Privacy has been and continues to be a front and center issue with Facebook and its users. New changes are coming down the pike and most users are not happy about them. A German minister is even calling on citizens to boycott Facebook until tighter privacy controls are in place. Here are the top stories of the week related to Facebook privacy:

95% of Facebook Users Oppose Privacy Policy Changes

German minister criticizes Facebook on privacy

Other headaches surfaced this week for Facebook. A researcher discovered a major security exploit in the Facebook Platform allows a malicious website to silently access a user’s profile information, photos, and in some cases, messages and wall posts. Fortunately, the issue has been patched. You can read the full story here: http://tcrn.ch/99BM4k.

Another troubling story involves an accusation that Facebook fails to report suspected paedophiles. Mr. Gamble, the head of The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (Ceop), is concerned that Facebook is not passing along pertinent information regarding online predators, cyber bullying, etc. to the proper authorities. His office has received numerous complaints and the number of complaints is escalating. None of the complaints have been reported directly by Facebook. Read the full story here: http://bit.ly/ckyYW3

There have been several gift card scams circulating on Facebook over the past weeks. One scam involving IKEA is reported to have duped almost 40,000 users. Other companies hit by the scams are Best Buy, Whole Foods, Target and iTunes. Facebook contends that this problem is small scale and that they are working on an automated system to detect such activity before it has a chance to go viral. Just remember the old adage, “if it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is!” Most of the links take you too affiliate marketing sites that attempt to collect data and generate traffic for advertisers. You can read the full story here: http://bit.ly/bSiB1r.

Last but not least, Facebook was hit by another version of the Koobface worm this week. The latest variant arrives in the form of a message from a friend claiming to show erotic encounters captured by a hidden camera. You will then be asked to download a special video player to view the video. Obviously, this is where the malware attack comes in. Be wary of any suspect messages from “friends” and never click messages of this kind. Once you click, the attacker can take control of your pc and you will also send the same message to people on your friends list. The full story about Koobface can be found here: http://bit.ly/ddMEkw.

That about sums up the top stories for this week. These stories and more can always be found in our In the News section.

Until next week, Be Safe, Be Smart and Don’t get Crooked by the Book!