Life In 19x19

Website gives the vibe of "shady dating site" a bit much, thats been keeping me from registering .

Aphelion wrote:Website gives the vibe of "shady dating site" a bit much, that's been keeping me from registering .

Thats exactly what my mom thought it was when she saw me on the site one day.
Well she first thought it was a site for pedophiles but she's just paranoid like that sometimes...

Toge wrote:

palapiku wrote:What's wrong with the real Facebook?

- What is wrong with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg? I don't understand how people can trust their personal details, lives and friendships on the hands of a person who has no respect for privacy and is proud of it.

• * You're going on holiday in three days and announce it. Your street address, which you thought was information for your friends, was public by default. It's like saying "hey, come rob my house when I'm away"

• * Public birthdays. It's not so hard to guess social security number based on this information. (link)

• * Don't like your job and complain about it on Facebook? Get fired for it.

• * Public cellphone number. Unwanted calls and phone bill scams. Data mining is routine.

• * Friend tags a picture of you at that party where you took one too many. There is no way you can remove it except asking your friend. Guess whose job prospects are taking a hit?

If you think you have anything you'd like to keep private in your life, stay away from Facebook. The only people who want access to your public personal information are the people who want to take advantage of it. They, and the people who you have confirmed to be your friends.

First, you definitely can remove your tag from friends' photos.

Second, your objections are based on an assumption of privacy. We already know that the assumption is unrealistic, there's no point discussing it further. Just assume everything you put on Facebook is public and you'll be fine. Putting private information on Facebook was never a particularly useful thing to do. My friends already know my phone number.

Third, it's not hard to guess social security number from a birthday? Say what? I was so intrigued by this possibility that I actually clicked on the link and read the article. It says nothing of the sort!

palapiku wrote:First, you definitely can remove your tag from friends' photos.

- A new feature?

palapiku wrote:Second, your objections are based on an assumption of privacy. We already know that the assumption is unrealistic, there's no point discussing it further.

- What is unrealistic about privacy? Isn't it one of the core values in the Internet? Using Facebook is like making your home public attraction. Sharing other people's private information is unethical as hell. It isn't opt-in, it's opt-out.

palapiku wrote:Just assume everything you put on Facebook is public and you'll be fine. Putting private information on Facebook was never a particularly useful thing to do. My friends already know my phone number.

- So why use Facebook?

palapiku wrote:Third, it's not hard to guess social security number from a birthday? Say what? I was so intrigued by this possibility that I actually clicked on the link and read the article. It says nothing of the sort!

- Think about this: If all of your information is public, how does anyone ascertain your identity online? Password recovery service, for instance?

Security question: What is your dog's name? - oh please there's 10 photos of Spot
Login email? - quite possibly the same one as the one you're sharing duh!

Toge wrote: - What is unrealistic about privacy? Isn't it one of the core values in the Internet?

hahahahaha

the core value of the internet is the [public] exchange of information... privacy is an addendum (and in many, if not most cases, buggy as hell)

Privacy on the internet is only what you make of it. You always assume anything you "share" on the internet is public, so act accordingly. I think that was palapiku's point and a very sound one at that. There is no privacy on the internet. There are very good reasons for keeping your online identity anonymous.

My vocabulary isn't quite up to the task of explaining what's wrong in social media and privacy. I'm just saying that the issue looks very different from the point of view of someone who knows anything about security, than someone uninitiated who simply enjoys free service to keep in touch with friends.

Some posters already made the wise point that what you don't share cannot be misused against you. But Facebook is about sharing with everyone what you've been up to. It's quite easy to go with the flow. OwnName OwnFace breaks laws (racism/copyright), defames other people and makes fool of self. Vices like these are quite normal, but most people in the past share(d) them only with their trusted confidants. In poker terms the bet was still limited. Take this online and you're playing on limitless table against sharks you can't beat. It just pains me that there are 400 million people who are putting themselves in jeapardy, with most of them completely oblivious of the abuse possibilities.

Toge wrote:It just pains me that there are 400 million people who are putting themselves in jeapardy, with most of them completely oblivious of the abuse possibilities.

Agreed, but then we can always hope that natural selection incorporates such cultural mechanisms as part of its sorting routine. I'm too much of a traditionalist to give up on the notion of consequences - caveat emptor. Sometimes stupidity is painful.