I'd be more worried about people accessing my Internet banking or my email than who I look at on Facebook. Log out of your bloody accounts before you leave your PC!
Just to be clear - I don't think people are especially worried about strangers seeing which profiles they've viewed (it would be quite unlikely it would be meaningful) - they are worried about the people they trust seeing which profiles they've viewed.
Facebook doesn't show which profiles you've viewed explicitly for a good reason - I think they were just hoping that this would be obfuscated enough not to get much notice.
they are worried about the people they trust seeing which profiles they've viewed
In other words, you don't trust the people you trust. Perhaps you need to rethink your behavior, based on your revelation that you don't actually trust them.
It's not always as simple as that. There are times where it's better to keep certain information from certain people no matter how much you trust them or like them. It's just better that way.
Some of us have had significant others with jealousy issues. It's not that we don't trust them, it's just better if they don't worry about silly issues like whose Facebook profiles we've been perusing. Not because it's a secret or because there is anything to hide, just because it helps the SO control their counter-productive impulses if they aren't informed on the matter.
That same kind of avoidance can be applicable in all other sorts of relationships. It's not that the people aren't trusted, it's just that there's no reason to know, and it will only cause damage if they find out -- not because it's bad or trust-breaking, but because the person's reaction may be problematic for completely different reasons (compulsions, or potential taint of future circumstance).
this is the old "you don't have anything to hide" mantra dressed up in more personal terms. people aren't perfect and they have the right to distrust their closest friends if they want to.
Of course they do. That's why modern operating systems have security.
It just doesn't make sense to insist that both (a) I want to leave everything unlocked and open; and (b) I don't want anyone to be able to see what's there.
You've got every right to protect your privacy from prying eyes. But if you want to do so, do it.
I often hand my laptop or iPad to my wife so that she can look at something/use it for a few minutes while sat on the sofa (her computer is a desktop in the other room).
I normally don't bother logging out of whatever sites I'm logged in to.
I'm not too bothered what she sees if she opens up the Facebook tab with me logged in - but I can see that it may be a problem for some.
And I don't think that "hand it over for five minutes to check something" is that uncommon a use-case.
"here - look at this interesting article on Wikipedia"
... she starts reading ...
... I get bored and go to make cup of tea, forgetting that I hadn't logged out of Facebook ...
... she finishes article, closes tab and finds herself on my Facebook page ...
It is my fault, but a "clear history" (or at least make my history invisible) function would mean that mistakes like the above will have much less impact
