The widespread backlash against Facebook has had another effect--coding. Four geeks at NYU decided that Facebook's divergence from privacy should be countered with a social network that doesn't require constant sharing of data in such a public manner. The enthusiasm with which Facebook has taken to opening user content with sneaky default settings has left a bad taste in many users' mouths, including these four students that have set out to create a more private network.
Called Diaspora, the anti-Facebook social network will be a way to communicate with friends, without having to compromise your privacy to a large corporation, reports The New York Times. It will, in a sense, let you network without necessarily selling your soul. While the project is still in very early development, its growing interest is indicative of the changing sentiment towards Facebook's new ways.
For Diaspora, the four students would need about $10,000 in funding. In less than 30 days, the team has raised nearly ten-times that amount. The students turned to Kickstarter, a site that lets backers pledge money to your project, which they pay if the project reaches its monetary goal within a set time. Several are jumping on board to support a project that turns away from the current trend of openly sharing information, oftentimes without knowing how much is being shared, and to whom it's being shared with.
For the past few months, Facebook has become more aggressive in launching features that make more information public by default, while incorporating new mechanisms for providing that shared information to third parties. Granted, Facebook is making a smoother transition than it has in the past, and this is in part due to the willingness of more people to share information on the web.
It's tricky to pinpoint the actual source of the privacy issue, because of this willing participation to share on both ends. But the education of consumers regarding their options towards customizing their privacy settings, along with Facebook's responsibility in making that an easy process for users (say, as easy as making everything public), is something that's still lacking for the social network. Looking at the early interest in Diaspora, it appears that the public is ready to see new options around private social networking.
If the story of Diaspora sounds familiar, it's because it's alarmingly similar to the purported intentions of an early 
