I’m vastly curtailing my Facebook appearances, due to the changes in Facebook, which are going all-out for ‘tracking’ their users. There is also a bill up that would ban this, but since the business concept of these people seems to be less providing a service that involves your clicking on a few pages with ads—and more the ability to market your personal information to interested parties…I no longer believe that if you push the buttons to ‘restrict’ your private information from some users, it will also ‘restrict’ it from Facebook itself gathering the names of all your contacts, their locations, preferences, shopping habits, likes (you’re not allowed to dislike: that might offend certain list-buyers, after all) and political affiliations and anything else you’ve given them—and selling them locally, nationally or internationally. I am told a smartphone can give them a raft of information even when it is shut off, so if you post using one, you could be compromised: fact or fear, I don’t know, but I don’t want to find out. They’re also posting their ‘tracking’ online, so there’s every opportunity for gross abuse, the ability for criminals to know when you’re not home, the ability for stalkers and predators to know where you or your children are. This is damned scary, and this part is quite, unfortunately, implemented.
You also cannot ‘close’ a Facebook site: this should have warned me. Once there, it’s there. So I’ll go up now and again to be sure nothing truly outrageous is happening—or more outrageous than originally done. And invite any of my ‘friends’ there to come here, which is still and always has been my favorite place.
I think it would be hysterical if the bulk of FB users retaliated by starting to creatively and humorously screw with the data in the most outrageous claims of relationship and occupation, I’m the sib of Lady Gaga and a Zoroastrian by religion, and I’m actually a 16 year old guy, it would serve them right. If I go out really mad, beyond the highly incensed I am at the moment, I may just trash all my connections and remove all my friends, who don’t ask to be ‘tracked,’ thank you.
Love it. That is that your a brother to Lady Gaga. I’m positive that it will give a laugh to the people who know me when I revamp my personal information.
This just confirms my non-interest in Facebook. I’ve never signed up there and now I’m even less likely to. I suppose eventually they marketers will find me, though. 🙁
Lol! And everybody KNOWS I have a feud with Google, since they decided to upload all my books to the internet—mine and everybody else’s. Quickest way to make sure literacy collapses—when writers can’t make a living at all. Google is no better, and their aims are no purer. Any time you search, they’re building info—and selling it. I prefer Yahoo right now simply because I haven’t found out what they’re up to.
I loved the changes I’ve made. Tanks for the suggestions … while you really didn’t make any, you led by example.
Lol—and coming back here, after the angry mop-up over there, I feel I’m home again and happy. Love you all. And thank you.
Consider the new open source social medium where all your info is yours: Diaspora
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diaspora_%28software%29
It’s still in alpha and, of course, there aren’t many of my social network on it — yet. But it intends to put to rest all the privacy and control issues of corporate social media.
I just got my invite. You can sign up for an invite yourself at: https://joindiaspora.com/
Never signed up, although I’ve been tempted a few times. Thanks for inspiring me to continue to stay away.
I read this in Forbes, a few weeks ago: very scary indeed. scarier than most people realise:
As reported in various privacy and security outlets like Kashmir Hill’s Forbes blog and Paul Roberts at ThreatPost, and demonstrated at last week’s Black Hat conference, the CMU researchers relied on just Facebook’s public profile information and off-the-shelf facial recognition software. Yet the CMU researchers were able to match Facebook users with their pictures on otherwise anonymous Match.com accounts. The researchers also had significant success taking pictures of experimental subjects and matching them to their Facebook profiles.
Drawing upon previous research, they were also relatively successful at guessing individuals’ Social Security numbers. From there, of course, it is just an automated click to your Google profile, LinkedIn work history, credit report, and many other slices of private information. (See the FAQ to the research here.)
(Note that this research is independent of the controversy around Facebook’s own facial recognition technology, which it recently unveiled to automatically tag users in pictures—and which authorities in Germany think might violate its privacy laws. The CMU researchers didn’t even have to log into Facebook to get to the photos there; they accessed profile information through Facebook’s search engine APIs.)
