TheNiceGuy
Golden Member
Hello all
Recently I had some very upsetting security breaches in my Facebook account. I want to make sure I understand how this works. Maybe you can help me.
So if I understand correctly:
Facebook makes money off of accessing and distributing your private information and information of anyone you connect with or have a statistical probability of connecting with. This includes things being spread against your will, or more commonly without your knowledge.
So for example, someone I knew 20 years ago has linked me by Facebook default in a photo. That person uses Facebook to search for Charles Manson. Charles Manson is then sent all of my photos, all of my contacts, much of my email information, about when and where I went to school, where I work, photos for my family, and how to track down all these people and asked to join a group I'm included with at work.
I'm not saying all these things happen all the time, but the possibilities are there, correct?
In the above example, if I wanted to delete and remove all traces of my account from Facebook, Facebook would make that very difficult for starters, and then they will hold on to much of the information anyways and won't delete it. Is this correct?
Trying to find out and control all of the possibilities and problems is boggling my mind. And from what I've seen, I'm an above average informed Facebook consumer. Most people I know are completely unaware of all these issues that are coming up and how much of their private information is being actively distributed.
On my account I notice about half a dozen people have quietly disabled their account, on the surface anyways. Many more refused to set up a Facebook account in the first place, usually older people I know.
I'm kind of on the horns of a dilemma about what to do about this. Facebook proved very interesting for networking in some situations, such as the disasters here last year. however I've also had some very nasty shocks or even just people I really don't want to see showing up in my private circles or having access to some of my information. Add to this the fact that Facebook is being evasive and purposely making privacy difficult in many situations, as well as constantly changing their rules without telling people. I haven't checked my details since I set up my account shocked to see much of my private information on public display.
Quite a few unexpected people locally I do want to get more involved with have been using it, including some of our competitors in business, which made me not feel very good. So I was trying to think of a way to use the power Facebook to my advantage.
At this point I am thinking of creating a completely separate account just for local and business use. I will keep it as "clean" as possible, severely limit who has access to it, and additionally it will be in a foreign language, so I'm hoping that will act as a kind of hurdle to unwanted attention or firewall.
I realize all this concern may seem a bit silly to some people. But a good part of my job involves getting as involved as possible with the local community, something Facebook can help with instantly. However, it's also very important to keep some privacy for our family and to have a good public image without too much needless personal information being distributed.
Anyway, hoping to get this sorted out soon. Additionally, I would like to warn other people on my account of the privacy dangers. Is the Charles Manson example above relatively accurate?
Thank you
Recently I had some very upsetting security breaches in my Facebook account. I want to make sure I understand how this works. Maybe you can help me.
So if I understand correctly:
Facebook makes money off of accessing and distributing your private information and information of anyone you connect with or have a statistical probability of connecting with. This includes things being spread against your will, or more commonly without your knowledge.
So for example, someone I knew 20 years ago has linked me by Facebook default in a photo. That person uses Facebook to search for Charles Manson. Charles Manson is then sent all of my photos, all of my contacts, much of my email information, about when and where I went to school, where I work, photos for my family, and how to track down all these people and asked to join a group I'm included with at work.
I'm not saying all these things happen all the time, but the possibilities are there, correct?
In the above example, if I wanted to delete and remove all traces of my account from Facebook, Facebook would make that very difficult for starters, and then they will hold on to much of the information anyways and won't delete it. Is this correct?
Trying to find out and control all of the possibilities and problems is boggling my mind. And from what I've seen, I'm an above average informed Facebook consumer. Most people I know are completely unaware of all these issues that are coming up and how much of their private information is being actively distributed.
On my account I notice about half a dozen people have quietly disabled their account, on the surface anyways. Many more refused to set up a Facebook account in the first place, usually older people I know.
I'm kind of on the horns of a dilemma about what to do about this. Facebook proved very interesting for networking in some situations, such as the disasters here last year. however I've also had some very nasty shocks or even just people I really don't want to see showing up in my private circles or having access to some of my information. Add to this the fact that Facebook is being evasive and purposely making privacy difficult in many situations, as well as constantly changing their rules without telling people. I haven't checked my details since I set up my account shocked to see much of my private information on public display.
Quite a few unexpected people locally I do want to get more involved with have been using it, including some of our competitors in business, which made me not feel very good. So I was trying to think of a way to use the power Facebook to my advantage.
At this point I am thinking of creating a completely separate account just for local and business use. I will keep it as "clean" as possible, severely limit who has access to it, and additionally it will be in a foreign language, so I'm hoping that will act as a kind of hurdle to unwanted attention or firewall.
I realize all this concern may seem a bit silly to some people. But a good part of my job involves getting as involved as possible with the local community, something Facebook can help with instantly. However, it's also very important to keep some privacy for our family and to have a good public image without too much needless personal information being distributed.
Anyway, hoping to get this sorted out soon. Additionally, I would like to warn other people on my account of the privacy dangers. Is the Charles Manson example above relatively accurate?
Thank you
