Facebook - it just gets worse

Susan · Post by **Susan** » Tue Oct 26, 2010 1:49 am

Hard to categorize this but I know some people here use Facebook. If your are at all concerned about privacy there please read this.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/10/25 ... cy_bypass/

Needless to say you will not find me on facebook or any other social network site. I simply do not trust them.

Susan
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Just because you are not paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you.

Carol Ann · Post by **Carol Ann** » Tue Oct 26, 2010 9:30 am

Rikki · Post by **Rikki** » Tue Oct 26, 2010 10:15 am

That's for sure!! I have biz things I handle on FB and it has a way of logging you in and watching you without your knowing it. So I will never type anything to do with my femme side on FB.

I did take a chance and search and read what my x-wife (35 years ago - heck I'm old) had on her wall and her latest husband: #3 now!!

Rikki

Bernice · Post by **Bernice** » Tue Oct 26, 2010 11:39 pm

I only recently joined facebook. My "basic info" is largely blank. There is no mention there of any of my TG life.

So, there are only three people on this forum who could ever find me there.

Thanks for the warnings.

Hugs,

Bernice

Azurielle · Post by **Azurielle** » Sat Nov 06, 2010 1:25 am

I trust Facebook as far as I can throw it. And heaven knows I can't throw it very far!

I usually keep only my AIM/MSN address on my facebook, and post the link to my encrypted drive if someone wants anything I have. Look up Opera Unite, it allows you to share pictures as your own host AND allows you to ask for a password before letting anyone even access the file names. Really neat. Do mind that it forces you to turn off the hosting computer's firewall, so I use my old Pentium 3 desktop that was gathering dust to host them.

Davita · Post by **Davita** » Sat Nov 06, 2010 8:25 am

Facebook? I don't need no stinking Facebook. My web site is older than Facebook. I've been chatting in places like here longer than Facebook is old. I have pictures posted other places as well. And ummmm I dunno if my privacy is intact there, but so far, no harm no foul.

Susan · Post by **Susan** » Sat Nov 06, 2010 10:18 am

yet another scandal about to break:

http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/11/ ... book-data/

Pat · Post by **Pat** » Sat Nov 06, 2010 10:51 pm

The simple answer to the Facebook problems is don't use it.
Pat

Michelle Miller · Post by **Michelle Miller** » Sat Nov 06, 2010 11:38 pm

One thing I've learned about facebook is that the same cliques of people who couldn't stand the next bunch from nearly 20 years ago still tend to clique it up...

Susan · Post by **Susan** » Wed Nov 24, 2010 2:14 pm

Yet another bad news story for facebook

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-11827856

at least I am safe. For those of you who do use facebook be careful

Andrea Elise · Post by **Andrea Elise** » Fri Nov 26, 2010 4:08 am

I pulled the plug on facebook almost a year ago. Even so, my profile is still there. When I shut it down, I got the message that my profile would always be there and if I wanted to come back, just log on with my password and user name. Apparently, my profile will be there long after I have exited this reality.

That makes me angry, as though they are saying "We've got you! You can't get away, no matter what!" Fine, it will serve as a digital tomb stone. 500 years from now, some idiot will send me a friend request.

None of it is worth it and I am about to change my active email address because I get stupid messages "Fraggle Blap from the planet Nimrod is now following you on Twitter". Hope they have fun following me...I have not posted, or used, that nonsense for over two years.

Twit ter....need I say more?

Other than that, everything is just lovely.

Andrea

Susan · Post by **Susan** » Fri Nov 26, 2010 10:57 am

Andrea -

Try this to DELETE your facebook account rather than deactivating it.

http://www.wikihow.com/Permanently-Dele ... ok-Account

I would not be caught dead on facebook.

Good luck

CJ · Post by CJ » Sat Nov 27, 2010 7:44 am

Hi all,

I guess I'm a dissenting voice here. I have no problems using Facebook; I think its advantages, for me, far outweigh its disadvantages. I've tailored its privacy settings to suit my needs. Facebook is the best way I have of keeping in touch with people I would normally have very little contact with. Yes, some of the requests to participate in Mafia Wars and other assorted Farmvilles can be annoying at times but I simply turn them all down, in much the same way that I do not read nor respond to blanket e-mails addressed to 63 different people simultaneously.

A long time ago I came to grips with the idea that being online--whether through Hotmail, Yahoo Messenger, Internet Explorer, Facebook, this very forum, in fact anywhere that has required me to input some of my personal information--also means that I sacrificed at least that much of my privacy. I stopped believing quite some time ago that full privacy is possible in this day and age. I have no problems with that. The only thing I tend to be wary of is identity theft so I use common sense when sharing information online. For example, I've acquired a pre-paid credit card to make online purchases and I use only that card to make such purchases.

Facebook is a social networking utility; if your aim is not to make connections with other people, do not use Facebook. If you use it, do so intelligently; restrict your privacy settings, accept only those friend requests that come from people you actually know, do not upload anything to your Facebook that you might later regret. You know, the same goes for this forum, too; don't post words or pictures that you wouldn't want someone else to copy and download to their own hard drive.

I've been on Facebook for over three years now and I only have about 75 friends on my list. Facebook, contrary to how many view it--especially youngsters--is not a popularity contest. It's just a way of keeping in touch, however slightly, with people that mean something to you in your life. A good example here is my link to some of the friends I've made here, on the forum; we don't necessarily speak or write to each other very often but we "poke" each other on a regular basis on Facebook. This is just a way of saying, "you're in my thoughts at this moment."

In a world that is fast becoming interconnected--think "cloud computing"--through online services such as Facebook (or Flickr or XBox Live or Picasa or Live Messenger or... you get the idea) I don't think it will be possible for anyone to live in "information isolation" anymore. Personally, I wouldn't want to; I want people to know that I AM... and I want to know what the geography of other people's lives looks like (if they're so inclined to want to share it with me).

The global village has gotten both bigger and smaller at the same time. I intend to live in that village for a while yet.

Love,
CJ

Susan · Post by **Susan** » Sat Nov 27, 2010 8:36 am

CJ

I am glad it has worked for you.

the main problem I have with sites like facebook, flickr, etc are the lack of control I have over my content. This is due to a lack of trust. If I put a picture on say, for example, photobucket then some time later I needed to delete it. How can I be sure it has been deleted. Read the T&Cs sometime, they give me such a problem that I refuse to subscribe to them.

I have my own web site whereby I can keep in touch with my friends and share pictures with them. I know how to stop search engines like google searching it, I also have my own ftp server for my friends to send me stuff. All this is in my control and I will if requested delete anything my friends want deleting.

I am not trusting of these big organisations.

Andrea Elise · Post by **Andrea Elise** » Sat Nov 27, 2010 8:54 pm

Susan,

Thank you for the link!

Andrea