Why you should not use Facebook

[PhilT]

Just take a look at this:

http://brasschecktv.com/page/603.html

[oshunluvr]

Re: Why you should not use Facebook

interesting

[ninja_man]

Re: Why you should not use Facebook

That's exactly why I don't have an account. It's disgusting how they sell stats and demographic info - they're just like Google. The only reason why Google offers so much fun stuff, and so much storage is because they're selling your information. Even if it isn't personal, people are still unwittingly helping them get rich quick.

Submitting all of your personal life to the Internet is just plain stupid. If your government (plus security services) don't get hold of your info, then hackers surely will. Google is also allegedly "in bed" with the US government:

A former clandestine services officer for the CIA who also maintains close relationships with top Google representatives says that the company is "in bed with" the intelligence agency and the U.S. government.

-- From the old version of infowars. http://www.infowars.com/articles/bb/...rmer_agent.htm

And if that sounds too unreliable and conspiracy friendly then I could just say that Facebook is a huge waste of life. I'd rather meet people face to face. I don't need some big company to manage my communications with my friends and family.

[linxuser]

Re: Why you should not use Facebook

And if that sounds too unreliable and conspiracy friendly then........

Agreed, I can see the Intelligence agencies interest, counter-terrorism and all. But the inadvertent browsing of everyones personal info/doings is spooky to say the least.

I just recently had done a clean install of an OS, and was testing the browser with weather.com. It came up with my local weather. I hadn't inputed anything that I know of. It just did. Its possibly a good, user friendly, use of technology but, thats really spooky.

Its kinda looking like, "just accept it", cause its the way it is.

[skunk]

Re: Why you should not use Facebook

And if that sounds too unreliable and conspiracy friendly then........

I just recently had done a clean install of an OS, and was testing the browser with weather.com. It came up with my local weather. I hadn't inputed anything that I know of. It just did. Its possibly a good, user friendly, use of technology but, thats really spooky.

Its far more likely that weather.com are just doing some simple geolocation based on your IP address.

[skunk]

Re: Why you should not use Facebook

For example, Copy this link into your favourite browser
http://www.ip2location.com/72.14.204.103
and substitute the 72.14.204.103 with your IP address...

[linxuser]

Re: Why you should not use Facebook

For example, Copy this link into your favourite browser
http://www.ip2location.com/72.14.204.103
and substitute the 72.14.204.103 with your IP address...

I figured they were using some such way. I tried the link you provided. I wasn't able to get other than private address on my side of DSL router. I tried to identify the DHCP the ISP allocated to my router, with no success.

I did find the ISP's gateway, and it works. Its 15 mi away, close enough. Wonder if they can see the my router's IP from their end.

[Snowhog]

Re: Why you should not use Facebook

Unless you run as a POP (Point-of-Presence) on your PC, your IP address is going to be based on the address range you set on your Router/Modem, and those are 'private' by design and not visible from the 'outside world'. This is how I understand it. That's why, when you plug in your IP address, as in my case, 192.168.xx.xxx, the result is PRIVATE IP ADDRESS LAN

[josefko]

Re: Why you should not use Facebook

@snowhog if you try www.whatismyip.com you will get a ip address different from 192.168.xx.xxx. I think if you have your lan at home, they cannot distinguish your computer from your wife's computer, but I think they know ip adress of your home.

[Snowhog]

Re: Why you should not use Facebook

@snowhog if you try www.whatismyip.com you will get a ip address different from 192.168.xx.xxx.

Yup, "different" - Your IP Address Is: 72.35.98.97 - but not correct. It does however, resolved to a router/switch belonging to my ISP (see below).

[linxuser]

Re: Why you should not use Facebook

@snowhog if you try www.whatismyip.com you will get a ip address different from 192.168.xx.xxx.......they know ip adress of your home.

I believe you're right, josefko. I tried it and it's definitely an ip address belonging to the gateway I'm using through my isp. Thanks for the link.

Yup, "different" - ....

I suddenly realized that while logged on to my router, I can issue an ifconfig to get its DHCP that the ISP assigned it. And the www.whatismyip.com and www.ip2location.com links do only trace it back to my ISP's router/switch. And not to my actual home router.

