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Facebook uses location to suggest new friends

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Re: Facebook uses location to suggest new friends

#41

Post by Natanael_L »

m0v_eax wrote: post #25
braythwayt wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, there are several levels of non-privacy to expect: - Facebook collects data about me - Facebook shares my data with big corporations who want to sell me stuff - Facebook shares my data with my friends - Facebook shares my data with people who aren't my friends For many people, this is a surprising escalation of their expectations. For some, it is outright dangerous.

Because people expect services as robust and useful as Facebook to be free? Based on how much time people spend using their service, the user's data is hardly a large price to pay. Have certain types of things you like, profession, education, gender, demographic and expect your profile able to be targeted (anonymously) with advertising. Share something public (including anything above), expect any corporation to be a…

And how do you explain shadow profiles?

Re: Facebook uses location to suggest new friends

#42

Post by braythwayt »

m0v_eax wrote: post #25
braythwayt wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, there are several levels of non-privacy to expect: - Facebook collects data about me - Facebook shares my data with big corporations who want to sell me stuff - Facebook shares my data with my friends - Facebook shares my data with people who aren't my friends For many people, this is a surprising escalation of their expectations. For some, it is outright dangerous.

Because people expect services as robust and useful as Facebook to be free? Based on how much time people spend using their service, the user's data is hardly a large price to pay. Have certain types of things you like, profession, education, gender, demographic and expect your profile able to be targeted (anonymously) with advertising. Share something public (including anything above), expect any corporation to be a…

I think your comment is in line with mine. Many people think they are making a trade-off: The use of the service in exchange for data that corporations can mine.

Some even consider this a win-win, as they believe that they will receive advertising for things they may actually want to buy.

However, not everybody expects the data to be shared with other users of the service. This is why I suggested that this may be an unexpected escalation of expectations. Facebook is quite transparent about sharing your data with advertisers.

It is less transparent about sharing your data with other individuals.

Re: Facebook uses location to suggest new friends

#43

Post by anexprogrammer »

drcross wrote: post #17
alistairSH wrote: post #16

I don't understand why people use the Facebook native app at all. Their mobile website works quite well and should avoid many of the issues with the app (location sharing, battery drain, etc).

Facebook recently disabled their messenger platform on the website, when you click the messages tab it brings you directly to the app store to install their app. This means you have to use the App to message people. The app requires such egregious permissions that I absolutely refuse to install it. It's a shame because it worked perfectly in the past.

It still works, you just have to fight it steering you to the app store every step of the way.

I had to borrow someone's phone 2 days ago to send a quick FB message and it took about 10x longer than it should due to it trying to hide the native interface "it's going away soon, install messenger".

Re: Facebook uses location to suggest new friends

#47

Post by psychometry »

drcongo wrote: post #33
alistairSH wrote: post #16

I don't understand why people use the Facebook native app at all. Their mobile website works quite well and should avoid many of the issues with the app (location sharing, battery drain, etc).

I don't understand why people use Facebook at all.

Because we have social lives? It's where events are organized, photos are posted, current issues discussed, and friends stay in touch. It's really not that hard to understand.

Re: Facebook uses location to suggest new friends

#48

Post by brett40324 »

0xmohit wrote: post #28

I'm not sure if it is either new or surprising. I did an experiment some 3 years back from within a corporate network -- the difference being that it was done on a desktop, not mobile. The sequence of events was roughly: - Spin off a new VM - Create a brand new email address with fictitious identity - Sign up to Facebook using the newly created fictitious identity Result: The suggested "friends" were folks in that bu…

Nice:)

Re: Facebook uses location to suggest new friends

#49

Post by noxToken »

jmspring wrote: post #29
drcross wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Facebook recently disabled their messenger platform on the website, when you click the messages tab it brings you directly to the app store to install their app. This means you have to use the App to message people. The app requires such egregious permissions that I absolutely refuse to install it. It's a shame because it worked perfectly in the past.

I've been able to use https://mbasic.facebook.com from an Android device for messaging. Not ideal, but better than installing one of their apps.

If you have Chrome for Android (only browser/device I've tested this on) you can check request desktop site for https://m.facebook.com. You'll stay on the mobile version, maintain all of the mobile functionality of the website plus access to messages without the download redirect.

Re: Facebook uses location to suggest new friends

#50

Post by fps »

cylinder wrote: post #39
netman21 wrote: post #9

Linkedin does this too. It suggested that I connect with an academic copy editor. My only other connection? We sat next to each other at a co-working space. Of course Linkedin was not using geo-location. They must have noticed that we were both on the same network.

I can't think of a single reason to use LinkedIn's native app.

linkedin's IP based tracking includes their website, and doesn't require you to share your location through the browser. They've been doing that for years. If you share a network gateway with someone, LinkedIn will suggest that person as a contact.
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