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Facebook is terrifying

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Re: Facebook is terrifying

#11

Post by xapata »

BigChiefSmokem wrote: post #8

I've been using Facebook since college (circa 2005). Never "hidden" my profile from anyone or the public. Never deactivated anything or deleted a post. Recruiters and acquaintances look up my profile all the time. Still, I have never had the data I've given them come back to haunt me. I still trust Facebook leadership very much in this regard. Maybe it's because I trust myself and how I utilize the technology. Or may…

Yeah, I always get annoyed at standing in line for building security needing to take yet another photo of me and stare at my license. Let's just be friends on Facebook so their security cameras can identify me when I walk in the door.

Re: Facebook is terrifying

#12

Post by jdhzzz »

BigChiefSmokem wrote: post #8

I've been using Facebook since college (circa 2005). Never "hidden" my profile from anyone or the public. Never deactivated anything or deleted a post. Recruiters and acquaintances look up my profile all the time. Still, I have never had the data I've given them come back to haunt me. I still trust Facebook leadership very much in this regard. Maybe it's because I trust myself and how I utilize the technology. Or may…

The point of this particular article is that you don't even need to be on Facebook. Your image is bound to be captured, perhaps only in the background in a public space, by someone who is. Your face will be recognized and it will become part of your "public record". No amount of opting out will prevent this. Perhaps going full Amish will, but even that simply pushes back the timeline.

Re: Facebook is terrifying

#13

Post by psyc »

xapata wrote: post #9

It's not just Facebook. As more images become publicly accessible on the internet, that capability will be available to many organizations and individuals. If that scares you, you should think about how we can protect ourselves from tyranny without anonymity.

I wonder what will happen when it becomes possible to search the entire corpus of nude selfies on the whole internet, by name.

Re: Facebook is terrifying

#14

Post by Sir_Substance »

BigChiefSmokem wrote: post #8

I've been using Facebook since college (circa 2005). Never "hidden" my profile from anyone or the public. Never deactivated anything or deleted a post. Recruiters and acquaintances look up my profile all the time. Still, I have never had the data I've given them come back to haunt me. I still trust Facebook leadership very much in this regard. Maybe it's because I trust myself and how I utilize the technology. Or may…

>Still, I have never had the data I've given them come back to haunt me.

Are you sure? Facebook has a patent on lowering your credit score based on who is in your friends list[1]. They also feed data to credit score companies who directly examine your posts and use it to tweak your credit score yet further[2].

It's totally possible that your use of Facebook has affected your ability to buy a car or house, or get a job[3]. The lifetime cost of your mortgage could be $20,000 higher than it need be due to your use of Facebook. Maybe you got passed over for that job that would have been in the perfect place for raising your new child, due to your posting. How would you know? Did you really think they were going to tell you?

Maybe you're not at a time in your life where these things have happened to you yet, but I have bad news. The data you've submitted to Facebook will never be deleted. It's invisible baggage, following you everywhere. Honestly, you have no real idea of what impact it's having on your life, because it's not in the interest of any of that data's consumers to tell you what they are doing with it.

[1] https://qz.com/472751/facebooks-new-patent-lets-lenders-reje... [2] http://www.ajc.com/news/national/how-your-facebook-profile-c... [3] https://www.creditkarma.com/article/why-some-employers-check...

Re: Facebook is terrifying

#15

Post by jitbit »

BigChiefSmokem wrote: post #8

I've been using Facebook since college (circa 2005). Never "hidden" my profile from anyone or the public. Never deactivated anything or deleted a post. Recruiters and acquaintances look up my profile all the time. Still, I have never had the data I've given them come back to haunt me. I still trust Facebook leadership very much in this regard. Maybe it's because I trust myself and how I utilize the technology. Or may…

That age old "I have nothing to hide" argument. AKA "they're nice people, what could go wrong".

This is not the point. The point is:

Information in the wrong hands can become dangerous, period.

People change. Companies change. You have no guarantee Facebook will preserve the vision they have right now. You have no guarantee their new CEO won't have a different opinion... (wont be a "Trump").

Also you have to realize, how much pressure from authorities they have to handle. A Russian friend of mine (I'm originally from russia) used to work for "VK" which is (was) the biggest social network there. They literally got calls from surveillance agencies on a daily basis. At some point they were unable to fight the pressure and surrendered, the CEO was forced to resign and leave the country (Pavel Durov, he runs Telegram now), the stock were sold and the social network is basically controlled by the government now.

I do agree the article is a bit over dramatic. But that's just to gain attention from non-tech crowd I guess, who continue to happily post kitten-pics without thinking of the consequences.

Re: Facebook is terrifying

#16

Post by BigChiefSmokem »

saycheese wrote: post #10

Would it be possible to provide a link to your public FB profile? EDIT: Nevermind, found it: https://m.facebook.com/BigChiefSmoke EDIT-2: https://pipl.com/search/?q=BigChiefSmokem EDIT-N: You start asking why I would post everything I am able to find on you (and anyone you know) and ask me to stop; or at least that is what the average person would do.

Facebook profile you posted doesn't match any of the other profiles you posted. Try again, young (old?) hacker :)

Re: Facebook is terrifying

#17

Post by skywhopper »

Agreed with the general thrust of the article, but the oft cited stat that Facebook's algorithm beats a person's mother is misleading. The test was very narrowly defined and in any case it does not reveal how often false positives happen when you are matching more than one person, which anecdotally in my experience happens way more often than the stats suggest.

Re: Facebook is terrifying

#19

Post by pimeys »

And people are always wondering why I ask them to delete pictures of me if they take them without me stopping them first. Been doing that for years just because I don't want my face to Facebook or Instagram...

Re: Facebook is terrifying

#20

Post by hacker_9 »

saycheese wrote: post #10

Would it be possible to provide a link to your public FB profile? EDIT: Nevermind, found it: https://m.facebook.com/BigChiefSmoke EDIT-2: https://pipl.com/search/?q=BigChiefSmokem EDIT-N: You start asking why I would post everything I am able to find on you (and anyone you know) and ask me to stop; or at least that is what the average person would do.

Oh dear I hope that isn't him, rather embarrassing.
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