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Facebook privacy is something I have been banging on and on and on about for years.

There is an entire generation growing up in an online spotlight.  A generation that doesn't think twice about a form asking for their address and phone number along with their "status."  A generation that is quite happy with location based tracking of each other on their mobile phones (the feature is even a part of some mobile phone advertising.)

This is a generation of over sharers.  Those born in the 80s and 90s are not going to be the "me" generation.  They're going to be the "hey look at me here and here and here" generation.

And not that there's anything wrong with that.  The spirit of the web is all about sharing.  It's about doing good for the good of the community.  Offering insight where you have it, helping solve problems where you can and sharing information. 

That's all well and good, but if self-imposed limits are not placed on the propensity to share, consequences will soon follow.  Imagine the entire world leaving their cars and homes and hard drives unlocked - someone would be robbed, raped or murdered. It's unfortunate, but it would happen.  That's what, in essence, oversharing can do.  You dole out so much personal information that eventually it will fall under control of someone who does not have the spirit of the web at heart.

In remarks to students across America this week, President Obama addressed the issue of oversharing.

“Well, let me give you some very practical tips. First of all, I want everybody here to be careful about what you post on Facebook, because in the YouTube age, whatever you do, it will be pulled up again later somewhere in your life… And when you’re young, you make mistakes and you do some stupid stuff. And I’ve been hearing a lot about young people who — you know, they’re posting stuff on Facebook, and then suddenly they go apply for a job and somebody has done a search.”
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The best rule of thumb always remains: only put on the internet what you'd want your mom to see.  Or as Gillian Shaw of The Vancouver Sun once told me, "only put online what you'd expect to find on the front page of the newspaper."

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