How does Facebook know?

Forty years ago the idea of people voluntarily broadcasting to all and sundry their movements and innermost thoughts would have been an Orwellian nightmare. Have as little to do with Facebook as possible and DON’T use their messaging app.

Forty years ago the idea of people voluntarily broadcasting to all and sundry their movements and innermost thoughts would have been an Orwellian nightmare.

Fortunately the world has moved on on the last 40 years.

As an African proverb runs; “Progress does not always go in a forward direction.”

They aren’t having my telephone number at all. What possible reason could a flipping website have for needing my mobile number?

Look up two factor authentication. It really is a great idea. It doesn’t work via email or a password. It needs SMS or push notifications to your phone.

Go on, you know you want to.

Also if you have the app they already know your phone number and they will be using it to suggest friends etc. They only ask to give permission to use 2 factor. They don’t try to con you into unticking a box to allow them to spam you or sell your number which most other companies do.

If you don’t want facebook then don’t use facebook but since the whole premise of the thing is to be more open it seems a bit futile to embrace that but hold out on trivial infomation like your phone number.

“There are many ways of going forward, but only one way of standing still.”
? Franklin D. Roosevelt

OK then, let’s be having your phone number. After all you have nothing to fear by sharing it…

OK then, let’s be having your phone number. After all you have nothing to fear by sharing it…

Ermmm! You don’t share it on Facebook without giving them permission.

These things keep happening…

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2006/09/facebook_and_da.html

Go on, you know you want to.

😯 NO THANKS!
I don’t have the app and only use it in a browser. The only apps I have on my phone are Pocket WOD and myfitnesspal. “They” are welcome to see my Fran time and what I had for lunch but I don’t think my phone number is at all trivial.

I think the biggest issue with all this is one of transparency. It should be clear where data is going and how it’s being used, we shouldn’t be getting scaremongering posts because people rightly or wrongly are going “oh my gods, have you seen this?!”

Beyond that, I’m not overly sure as I care. If Tesco want to send me discounts for things I actually buy, Facebook want to put me in touch with long lost friends and Google want me to play a game which helps them to provide an accurate and largely free mapping service, I think I’m prepare to take that hit.

It seems odd to me to want to “fight the system” and yet still have a Facebook account. If you’re concerned about the actions of services, don’t use those services.

It’s not about fighting any system for me. I ust don’t want any organisation collecting information about me that I’m not aware of, just because I like to use their website. You had it right about transparency, or the lack of. Too many default settings and small prints.

I ust don’t want any organisation collecting information about me that I’m not aware of, just because I like to use their website.

I’m afraid modern life may be too much for you.

I don’t have the app and only use it in a browser.

You are bang out of luck then since your friends have the app and have your phone number Facebook now know your phone number. They won’t contact you using it but they know it and they can use it to track your activities.

If you don’t want Facebook to track your data, stop using Facebook.

While you are at it I’d stop using the internet, or credit cards, or a bank account or your own face. Its all data that can be used to track your activities in order that the data can be used for comercial gain.

It seems strange to draw an arbitary line at your phone number.

Most of the friends FB recommends to me I don’t know at all………

I’m afraid modern life may be too much for you.

Wow. What a ridiculous thing to say. Talk about hysterical.

The line has to be drawn somewhere. But only too often these days people don’t draw a line…

I ust don’t want any organisation collecting information about me that I’m not aware of, just because I like to use their website.

I don’t want to pay for food just because I like to eat.

The point I was getting at is that a lot of this data mining is used to provide additional functionality. And granted, most of it is in Facebook etc’s interests of course, but it’s largely beneficial to the user as well. To my mind, if I have to cripple a service in order to make it acceptable, I’d rather find a different service.

How many people buy high-end Android phones and refuse to sign up to a Google account on principle, then come crying when they get it nicked and have lost all their photos, contacts and sundry data? Madness.

Very hard to use my data for commercial gain, all junk mail gets binned, no TV in the house and no adverts in any internet browser.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-28834682

More facebook shenanigans, although more in the ‘dumb’ as opposed to ‘creepy’ category.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and suggest that anyone taken in by one of the stories referenced in the article probably wouldn’t know the meaning of the word ‘satire’ anyway.

I don’t want to pay for food just because I like to eat.

Not really comparable. That’s what the adverts are for.
The point stands that as you pointed out, it is not explicitly clear about what data they are going to collect and how they are going to use it so people cannot make an informed decision about if they want to use the service for the “cost”.

Something I find amusing on Facebook is the fact it keeps suggesting I send Tim Flooks (TFTuned) and Roger Estrada (R53 engineering) friend requests, I’ve never met either but have in the past emailed ’em for obvious reasons but weirdly not off the email address I use for Facebook.

I’ve now got a news feed which is predominantly about people that I actually know and like to hear from, a bit like it was 5 years ago.