There’s an App for That
The researchers have declined to make their system for matching widely available. But, now that they’ve shown that it is possible, the capabilities will no doubt be replicated. And you don’t have to stretch too far to imagine intrusive and unacceptable scenarios in retail settings, advertising venues, secured environments, social spots, protest rallies, dim lit streets, and so on.
There’ll be an app for that.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/chunkamui/2011/08/08/facebooks-privacy-issues-are-even-deeper-than-we-knew/
There’s probably an app for that right now, horsewisevt. I have almost no personal info on my page, which is primarily a means of keeping in touch with several far-flung family members. (Our nephew won’t write or call or email, but he does appear on Facebook once or twice a month, and I can tell his mother he’s still alive.) But I did post some family group pictures from Christmas, and am beginning to wonder if I ought to take them down. If they would only approach space exploration with the enthusiasm with which they they approach corporate marketing goals . . .
TC2- now there’s a thought re marketing peeps and space. now… if some one of the marketing/corporate dweeblets ran the numbers on how much profit there was to be had, out thar.. you bet damn sure they’d find a way to get out there.. and they have even privatised and commercialised that endeavour, with the Xprize.. which I am not really against.. other than the idea that it is not being embraced by the individuals who are brilliant and innovative, since they do not have the necessary finances to back any of those ideas.. but rather by corporations and private backers.. who will sweep away any rights etc if successful… always profit to mambitch:)
Corporations are shortsighted; they don’t see profit to space exploration because it’s long range, not likely to happen instantly. And the brilliant innovative individuals appear to be shut out, unless connected with the Big Spenders, and this is our loss, as a society, in many many areas.
Holly Lisle had a horrible time with Facebook after her site was hacked and they shut her out for having posted the stuff, even though she was the one who reported it to them. Then they removed all her friends links. She’s not going back.
That explains why newspapers are going to FB for their comment pages.
I finally gave in to “peer” (family/friend)pressure recently and joined FB. I didn’t like the fact that, even set “restricted,” I seemed to be reading not only about my contacts’ daily lives, but about that of all their contacts. I didn’t know those people. I didn’t particularly want to tell any of them about my Mom’s health problems. I was also amazed at the number of people giving out such information as: “I’m in the pool now; so peaceful, nobody home” or “I’m heading out for a walk on the beach; I love walking there this time of day because it is always deserted.” It was like saying, “Here I am; come mug me, please!” I haven’t been back.
And, BTW, we love you, too!
A question: I used this to get rid of my Facebook account (I was there for a few months because I wanted an email adress of someone I had lost contact with). Have you tried it? I can’t get at my deleted account anymore (that goole might have archived it is not something I can change now) in any case.
http://www.facebook.com/help/search/?q=i+want+to+permanently+delete+my+account
There are more tips by a third party here, explaining in more detail what you should do before the steps that Facebook tells you and how likely it is that your data will be gone.
http://www.wikihow.com/Permanently-Delete-a-Facebook-Account
CJ is a sixteen year old guy? How long before that goes viral. I always wondered why he did not use his first name. Chuck? Charles? Who is the nice lady who fronts for him.
I knew I didn’t want to be on Facebook for a reason.
To our newest members: if you post a hello, it will ‘hang’ in the system until I come online and ‘verify’ it. Once I do, this site will recognize you forever, and you’ll have your posts pop up as soon as you create them—
The only exception is if your post has several live links—it’ll hang until I verify. If you want a personal avatar instead of the Space Aliens, you need to set it up with Gravatar, as per the sidebar instructions.
I have connected with a lot of my favorite authors via FB and have seen that many of them are as unhappy with the new changes as you are. Many of my family feel the same way. Don’t blame you at all for limiting your FB presence in the future. I will probably be doing the same.
I use a pseudonym on Facebook and have deleted all my nephews’ comments that link me to my real name. And they called me paranoid when I did this.