Facebook reading my Gmail address book. How?

[vulcanman]

I finally joined facebook (reluctantly, due to privacy concerns).

I used my gmail email to create the account. The first thing I did was disable all vulnerable settings under Accounts and Privacy.

I did not import any contacts from gmail or anything like that ... I just wanted to try out facebook before doing any of that.

I have had the account for a week and never re-logged after that first session ... until moments ago ...

Imagine my surprise when facebook pulled up people I know whose email addresses were in my gmail address book !!!!

How ?? I never gave it permission to look at my gmail account.

I am noob here ... so can someone explain to me how that happened ?

By the way I did not use my real name on Facebook (I just made some random name)

 

[Colt45]

They gave FB their address book, which you are on.

 

[QueBert]

The way FB operates is regardless of what you set your privacy settings to, they're going to be all up in your shit. I'm sure most of ATOT will defend FB and say what you're experiencing is no big deal. But it's one of the big reasons I don't have an account and never will.

 

[DrPizza]

Not only that, but everyone that it found for you also received a notification that you're new to facebook, yadda yadda, recommend friends for him, etc.

 

[darkswordsman17]

The way FB operates is regardless of what you set your privacy settings to, they're going to be all up in your shit. I'm sure most of ATOT will defend FB and say what you're experiencing is no big deal. But it's one of the big reasons I don't have an account and never will.

Typical QueBert. That is probably the second biggest complaint of even the people that defend Facebook on here. Its way too invasive.

And yeah, like Colt45 said, they didn't raid your GMail, they got it from the other people. This is going to be a big deal with their new Places app thing, which makes it so that other people can actually post your location via their phone (they have an option to disable though, but I don't think most people are aware its even there yet).

I don't put any info on Facebook any more, and have every instance of that extra crap disabled. The annoying part is that they're constantly changing things and so you have to constantly monitor your settings. They also change where they put some options (I thought they had removed the setting that manage what friends or yours people can see, but they changed it from a Privacy setting to a normal Account setting).

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

The way FB operates is regardless of what you set your privacy settings to, they're going to be all up in your shit. I'm sure most of ATOT will defend FB and say what you're experiencing is no big deal. But it's one of the big reasons I don't have an account and never will.

More like everyone on AT will cry about FB. There's not that many people on ATOT who joined Facebook during the golden era when it first came out (03-04) and used it as a means of keeping in touch with college/high school friends regularly. Most people here actually say its lame and disable it, etc or rarely use it.

I notice that Facebook seems to be a big thing amongst Asians, and having attended a campus with many Asians, we use it very regularly. Just be wise about how you use it and what you expose.

In order for FB to access your Gmail you must have allowed it at some point. When I click find friends, it will ask me to log into GMail if I want to pull those contacts. Unless I allow it to, it cannot do so automatically.

So you must've given it permission at some point.

 

[thepd7]

More like everyone on AT will cry about FB. There's not that many people on ATOT who joined Facebook during the golden era when it first came out (03-04) and used it as a means of keeping in touch with college/high school friends regularly. Most people here actually say its lame and disable it, etc or rarely use it.

I notice that Facebook seems to be a big thing amongst Asians, and having attended a campus with many Asians, we use it very regularly. Just be wise about how you use it and what you expose.

In order for FB to access your Gmail you must have allowed it at some point. When I click find friends, it will ask me to log into GMail if I want to pull those contacts. Unless I allow it to, it cannot do so automatically.

So you must've given it permission at some point.

this. Facebook is a bitch but it doesn't randomly log into your gmail without permission.

 

[vulcanman]

They gave FB their address book, which you are on.

Not only that, but everyone that it found for you also received a notification that you're new to facebook, yadda yadda, recommend friends for him, etc.

Thank you guys. I guess I have no way to stop FB from doing that if most people out there are nonchalant about privacy.

The good thing is I did not use my real name.

 

[IceBergSLiM]

your friends uploaded their address book of which you were part. pretty simple, yell at your friends not facebook.

 

[vulcanman]

your friends uploaded their address book of which you were part. pretty simple, yell at your friends not facebook.

