After the Facebook Data Scandal, Can Users Have Too Much Privacy?

Legislators, the Federal Trade Commission and other agencies now are considering rules to protect the privacy of users of social networks like Facebook. While those efforts remain in the early stages, even tech companies say privately they expect some regulation to happen down the road. Yet some law-enforcement agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and national-security advocates point to a tradeoff, noting that too much privacy can be as bad as too little. Bad actors take advantage of both extremes, abusing access to individuals on networks that are too open or freely conspiring on systems that are too closed. Law-enforcement agencies rely on access to user data as an important tool for tracking criminals or preventing terrorist attacks.