In today’s Quick Hits, we look back at privacy issues throughout the year, debate the merits of friending parents on Facebook, and talk about online tracking and the FTC.

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Facebook Faces Privacy Concerns in South Korea

Facebook, often a target for concerns over privacy issues, has run into trouble again, this time in South Korea. According to the Washington Post, working from a Bloomberg report, “the Korean Communications Commission called Facebook’s privacy policy “inadequate,” and wants details on how it shares information with third parties. The regulatory agency’s main concern seems to be about user consent over shared information.”

Privacy Named Top Trend of 2010 by ReadWriteWeb

In its end-of-the-year analysis of top tech trends, ReadWriteWeb has put out a piece discussing why privacy was such a big issue in 2010. The article goes into detail on some of the big privacy news items from the year, including issues with Facebook privacy settings, Google’s privacy problems with Google Buzz and Street View, and the recent WikiLeaks saga, among other pertinent issues. For a recap on the privacy issues of 2010, you couldn’t ask for a better article.

Congressman Joe Barton Plans to Maintain Role as Privacy Leader

While Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) lost out to Fred Upton (R-MI) for the role of Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, the congressman “plans to keep his position as the co-chair of the privacy caucus next year” and will continue to be active in consumer privacy issues according to The Hill.

New York Times Tech Talk Podcast Discusses Privacy and Online Tracking

In the most recent edition of the New York Times Tech Talk Podcast, host Bettina Edelstein talks with Tanzina Vega, a New York Times media reporter, about the FTC’s proposed “Do Not Track” option that would allow consumers to opt out of advertising networks and decline online tracking. The podcast discusses consumer reaction to the proposal, as well as the concerns voiced by the Internet advertising industry.

Should You Accept a Parent’s Friend Request? [Flowchart]

As more and more older adults begin joining Facebook, their children are faced with the prospect of becoming online friends with their parents. Mashable has a humorous flowchart from Cool Material that helps Facebook users make the difficult choice of accepting or denying their parents’ friend requests. Check it out below.