why do people worry about facebook, myspace etc. privacy?

[One]

I read something in the newspaper that really pissed me off b/c they are treating people like they don't have common sense. This person was saying be cautious of what you write on your profile b/c colleges can check them out and ofcourse employeers(but that another subject) but first of all how can they check your profile out unless they're part of your school network?even if they send you a friend request not many people accept strangers; atleast i don't. seoond of all their could be someone with the same name and same grade at your school. you can set it to private. heck on facebook you can even make yourself unsearchable. you can hide pictures of yourself, wall posts, statuses etc. even if they hack into it somehow that violates the terms of use and they must have some pretty powerful software! i seriously just think people like to worry.
how can you view your employes profile that's private?

[Madman6510]

Because the media gets off on freaking out the general public.

[Synful Visions]

I can view any private profile/picture on any online service.

I'm far from the only person who can do this.

The problem is, people have an inflated sense of entitlement when it comes to privacy. They're posting things to public services, over public airwaves and lines, and they get mad when people see what they post and have an opinion of their own.

I check out the MySpace, FaceBook, etc of every potential employee of mine, and I have found that it is a great way to see people as they are/want to be, rather than as the image they concoct for interviews and employment. Lack of grammar and punctuation indicates sloppiness and a lack of self respect. The way people present themselves when they believe nobody is watching is the best way to judge people.

EDIT: I'm not disclosing the vulnerabilities that allow me to view private profiles and all of the other things I do. I have a few side businesses that require those holes to remain open. I'll give you the one thing they cannot close, you can use a "fusker" to view private images if you do not already have access to the profile/page through other means. They all have weak mobile logins too. This is due to the difficulty in implementing IP restrictions on the mobile services.