restaurant with a location-based status update on Facebook as early as this month. As part of the check-in, a featured product will be advertised with the update. The deal is part of a larger media buy for McDonald’s, and represents a new way that Facebook is luring advertisers into its newly open platform.

Privacy Groups File FTC Complaint Against Facebook

The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) and 14 other consumer protection groups filed a formal complaint against Facebook with the Federal Trade Commission this week arguing that the company’s recent privacy changes “violate user expectations, diminish user privacy, and contradict Facebook’s own representations.” The issues that the complaint addresses include Facebook’s Instant Personalization feature, the Facebook Connections feature, and the fact that Facebook makes certain profile information public in spite of user preferences.

NY Times Tech Talk Podcast on Facebook Privacy

Lastly, the New York Times Tech Talk podcast also touches on Facebook and Internet privacy, featuring insight from both sides of the debate. The first interview is with Kurt Opsahl, a senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. The second interview is with Elliot Schrage, Facebook’s vice president for global communications, marketing and public policy.