Surveil Me! Layers of public and private online is an article discussing the space surrounding surveillance of strangers, friends and potential lovers through trust, reputation, and presence. In covering privacy, it addresses Friendster specifically:
More genuinely novel is the sort of human networking enabled by the increasingly popular Friendster network, where circles of friends can be Venn-diagrammed and browsed in a database that would boggle the mind of the most ardent Kevin Bacon fan. Users post photographs and personal profiles for the perusal of friends, friends of friends, and friends of friends of friends.
The author specifically addresses the notion that Friendster profiles aren’t technically public, but might as well be given the percentage of people beyond your friends who have access to them.