quantumf wrote:Bantari, knowledge is power. And many people are reluctant to give that power to companies or organizations they have no reason to trust. Perhaps the power is very low - your examples suggest that it is. But I would guess that many people browse sites other than L19, sites that they wouldn't necessarily be comfortable sharing with their boss/spouse/whatever. Perhaps a porn site. Perhaps a Silk Road. But it's deeper or more subtle than that. Perhaps you browsed a Chinese dissident site. Perhaps this can be used against you when you apply for a Chinese visa. The point is that people don't want to have to second guess how their activities are potentially going to be used against them, partly because its impossible to know how this information could be used, and partly a general reluctance to live in this sort of monitored existence.
I understand the reluctance and the danger.
But - are there actually any documented cases of anything like that happening? Is there any evidence that FB is selling personal data rather than wide trends? Do you know of anybody out there who had his/her boss giving them trouble because FB sold this specific boss information about that specific person browsing history?
Or are we just talking hypothetical 'maybe some time in a galaxy far far away'? Because I strongly believe that in such case - the same can be said about almost any service you use on-line. And you either make your peace with that and just tread carefully, or you might as well stay home with a tin-foil hat and boarded-off windows.
For example - how do you know what happens to all the data people are typing into L19? Or everything you say on KGS? Or any search you do on Google can easily be tied into your IP. Or anything you buy on Amazon, any auction you enter on Ebay, etc. There are tons of information-gathering sites on the internet, most of us are using all the time without a second thought. Some services we even happily type in our credit card info into, our SSNs, our addresses, our birth dates, our maiden names, and whatever they ask for. Honestly - I think this is potentially more damaging and dangerous than somebody tagging your image on FB, or FB tracking your search for a new pair of snickers. And yet we do it all the time.
The bottom line is:
If you are into some weird stuff you absolutely don't want the Chinese government to know about - using or not using FB is the least of your problems, I think. You need to use some better methods of staying anonymous than staying away from FB. And even when you use FB, breaking out from under its control is really a child's play, stuff you absolutely need to know and do (regardless of FB) if you into this kind of weird stuff. Or so I hear...
What I am saying here is that I am not sure why FB is being singled out like that.
Every service you use has the potential to gather data on you, some have much more opportunity than FB, and many actually do.
What's so special about FB that makes people tremble in fear of their big bad bosses or the Chinese government? As opposed to all the other data-gathering services out there?