[PhilT]

Re: Why you should not use Facebook

More privacy worries for Facebook users!!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-10796584

[kyonides]

Re: Why you should not use Facebook

Obviously the first clip is just a presentation not an article or an essay and we can't confirm all of its information but we KNOW it's quite possible. Maybe even some European, Asian or African or Latin American agency gets info, too, (maybe not all the info but just about people living in their countries). You might think that's impossible, but think twice. There are still several dictatorial states and some former dictatorships that are now being called "democratic". In Chile there are still people fearing they're being "watched" by the government on internet just like it did with older media channels during their past dictatorship. Perhaps you'd say it's exaggerated, but are you part of some country defense department committee so you can assure us that would never ever happen? Would you be allowed to tell us the truth?

I heard once that places like facebook and msn and others might even suspend / cancel your account or sue you or tell the local authorities about it if you provided fake personal info while creating or keeping an existing account. Let's say it was true, if so, then how are they able to notice that? And why should they really care about it? If some music recording company wants to believe I'm an emo, they don't know it's a lie, and after sending me lots of spam regarding the so call emo bands I never purchased a single article / thing from them, then it's their problem not mine. I'm not forced to make them rich, I don't work for them or the email provider or the social network company. So why should I be pursued? Could it be justified because some crazy army guy might think I said something "suspicious" on my blog? (And never acknowledged he distorted my words by taking them out of their proper context to make them look more harmful than they should.)

The visitors should be the only ones who should know about me or the fake version of myself, I'm not posting it for anybody else. But one thing remains true... Why should I tell them all of that personal stuff to some company if I can't even make sure that not even a single employee or executive will ever ever use it for their own purposes?

[Ole Juul]

Re: Why you should not use Facebook

The real problem with Facebook is the ignorance of many of it's users. However, I think it is a mistake to blame them for their ignorance. People have a right to be safe without having to work at it. I personally have much to say about Facebook policies and the idea of making lots of money off unsuspecting people turns my stomach. Put that together with things like their anti breast feeding picture campaign, and they are guaranteed to not have my support.

I think Facebook especially appeals to people who are not able to otherwise connect with people on the internet. Remember that the majority of them have an internet account which includes e-mail and in many cases free web space. There is also a lot of free web "presence" available through free e-mail and free blogs, so in many cases Facebook is simply for the web unsavvy. The operators know this. In fact, even though it was a couple of years ago, the owners comment about calling his users "dumb f***s" is probably still indicative of Facebook's real stance - despite the PR department.

That said; I think Facebook is actually a very convenient method of contacting a specific group. Many musicians find that they prefer this to e-mail bulk or other methods. This is because people can more easily become part of this group (ie fans) through the recommendation of others. It can be very effective. However, this use is about disclosing what is intended to be public information. Not stuff that isn't.

The inadvertent (on the user's part) disclosure of private information can be non obvious and damaging. For example a boss can pass you over for a much wanted promotion because she knows (from Facebook) that you recently purchased a book called "How To Change Jobs", but doesn't know that you love your job and purchased the book for a friend so that he could be as happy as you. Part of the problem with Facebook (from the client side) is that many users are not really clear on what should be private and what shouldn't. People have a need to share with other human beings. Facebook is set up to do that, but many users don't know how to use it in an appropriate way. The owners know this and profit by it.

[Chopstick]

Re: Why you should not use Facebook

Hm... I'm not all that anti-Facebook... it enabled me to get in touch and sort of keep track of a lot of people that I would other have forgotten. I'm moving around a lot and I have contacts all over the world and it is a good way to keep in touch. In particular it is a good way to maintain a "loose" contact. But I don't use FB to communicate with close friends and discuss personal matters. It's a good way to ask someone for advice or a favor who would otherwise be difficult to reach.
I also recently heard in a radio documentary that younger people are actually very aware of what they are putting out there and "manage" their Internet appearance carefully. So it is maybe not all that bad. My impression is that it is mainly older people who are used to different forms of communication (and a different relationship with big corporations), who are upset about privacy violations.
I don't put anything on Facebook that I would not tell any random person on the street (or anyone I know).
Within FB the main problem are these Apps that go much further in exploiting your data (I suspect most of them exist for the sole purpose of data mining).

And one more thing: kubuntuforums is public, isn't it? Everyone can read these discussions, right? Just by collecting all my forum posts you can learn a whole lot about me. If anyone would ever link "Chopstick" to my real identity (which should not be too hard, even though my Email is hidden), you would probably know much more about me than from my FB account.

Chopstick