Facebook - a warning

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  1. #1

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    Facebook - a warning

    For a long time I was very wary about Facebook, but finally I succumbed and signed up a few weeks ago. Everything was hunky-dory until yesterday when I discovered Facebook doing things which I find absolutely unacceptable.

    Specifically, today I started receiving Friend "suggestions" for people with whom I have no mutual friends and who live in other continents and for whom I have given Facebook no information which could possibly link us.

    Then I worked out that what I had done to cause this was to back up the contact phone list of my mobile to an Outlook Express address book (the only way I had of getting a copy off a phone which was dying). I don't use Outlook Express for mail and there was no previous address book. Immediately, Facebook starting suggesting people whose numbers are in that phone book and who, presumably, have them in their contact information (no doubt supposedly "Private").

    To me this is totally unacceptable. I have never given Facebook permission to go snooping around on my harddrive trying to find all sorts of personal information. Who knows what they are storing? My entire browsing history? A list of everyone who has ever sent or received an email from me? Copies of every document stored on my hard disk?

    Am I alone in this? Do other people regard this as OK? If so I'll just get myself back off Facebook as completely as I can, but if others feel that this is not acceptable then what's the best way to get it fixed? There are already threads on Facebook help regarding this but apparently total silence from Facebook itself.


  2. #2

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    Quote Originally Posted by PDLM:
    For a long time I was very wary about Facebook, but finally I succumbed and signed up a few weeks ago. Everything was hunky-dory until yesterday when I discovered Facebook doing things which I find absolutely unacceptable.

    Specifically, today I started receiving Friend "suggestions" for people with whom I have no mutual friends and who live in other continents and for whom I have given Facebook no information which could possibly link us.

    Then I worked out that what I had done to cause this was to back up the contact phone list of my mobile to an Outlook Express address book (the only way I had of getting a copy off a phone which was dying). I don't use Outlook Express for mail and there was no previous address book. Immediately, Facebook starting suggesting people whose numbers are in that phone book and who, presumably, have them in their contact information (no doubt supposedly "Private").

    To me this is totally unacceptable. I have never given Facebook permission to go snooping around on my harddrive trying to find all sorts of personal information. Who knows what they are storing? My entire browsing history? A list of everyone who has ever sent or received an email from me? Copies of every document stored on my hard disk?

    Am I alone in this? Do other people regard this as OK? If so I'll just get myself back off Facebook as completely as I can, but if others feel that this is not acceptable then what's the best way to get it fixed? There are already threads on Facebook help regarding this but apparently total silence from Facebook itself.
    I agree its not ok.. Isn't it in the Terms and conditions that they will do this?

    You can change the setting in the options menu I believe.. Also, set your account to private so no-one can see your profile unless they are a friend... In the same menu you can change what options people get when contacting you, you can even change it so that no-one can add you!

  3. #3

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    No - I have reread their privacy policy very carefully - there is nothing allowing them to go snooping around my harddrive. My account is locked down quite hard. No applications are allowed at all and so on.

    My issue is very specific - the ONLY way that Facebook could know to suggest these people to me is by reading my Outlook Address contact file. They do not have my permission to do this. Given that they are then I must assume that Facebook is accessing everything on my harddrive when I have a window open in my browser. This I do not find acceptable.


  4. #4

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    Quote Originally Posted by PDLM:
    Given that they are then I must assume that Facebook is accessing everything on my harddrive when I have a window open in my browser. This I do not find acceptable.
    Yes i have heard this before. It is said that you should never leave facebook open and use other applications, they follow your every move even just websurfing.

    A friend of mine has always maintained facebook is backed by the CIA and he's really not into conspiracies. He's a computer guy who worked for IA for a few years.

  5. #5

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    im sorry...but i still dont see the fascination of facebook.
    i got suckered into joining...and then quickly realized how much i hated it. its filled with people i never wanted anything to do with in highschool/college who now think we should be friends so they can get bigger friend counts. news flash...still dont give a crap about you people

    anyway...back to topic...facebook repeatedly has security issues about the data it finds and collects and uses. i strongly suggest not using it, closing it down, or at very least keeping any personal data far far away


  6. #6

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    The other applications don't even have to be open if they simply upload the cache, bookmarks, history files, ... these are all easy to find on the harddrive. The more I think about this the more I want out of Facebook entirely.


  7. #7

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    You can file a complaint:
    Make Privacy Your Choice - Online Privacy, Privacy Policy, Privacy Statement, Web Site Trust

    Although i have doubts that there will be any changes afterwards.

    Who knows, who is shareholder of Facebook (Microsoft 1.6%) and this Truste ?

    It´s far beyond the normal collection of user information and there have been such issues before ( title of photos).
    Simply close your facebook account.

    Last edited by smarti; 13-06-2009 at 07:18 AM.

  8. #8

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    Privacy is hard to come by with sites like these. Twitter would be a good example. Do you want everyone to know what your are doing every minute of every day?


  9. #9

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    Is it possible that you signed up with an e-mail that these people being suggested to you had you in thier own address book and they used the friend finder before?


  10. #10

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