This is the key – use FB knowingly. Don’t just like everything and click on everything just because it’s there, and don’t put all your innermost personal details in there. Fake it if you have to – FB now thinks I went to the University of Leave me Alone*, and they think I am 37 years old and was born in August. Despite me putting in a fake birthday and leaving it private, every bugger who knows my real birthday posts ‘Happy Birthday!’ on my wall….

* Amusingly, along with several thousand other people

* Amusingly, along with several thousand other people

Even more amusingly, thus providing them with potentially actionable demographic information about yourself.

How so?

TBH I’m more concerned about identity fraud than I am about FB themselves.

Something I find amusing on Facebook is the fact it keeps suggesting I send Tim Flooks (TFTuned) and Roger Estrada (R53 engineering) friend requests, I’ve never met either but have in the past emailed ’em for obvious reasons but weirdly not off the email address I use for Facebook.

Someone probably has your email address on their contact list and have synced that list with Facebook. Facebook therefore know that that email is linked with you. Someone else then probably has your email address and their email addresses in their contacts and bingo there is a link.

Couple this with some confirmation bias where Facebook probably show you hundreds of this type of tenuous connection but only these two registered. Suddenly it’s not that weird.

I’m afraid modern life may be too much for you.

Wow. What a ridiculous thing to say. Talk about hysterical.[/quote]

I suppose I’m trying to highlight that your stance is incredibly futile. Hundreds organisations will be “collecting information about you that you’re not aware of, just because you like to use their website” or their shop, service etc or even if you don’t use anything of theirs.

And as processing power and availability becomes less of an obstacle to using this data it will become more an more prevalent.

The objectives for this are fairly benign, to offer a better service cheaper so the organisation with the data can make more money.

So unless you’ve something to hide it’s not really against your interest for organisations to know all this stuff. What is against all of our interests if for a single company to have a monopoly of this information.

How so?

They know you are the sort of person who doesn’t want to give Facebook information and have similar traits to all the other people who have done this.

They can use this to tailor the adverts they show you.

And even if you don’t tell them your uni they can work it out based on the universities that your friends of similar ages went to and can base adverts on this information as well.

(E.g. If all I told facebook who my friends were they could see I had a significant proportion of my friends went to Sheffield Uni between 2000 and 2004. Its a fairly safe bet to assume I met them all while I was at the same uni at the same time.)

Its futile trying to hide some bits of information from Facebook and not others.

Couple this with some confirmation bias

You know, ever since I learnt about confirmation bias, I’ve kept seeing it in more and more places…

Boooo!

They can use this to tailor the adverts they show you.

This does not bother me at all, unlike some people.

However as I said, it’s more about identity theft should someone break into my account. Of course it’s not particularly secure, but then I’m not a particularly worthwhile target either 🙂

Interestingly, it does keep suggesting people from my old uni, but it also suspects I went to school in the USA – it’ isn’t quite sure so keeps asking me.

I also wonder if it knows how big my FB window is. If I don’t want to see the ads I can make my window narrower and they disappear. However, I really block them out most of the time. I think it’s currently showing me an ad for tarp shelter poles.

And even if you don’t tell them your uni they can work it out based on the universities that your friends of similar ages went to and can base adverts on this information as well.

Er no, they’ve never guessed my Uni (yet)…..

As for adverts, not seen one online in years…

I’ve dug out my copy of 1984 to re-read. It may not be enjoyable!

Sometimes the adverts FB selects to display can be quite amusing.

New phone – yep was looking for one at the time; mountain biking holidays: yep; Careers with GCHQ; BMX Mags: yep. Careers with GCHQ? WTF? Where did that come from?

The line has to be drawn somewhere. But only too often these days people don’t draw a line…

I blame Photoshop for the demise of peoples ability to draw a line. 😛

Done a lot of work with targetted advertising, sometimes ‘targetting’ is a pretty blunt instrument – some person did A, then B then C – you’ve done A and B so might want to do C even though you’ve never wanted to visit Goole ever (option C).

What is this Facebook you speak of?

To reset your FB password you can now do it if logged into gmail. FB password reset wouldn’t work with the traditional send email link (hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm) so I did the said login to gmail to reset password.

Facebook now has all my gmail contacts which it daily reccomends new friends it could only know from my gmail contacts.

Data-pillage.com

What is this Facebook you speak of?

Oh great. A hipster is here.

Yay.

Oh great. A hipster is here.
Yay.

Is there a “like” button ?

You know, like on Facebook

Feel free to .

Edit: Oh, STW in wacky formatting shocker.

Jamie

Oh great. A hipster is here.

Yay.

[start miserable old git]

Sorry, you’re going to have to explain that one to me. I don’t think I’d ever be described as upto to date, trendy or whatever other buzzword is in vogue. 😉

But back vaguely on topic, some of the above posts just sound really creepy.

[/end miserable old git]

It’s not just fb though is it, oh no. All huge corporations are colluding in a mass conspiracy. You know when you went from ordinary washing powder to biological or even those plastic blobules you stuff in with the wash? They put a trace enzyme in there to sterilize the population through washing themselves hahaha! The morons paid for it. We who don’t do our own washing, or wear clothes twice, will prevail!