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Facebook's tentacles reach further than people think

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Facebook's tentacles reach further than people think

#131

Post by gruez »

ihm wrote: post #123
makecheck wrote: post #72

In computer security, every time machines become fast enough to breach the limits of an algorithm we invent something new so that “hard” problems remain “hard” and therefore encryption is still secure. There has been no corresponding increase in the difficulty of invading privacy. 30 years ago, even though you probably “could” observe somebody for a long time and eventually connect some dots about them, it would not…

I would love if someone made a Chrome extension that encrypted all the posts and messages you put on Facebook. That is, any post you made would be made as a ciphertext, the extension would swap keys with all your friends in the background, and would decrypt their posts when displaying them to you. Sure Marky Mark still sees when you post, who you send messages to, etc. but it's a much better situation than what's goi…

so like, PGP?

Re: Facebook's tentacles reach further than people think

#132

Post by scottlamb »

GuiA wrote: post #60
scottlamb wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you help me understand why you find that scary? It's not giving him any information which wasn't previously available to him. I think you're concerned that people are overlooking his screen, and you'd rather he explicitly choose everything that pops up when you call? Do you think he wouldn't have included any identifying information about you? As a user, I'd rather have not only a name but also a picture of a p…

OP desired to keep his Google associated email and non Google associated phone number separate, and behaved as such. That's a very reasonable thing to want and do. But Google used OP's friend's phone, bought from them, to surreptitiously acquire the connection between his email address and phone number. That was against OP's desire, and his friend never explicitly agreed to provide that information. I fully understan…

Oh, yes, I missed a sentence: "Which I guess means that Google now also connected that phone number to the mail address/Google account." So I suppose freeflight's concern is what information the friend gave to Google, not what Google gave to the friend or what the friend's phone is displaying to onlookers.

This is how cloud services work. Google stores the friend's contact data, which has a contact with both freeflight's phone number and email address.

What is it you fear that Google is doing with this information? And what would it take for you to be comfortable?

Re: Facebook's tentacles reach further than people think

#133

Post by cconcepts »

It annoys me how much I want to leave Facebook (if only to stop them gathering MORE data on me - I can't erase what they have) but don't because of the convenience of getting in touch with or finding out more about whoever I meet in meatspace.

The fact that they try to force me to install their messenger app by making messaging through a mobile browser difficult is particularly infuriating and reveals how much they have their intentions at centre and not the benefit of their users/products/suckers (whatever you want to call us) now that they have the critical mass that people like me don't leave because everyone else is on it.

Re: Facebook's tentacles reach further than people think

#134

Post by mixedCase »

cconcepts wrote: post #133

It annoys me how much I want to leave Facebook (if only to stop them gathering MORE data on me - I can't erase what they have) but don't because of the convenience of getting in touch with or finding out more about whoever I meet in meatspace. The fact that they try to force me to install their messenger app by making messaging through a mobile browser difficult is particularly infuriating and reveals how much they h…

> The fact that they try to force me to install their messenger app

Treat it as asynchronous communication, using a client like Swipe for Facebook (for Android, don't know about iOS alternatives) to look at messages when you feel like doing it.

Use another app for synchronous purposes. Facebook's own WhatsApp is a lot more secure, for starters.

Re: Facebook's tentacles reach further than people think

#135

Post by ocdtrekkie »

fictioncircle wrote: post #113
Mosi1 wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How many times has your privacy been invaded?

It terms of a hostile 3rd party and not an automated system? 5 times. Snoopy relatives of women I have dated a couple times, a couple times by PIs paid to track me down, and a stalker once. So...yeah. It's a real problem and none of these people had a legitimate cause to do so. Even beyond FB, etc. I don't post my face online because of shit like that. Other people have stopped posting pics of me as well, a couple pe…

I went in and untagged myself from a bunch of stuff my parents posted after my online friend commented on one of the pictures. It wasn't that it was super problematic, it's just I realized I really didn't want family pictures broadcast to my friends.

Re: Facebook's tentacles reach further than people think

#136

Post by goodplay »

TazeTSchnitzel wrote: post #97
bipr0 wrote: post #23

Facebook is the new NSA inside the flesh of a social media site. And that's scary.

They might be worse. The NSA, after all, is at least ostensibly only after terrorists and such.

> ostensibly only after terrorists

Only wittingly.

Re: Facebook's tentacles reach further than people think

#137

Post by Kiro »

devopsproject wrote: post #9
keth wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have acquaintances like that as well. They are usually the "I have nothing to hide" kind of type. :(

An easy disarm is "You are confusing privacy with secrecy. It is no secret what happens in the bathroom. It doesn't mean we are going to remove the doors because people still want privacy"

No, that's not an easy disarm. They just say "you're welcome to watch me poop".

Re: Facebook's tentacles reach further than people think

#140

Post by smhost »

Sparkesix wrote: post #130
tzs wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I doubt that he doesn't understand what "unethical" means. The question is how does what Facebook is doing qualify? You've said it is because it violates the freedom of people Facebook is making inferences about who are not users of Facebook's services. That just shifts the question to how does it violate their freedom? That is not at all obvious to me. (NOTE: this does not mean that I'm saying it is OK...just that I…

Not OP, but I think the fundamental difference is that you are, presumably, not selling everything you know to potential stalkers that wish to know everything about the people you mentioned.

It's not just that. GP's analogy would only make sense if one of your neighbors was a superintelligent alien whose larger motives are hidden from you, whose livelihood lies in having an intimate understanding of your psychology and how to manipulate you, and who never misses any detail or forgets anything. Ever. It's fucking creepy.
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