In today’s Quick Hits, we cover a lot of Facebook news (per the norm) and have an update on a story from January. Check it out.

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A Visual Evolution of Facebook Privacy Over Time

IBM developer Matt McKeon recently created a unique interactive graphic that displays how user privacy on Facebook has evolved over the last five years. It is a compelling reminder of how different the Facebook of 2010 is than the Facebook of 2005.

Man Arrested for Twitter Bomb Threat Joke Fined $1,500

In January, we wrote about Paul Chambers, the UK man who was arrested after jokingly tweeting about blowing up an airport over travel delays. According to the Los Angeles Times, “a judge at Doncaster Magistrates’ Court in northern England found him guilty of sending an offensive, indecent, obscene or menacing message over a public telecommunications network… [and] ordered Chambers to pay 1,000 pounds ($1,500) in a fine and costs.”

Facebook Board Member’s Account Hacked and Used in Phishing Scheme

In a bit of embarrassing news for Facebook, one of the company’s board members, Jim Breyer, recently had his Facebook account hacked. Worse still, Breyer’s account was then used by cybercriminals to send out a phishing message to thousands of Breyer’s Facebook friends. We’ve said before that phishing attacks can happen to even the most tech-savvy people, but the fact that Facebook is already facing scrutiny over privacy and safety concerns means there couldn’t be a worse time for this to happen.

Facebook Hires Ex-FTC Chair

Speaking of scrutiny over Facebook’s privacy policies, the company will soon face an FTC investigation to determine whether the company violated consumer protection law. To defend itself, Facebook has hired the former head of the Federal Trade Commission, Tim Muris. Muris was chair of the FTC from 2001-2004, during which time he helped spearhead the ‘no-call list,’ which protected consumer privacy by limiting telemarketing calls.

Is Criticizing Facebook Privacy for ‘Whiners’?

At TechCrunch, writer Paul Carr argues that people who blame Facebook for revealing private information are missing the point. According to Carr, if you want to keep photos and other things private online, “Don’t let them be uploaded to the Internet in the first place.” Interestingly, despite his snarky language, Carr’s stance is not too different from things we’ve written in the past. You must always think about what you’re sharing online and how it might affect your digital reputation. Carr even acknowledges that if someone else uploads a picture of you and refuses to take it down, “Facebook et al have an obligation to act to defend a person’s reasonable assumption of privacy.”

The thing that Carr misses is the fact that Facebook changed course so rapidly and so dramatically that the company essentially pulled a bait-and-switch on users. In its early days, Facebook branded itself as a closed community for friends to connect. People who joined the website at that time have a legitimate reason to be angry with the company. Additionally, because Facebook makes its privacy settings so complex, it is unreasonable to expect non-tech savvy users to know how to lock down their account. (For a complete guide to Facebook’s privacy settings, check out our How-To Guide to Facebook Privacy.)