do you really trust Facebook? - DPChallenge Forums

Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS USM

04/03/2013 12:16:03 PM · #26

i'm not really concerned what he found, but they he went through the effort to find it :)

Skip

Canon EOS-1D X

04/04/2013 07:05:37 AM · #27

@mike, getting cyber-stalked is terrible. don't know about NJ, but some states have enacted laws against it.

i'll agree with all of you: fb is a double-edged sword. on one side, you have all of that great connectivity with far-flung family and friends that you might not have otherwise. fb is so easy even your mom can use it :D

on the other hand, while we can guess, we don't have a clue as to what we're really giving up to use this free platform. at least to google (i'm not talking about google+, just regular google), we're basically anonymous. to fb, we are (pun intended) an open book, and the only way they can make money is by mining the hell out of the data we generate and then selling as much of it as they can legally can for as much as they can.

personally, it blows me away that businesses, fortune 500 businesses, businesses that spend millions and millions to control every aspect of their brand, willingly fall in with something like fb without having a single bit of control over the interface, the customer experience, the data, anything.

think of it like this: what if the entire US Interstate system was turned over to a handful of people that could change routes, shut down entire stretches of roads, change the colors of all the road signs, change the exit numbers, track every single thing you do on the road (your speed, your lane changes, where you go), build shortcuts then tear them down after people get used to using them - and not a single driver or trucker or truck stop owner or convenience store owner or restaurant chain or anyone else who depends on the interstate system for getting from one place to another, for getting anything from one place to another, for making a living, for staying in business had any control over it?

at the moment, fb does make it easy for me to stay in touch with a lot of people from a lot of different areas of my life, but i'm going to be really careful about what i give it. and i'm hoping like crazy that whatever replaces it doesn't bring the same amount of paranoia...

Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro

04/04/2013 07:53:08 AM · #28

Skip, Is this anything new that companies sell your information? Google has made billions and billions off selling you ads based on your preferences, android is the most popular phone OS in the world and its free, why is it free?

Facebook laid the groundwork for an information grab, they came up with a compelling platform and now they have to monetize it. How does everyone think they are going to do that? In fact their plan scared Google so much that Google attempted to create and attempt to force down our throats their own social site. Your information is extremely valuable and its a race to get as much of it as possible which is why ass this great free stuff, but free come with a price.

I'm comforted by the fact that i can protect myself from the common stalker with privacy controls, but if someone has the resources and really the will to search me out, they are going to find the information anyway, the least i can do is give them so much that they can form a more accurate opinion or at least get lost trying!

Companies allow it to happens because its important, we allow it to happen because its important. I am always in favor of having as much information as possible available, the more i study the more i realize how great it is that we have massive data sets to pull from and it can be used to better mankind. For instance did you know that every traffic accident is recorded in a massive database, every accident, if it was recorded by the police, its recorded, you, I anyone can get to it. Now anyone can do whatever they want with that data, im sure someone can think of a nefarious reason, but i can think of tons of reason to have it, what the major cause of accidents? who is getting in accidents? we can find out stats like 30% of NJ driver accident fatalities are alcohol related, or 70% of car fatalities involve not wearing a seat belt. That's powerful information.

what if we stated digitizing our medical histories? what if doctors could search and cross reference which medications work best on certain ailments? is there a side effect no one is seeing, basically we would be conducting real world studies on the entire population. oh but right, the insurance companies can use it against us, people could find out who has VD.

like you said its a double edged sword and I think we are navigating it quite well, honestly. We are slowly giving away more and more data and making sure safeguards are in place in the process.

Spork99

OM System OM-1

04/04/2013 08:36:09 AM · #29

Originally posted by mike_311:

What you can do to protect yourself is limited to controlling the information you personally give out. Others pass along information you're forced give them. Not just commercial entities either, but governmental agencies either. That information is mined, analyzed and sold to anyone who wants it. Spokeo is a stalker's wet dream. Have you searched your name there? Try it. If you pay, you can search on email addresses, usernames etc.

From a commercial standpoint, it's downright creepy.

//www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2012/02/16/how-target-figured-out-a-teen-girl-was-pregnant-before-her-father-did/

You may not think you're giving away things you'd prefer to be private, but they are very good at finding them out. You personally may not care about keeping certain facts about yourself private, that's your right, but others may feel quite different and would be unwilling to open their private lives up as market research guinea pigs in exchange for a few coupons on detergent if they understood what the exchange was really about. I don't mind if the grocery store where I shop every week knows what kind of mustard I buy, but I prefer not to participate in other retailers' marketing schemes so I pay cash, give fake Zip codes and decline their marketing offers.

As to safeguards, I have to ask, "What safeguards?" Aside from HIPAA for medical records, there are really no restraints on what can be done with your personal info. A company that has a privacy policy about not sharing your data with 3rd parties can change that policy, decide they are going to sell it anyway or they store it with such lax security that any 3L!T3 script-kiddy or Russian hacker with half a brain can access their entire database. If you're lucky, all they will do is go shopping and you can work it out with your CC company. If you're unlucky, they'll apply for loans, other credit cards etc and screw up your credit to the point you can't even get a credit from the dollar store. That kind of mess will take years to undo and countless hours of your time calling and writing creditors.

04/04/2013 09:00:16 AM · #30

i agree that we need better safeguards for those that want to opt out and i think we are getting there, whenever these watchdog groups bring this stuff to light the companies either back off or press on, but at least we have the discussion and people become aware of what is out there.

Leica 18-56mm f/3.5-5.6 Vario Elmar-T ASPH

04/11/2013 11:48:55 AM · #31

if you ever wanted an in depth look at facebook's ad targeting and how it works, pretty interesting article:

//lifehacker.com/5994380/how-facebook-uses-your-data-to-target-ads-even-offline?post=58835135

MAK

Leica M Monochrom

04/11/2013 11:53:25 AM · #32

Originally posted by Melethia:

I like Facebook. I enjoy keeping up with people that way. I've run into old friends through Facebook. Do I trust FB? It's a business. They'll find ways to make money. So no. I don't trust it. But I still like it and still use it, and people can steal my photos from there. Eh. Life is short. I can't worry about FB. :-)

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