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Facebook reveals friends list even when it’s set to private

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31–40 of 63 posts

Re: Facebook reveals friends list even when it’s set to private

#32
Silly article. Why should Facebook fix anything here? Facebook is making billions of dollars the way it is. Facebook is a social networking site, not a private networking site. No one will get a reply to this because it's pointless. What you're asking for goes against the whole point of Facebook. Move on.

Re: Facebook reveals friends list even when it’s set to private

#33

FB should've really kept the initial idea of a public worldwide friend-graph and build a special website for people who want to hang out in private (or let someone else build it).

Yeah, I think that's one of the chief reasons I and others disagree about privacy and Facebook, a mis-match between views of what Facebook is or should be.

I see Facebook as a super-public platform for sharing your life, and that's how I've always thought of it. It's why I've had a hard time understanding how people can debate "privacy on Facebook" in the first place: I've felt there was nothing to debate.

Re: Facebook reveals friends list even when it’s set to private

#35
The article mentions the NSA, but if you don't think this can be used by anyone (not just people with huge botnets or databases like the NSA) then you'd be wrong as well. Consider trying to find the address of a person that you only know the facebook account of, but their name isn't listed in the phonebook. If you can see their friends list then it's fairly likely that it might have familiy members or housemates on it who _are_ listed. This is just one way of using the friends list. So it's a huge privacy issue that someone's friends list is exposed because anyone can use that information to figure out things about the person.

Re: Facebook reveals friends list even when it’s set to private

#36
post #24

I think Facebook should just stop playing games and state that nothing will be private with the exception of personal messages. At least then everyone will know what to expect.

As if personal messages are private!

In what way are they not private?

Re: Facebook reveals friends list even when it’s set to private

#37
post #32

Silly article. Why should Facebook fix anything here? Facebook is making billions of dollars the way it is. Facebook is a social networking site, not a private networking site. No one will get a reply to this because it's pointless. What you're asking for goes against the whole point of Facebook. Move on.

Okay, if that were the case, why would Facebook even have an option to make your friends list private?

There's nothing pointless about taking issue with "features" and options that don't do what they're purporting to do.

Re: Facebook reveals friends list even when it’s set to private

#38
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As if personal messages are private!

In what way are they not private?

There was the case when someone was denied entry at a US border and a printout of her private FB messages was shown.

http://usahitman.com/ggtaubpfm/ (Best page I could find with the story - I have no idea if that's a credible site or not.)

Re: Facebook reveals friends list even when it’s set to private

#39
In other news, clear incentive structures predict the future actions of companies.

FB makes money when they receive data created when people interact. Anything that limits this interaction, will eventually disappear. Take this reasoning to the limit, and everything will be made public.

Re: Facebook reveals friends list even when it’s set to private

#40
post #3

The friend list issue seems to be an always "won't fix". I'm pretty sure every few or so security researchers, testers reach this "vulnerability" in one method or another. I've gotten a similar response from the Security Team for trying to dig up friend lists. Maybe it helps maybe it doesn't. I've learned to accept the stance and move on with other security holes. "A friend connection is two-way - you friend someone,…

I think this is a "wontfix" because Facebook heavily relies on their "Suggest a Friend" feature as a core business asset. I think it's actually a rather sophisticated algorithm. For example, if you own multiple Facebook accounts, it uses what is likely a combination of IP history and persistent cookies to suggest friends no matter what account you are logged into, or what computer you're accessing it from. My guess i…

You do always have to worry when "those guys" are a running a business this size... don't ya think?
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