What happens if you have people in your social network who didn't want to be or have no knowledge of it. There is increasingly a loss of control. As the the use of these sites is becoming more popular I always wonder about the people who have there privacy violated without their knowledge on these sites. For example you can tag people in photos on facebook even if they are not a facebook member. Right away those people have 2 pieces of hugely important bits of identity lost (their picture and name) from them without ever having been asked. In this scenario, people are losing choice and control of their own identity and associated data because internety people want to aggregate and potentially publish their social network.
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You've made a good point
Your concern about social networking data being used in ways that were not intended by the owner of the information is a valid one. However, this happens all the time -- our data is sold to publishers, banks, credit card companies, credit reporting agencies and the like. Our junk postal mail is a daily tribute to the fact that our personal information is being bought and sold and is available to just about anyone who wants it.
The advantage that I see with social networking data aggregation is that you can provide only that information you want to have made public -- you can withhold personal information, for example. Plus, if a standard for this type of aggregation was developed, there could be an opt-out provision built into each social networking site. For example, if I posted my data on Facebook, I could check a box that would restrict Facebook from sharing this data with other social networking sites. Plus, we could always change our data, delete certain parts of it, etc.
Social Media: Loss of Public Privacy & Corporate Integrity
The issue is far more insidious that merely someone on FaceBook!
When you go onto various news blogging web sites, like Propeller.Com - there are employees, who have access to private information, which stalk individuals and target them relentlessly, regardless of the complaints lodged against them.
The lack of corporate ethics by many of these larger news sites is horrific!
I am glad to see law suits starting to be filed against individuals who do not necessarily violate terms of agreements on these web sites, but violate basic rights to privacy and stalk people when they have been asked not to follow the on-line identities of individuals.
http://journals.aol.com/king1con/world-of-social-media/entries/2008/02/24/prosecuting-cyber-stalking-now-has-legal-precedence/80