Not quite. FB might be making it difficult for people to understand the ramifications of sharing their address-book with FB.

The way (I think) most people figure it works is like this ...
- You share your address book with FB
- FB will look up the name and if they are on FB it will let you know.
- That's the end.

The way (I think) it works is like this ...
- You share your address book with FB
- FB will let *you* know if they are on FB.
- FB will then surreptitiously save those email addresses in its database and wait for that person to sign up
- FB then alerts that n@@b about all these people who they may know
- FB then alerts all these people (who shared their AddressBook) ... that this n@@b has landed.
- It then hopes that this n@@b will share his AddressBook so they can harvest even more information.
- Its Operation Maddoff !

 

[kami333]

I have all my privacy settings set to only me and don't have this problem.

 

[meltdown75]

when you signed up, you had the option to sync facebook with the address book in your email account. you have to uncheck a box to disallow this. you didn't.

 

[Nebor]

We've evolved beyond privacy. Who needs it?

 

[meltdown75]

The way FB operates is regardless of what you set your privacy settings to, they're going to be all up in your shit. I'm sure most of ATOT will defend FB and say what you're experiencing is no big deal. But it's one of the big reasons I don't have an account and never will.

and yet you seem to be in every single facebook thread. might as well join. what are you afraid of? what exactly is "all up in your shit" anyway?

people are paranoid.

 

[destrekor]

More like everyone on AT will cry about FB. There's not that many people on ATOT who joined Facebook during the golden era when it first came out (03-04) and used it as a means of keeping in touch with college/high school friends regularly. Most people here actually say its lame and disable it, etc or rarely use it.

I notice that Facebook seems to be a big thing amongst Asians, and having attended a campus with many Asians, we use it very regularly. Just be wise about how you use it and what you expose.

In order for FB to access your Gmail you must have allowed it at some point. When I click find friends, it will ask me to log into GMail if I want to pull those contacts. Unless I allow it to, it cannot do so automatically.

So you must've given it permission at some point.

I SO miss early Facebook, and I will forever say that. I joined when you had to have an .edu email address. When it first opened I was actually slightly happy because I had friends who weren't in school, and family not in school, and I despised myspace. "Open Facebook" was great, when there was nothing to it.

Now, I will admit, I have used some of the new features and addons from time to time. If they were never there, I wouldn't care; I have mostly just used them because they are there now. Some new things are nice, but I do try and keep track of what the new shit is trying to do with the account.

 

[MJinZ]

I SO miss early Facebook, and I will forever say that. I joined when you had to have an .edu email address. When it first opened I was actually slightly happy because I had friends who weren't in school, and family not in school, and I despised myspace. "Open Facebook" was great, when there was nothing to it.

Now, I will admit, I have used some of the new features and addons from time to time. If they were never there, I wouldn't care; I have mostly just used them because they are there now. Some new things are nice, but I do try and keep track of what the new shit is trying to do with the account.

I remember when Facebook first started. College and school buddies were the only ones allowed.

Then I cancelled my account when it "opened".

 

[kami333]

My school got FB after I graduated, but I still signed up with my alumni .edu account. It was great because I found a bunch of people I had lost touch with and didn't know how to contact (I was living abroad at that point)

My gf told me that the day they got FB, half the school didn't go to classes.

 

[Bateluer]

FB's various privacy issues are the biggest reason I canned my account.

 

[Regs]

Make sure to hide your faves on youtube. Don't want to let anyone know how big a perv you are.

 

[Ns1]

Overblown privacy concerns ftl

 

[Wyndru]

There have been a lot of threads about this. I can't find the thread now, but I thought someone in a previous one posted a link to a page on facebook that stated they do have access to obtain/release information from your address book on gmail.

I never saw the option, but I remember they tried to friend me with anyone in my gmail address book when I signed up. It may have changed since then though.

 

[JulesMaximus]

I just canceled my FB account largely due to privacy issues.

 

[DesiPower]

ya its confusing, it almost looks like facebook login screen but its basically gmail or other email login screen, once you enter your password there... well... you know the rest