Comments on: Facebook further reduces privacy control for users

By: Mim

Mim — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Deletion is not your only option if all you wish to do is make your results annoying to try to make searchable. Just don’t use commas to separate things, use periods and improper spacing. Hiking, Skiing, and Biking are easily searchable. Hiking.Skiing.Biking, is next to useless for FB’s search options. Your interests will still display and be readable to human eyes — a thing many people desire from their profiles.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve migrated all my content over to http://www.folkdirect.com – I only share with those I choose and I can hide/show whatever I want. It’s built on strong privacy controls (with no silly applications that steal your info!)

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

So is your email. Mind if I read it?

By: kmoser

kmoser — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Given that Facebook keeps everything in perpetuity, what good will it do to “delete” part of your profile? Sure, you might hide it from the public, but there are other prying eyes who still might find it.

By: Terry

Terry — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Facebook doesn’t give a crap about anyone’s privacy. I thought everyone knew this, and yet I keep getting ‘invitations’ to join the ranks of the Facebook Zombies.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Apparently nobody except me read the original (and appalling) agreement to become a member of Facebook.

Oh to be Nelson Muntz on the Simpsons and just say

“HA HA!”

By: ryanrafferty

ryanrafferty — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Thanks Xeni… I am tired of the run-around… account deactivated.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

They don’t give a shit about privacy, I’m of the very small minority who no longer has a Facebook profile, I deleted mine the last time they changed the privacy rules and settings (or as much of it as they let you delete) and i’m very camper now, I urge you all to do the same.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

You took the words right out of my mouth, i go on fb to share with my friends, if i wanted to share with the world i would have a myspace account or something similar.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

To Anon, comment #13 Do you realize what percentage 400 million is out of almost 7 billion. You are not in the minority.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Is this right? Facebook’s post makes it sound like it’s an opt-in thing… (http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=382978412130)

By: fxq

fxq — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Copy and pasted: Facebook has made it so I cannot control who sees this information so I must delete it.

“Christ! What an asshole.”

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Don’t forget Web2.0SuicideMachine

By: hermia

hermia — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

From the looks of their “help center” FAQ the EFF is right. I can’t direct link to it, but you can find it by clicking on “help” at the bottom right of the page.

I have no section to manage this nor have I been offered the popup window. Not thrilled at all. All of my privacy settings are set to display to “only friends” and I’m not visible in searches, so not sure if my strict privacy settings are intact or not.

By: IWood

IWood — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Complain, free ice cream, etc.

I’m sure they’ll be surprised when no one wants to pay for the service when it goes public.

For me, it’s marketing tool. There’s nothing on there I don’t want people to see.

Problem solved!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

If you don’t want to be seen as the member of a group, then don’t join (or leave) the group. It’s no different than a social gathering in the real world–you can’t be an invisible member of a sports team, or of a band, or any other gathering of other humans, because the other humans in that group can see you. The new “communities” are just like that.

Shame on boingboing and the EFF for overreacting. Facebook has done some pretty terrible things, privacy-wise, but this? Not so much. It’s actually getting at one of the basic premises of social networking–that you can find other, new people who share your interests. If you don’t want to share interests with others, then don’t have interests.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

i don’t get all this anger towards facebook. the whole purpose of being on facebook is not about privacy. it’s about sharing. (and enjoying it) if you want privacy, do something else.

By: adwkiwi

adwkiwi — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I really don’t see any difference? I’ve been poking around; how do you know if you’ve been attached to something you didn’t want to be attached to? And given that Facebook says it’s opt-in, does anyone actually know what’s going on?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

There are two things you have to do to prevent the “Instant Personalization Partners” from getting your information:

1) Opt out of instant personalization (e.g., that checkbox you have to uncheck): http://www.facebook.com/settings/?tab=privacy&ref=mb#!/help/?faq=17105

2) Block specific applications (the ones to block are mentioned in the above link): http://www.facebook.com/help/?page=966#!/help/?faq=16976

I found this info by clicking the “Learn More” link in the box that appears when you uncheck the “Instant Personalization” checkbox.

The thing is, I’m not sure how long this will work. You’ll probably have to block every application in the future in this manner, and I’m not sure Facebook will announce all of them in the future.

By: teapot

teapot — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Junk data is more worthless than no data or deleting your data.

Removing information tells them soemthing about you: i.e. “This person’s particular breaking point re: privacy is here”

Junk information sends them on a marketing wild-goose chase, which ultimately wastes their time and resources. I’d prefer to use them for the whores they are (occasionally FB can be convenient) but otherwise be a spanner in the works.

Think it’s good to behave with disrespect to customers’ user privacy? Then have fun with your increasingly irrelevant marketing tool.

By: Irene Delse

Irene Delse — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

If it wasn’t already clear, it’s time to remember: put nothing in your FB profile you wouldn’t put on a postcard!

By: Muhammad Yaqoob

Muhammad Yaqoob — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

What Should Facebook Do?
Read my article for the detail. (http://myaqoob.com/blog/2010/05/14/what-should-facebook-do/)

By: brinda allen

brinda allen — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

And people ask me why I dont join FB…or Avatars United.
Suuurrreee, p*** someone off badly enough and find them at your rl house or work or???

By: Brad F.

Brad F. — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Actually, that’s Tagalog, the official language of the Philippines. I’m not sure why you’d see that if you have your location set to Mongolia, unless perhaps your computer’s time zone / location are set to the Philippines?

By: IrishPidge

IrishPidge — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

The EFF post seems to make a pretty huge error, or else Facebook have changed their policy pretty much instantly.

You can choose whether or not to make the things you write in the interests section “connections” or not. Want to keep them private? You still can. You have to specifically opt-in to connections.

It says so on the Facebook blog: http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=382978412130

By: smammers

smammers — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Yes, exactly! I did some poking around on FB after reading this, and my privacy settings all look the same. I then went to some of my fan pages, and clicked on some of the other fans listed who are not my friends, and I can see varying amounts of their information depending on what they’ve chosen to share. I don’t see any changes at all, if you choose to opt out.

By: technogeek

technogeek — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Don’t post anything on someone else’s server and expect privacy. Not unless you have a signed contract in hand which promises that they won’t share it — and even then there’s the risk of being hacked.

(“Privacy. That’s so 20th-century.”)

By: arikol

arikol — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Thanks for the heads up, Xeni.
Action has been taken (pertinent info has been deleted)

By: hijukal

hijukal — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Facebook is a website. On the Internet. If you don’t want people to see things, don’t put them on the Internet.

By: louismazzini

louismazzini — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

This used to be the case. Now LIKES and INTERESTS totally ignores anything that is out of its comfort zone.