Facebook members duped by "privacy notice" hoax The "privacy notice" has been widely shared on Facebook this week, but as been confirmed as a hoax with no legal status. It falsely claims that the firm's recent stock market flotation affects users" rights. "Facebook is now a publicly traded entity," the chain letter says. Unless you state otherwise, anyone can infringe on your right to privacy once you post to this site. It is recommended that you and other members post a similar notice as this, or you may copy and paste this version. It also claims that unless members copy and paste the notice onto their profile, their Facebook activity may be monitored by the United States government. Security experts confirmed that posting the notice would have no impact on the ways Facebook and government agencies are allowed to use members" content. "Unfortunately taking control of your online identity is not as simple as making a declaration on your Facebook wall," said Chester Wisniewski of Sophos, a British security firm. If you are uncomfortable with Facebook monetizing your content or making your content available to the US government you either need to avoid posting the content to Facebook, or more carefully control your privacy settings.