Friends

18 August 2011

And as for Facebook…

I really do love technology but sometimes I think it has gone too far and become too interfering. There should be rules, there should be questions asked, there should be consultation with and protection for its followers. Anonymity no longer exists in the world of technology. And it should!

Take Yahoo for instance. It has installed the ‘Like’ button on web pages so that our activities can be revealed to friends and followers and vice versa. I imagine the same applies to other sources that use the ‘Like’ button. I particularly ‘liked’ one article in Yahoo News and, stupidly thinking it merely gave my approval for what was written, I clicked the button. Pretty soon I found that by clicking ‘Like’ I had authorised Facebook to inform me if any of my friends liked not only the item in question but others too.

Facebook is guilty of the same thing. Recently I was dismayed to learn that it gathers information and puts it in our 'accounts' whether we want it or not. I wouldn’t have known but for the thoughtful person who posted this: ALL THE PHONE NUMBERS from your phone are now on Facebook!

This was followed by instructions on how to cancel it out.

Go to the top right of the screen, go to ACCOUNT, go to EDIT FRIENDS, left side click CONTACTS. you will see all you're phone numbers (FB friends or not) are published that you have stored in your mobile phone. TO REMOVE, go to the right column, click on "this page." And then click "Remove" Please repost this on your status, so your friends can remove their numbers and thus prevent abuse if they do not want them published.

As advised, I checked my Facebook account and found both landline and cell phone numbers were listed of Facebook friends in America. Yet all I had done was respond to their comments from my iPhone. Hitherto I didn’t know their numbers. In case you’re wondering, those numbers were immediately removed from the account. On the plus side, none of my Facebook friends numbers were listed on MY account but that doesn’t mean they weren’t listed on someone else’s.

It may seem quite a harmless thing but let’s think seriously about this. The advice was to copy and paste the information so that all our Facebook friends would see it and hopefully take action. However, we don’t know if they did take action. In fact, we don’t even know the people very well. We like what we see but I could be the biggest crook out and who would know? Yet our numbers are paraded around and we can do what we like with them without the other party knowing. The majority of people are trustworthy, but there’s always that one who isn’t. So does Facebook know best?

Keep checking, there is no privacy in this world!

17 comments:

  1. Ooo that's invasive isn't it! I'm not sure I like that idea. Like you say, they want to share everything with everybody these days and that's not always a good idea!

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  2. And whenever you go outside your door you are being filmed. 1984 and beyond.

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  3. I know, it's scary isn't it? :(

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  4. Technology is wonderful, but at the same time it can be too invasive. I check my Facebook account everytime I log on to
    make sure it isn't giving out info I
    don't want made public.

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  5. ugh...one of the reasons i shut down FB...it was getting too crazy with all the stuff they were pulling in...when they can track you that well...it just gets uncomfortable...

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  6. Star, I agree.

    John, you got that right!

    Pearl, it sure is scary.

    Faye, I'll have to check more often but right now I'm thinking of pulling out of Facebook.

    Brian, I agree, it is uncomfortable.

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  7. Received email from the Facebook Team. I quote:

    As you requested, your imported contacts have been removed. Please note: if some of your friends choose to share their email or phone numbers with friends on Facebook, you'll still see their contact information in your phonebook.

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  8. Don't sync your phone to facebook. I sync my phone to my work computer and that is it since it is a work cell phone. It always asks whether to sync your phone to whatever app it can and the answer you should pick is don't sync.

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  9. PS. If you don't want your information to 'leak' out, then remove it from facebook. I have nothing on there that is not required. I use an email address that is for junk mail. I do not have any phone numbers listed, my address, etc. I'm sure it could be found but I don't want to make it easy. In fact after the incident a few weeks ago, I have made my fb where you can't even search for me and find me. So go check out all your information, see who can see it and who you REALLY want to see it. If you have questions, hollar at me.

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  10. "Anonymity no longer exists in the world of technology. And it should!"

    You are soooooooooooooo correct about that, Valerie! I finally realized that after 6 years of being online and blogging, ANYONE can find me now. Once you get online, there is no such thing as privacy.

    WOW! I had no idea about that on Facebook!?!?! Luckily for me, my profile has barely any personal information listed. When I signed up, I just put in the basics. I didn't even want to share my email address, but it's manditory. I can't believe these people who put there social security numbers, credit card numbers, and phone numbers on their profiles.

    Honestly, I may be deleting my FB account by the end of this month because I hardly ever use it - blogging takes all my time. Also, I had someone get into my FB account last year who I DID NOT friend, and they contacted me via my email address and then left comments on my blog! This was someone who I did NOT want any contact with, but somehow they were able to get inside my account and find me. Facebook is truly not secure.

    Great post, dear lady! Thanks for sharing this info. Have a wonderful weekend!

    X

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  11. It is a lot scary as to all that we don't know behind all of these sites. They now allow cell phone numbers to be out now over here so at three in the morning someone is trying to sell me a cheap vacation to where ever.

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  12. Karen, many thanks for your invaluable advice.

    Ron, after reading about your experience I'm even more determined to leave FB alone. I went on again to check if there was something else to remove and discovered the phone numbers of a US follower were back. I had deleted them......

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  13. I am so glad that I have never had the time or the inclination to go on Facebook.

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  14. We definitely live in different times. And this is just the stuff we know about. I think we would be absolutely dropping fruit in our looms if we know how much of our information is out there and who has access to it.

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  15. Hi Valerie,
    I am just not into FB as I used to be. I am even deleting my account next week.

    Adding FB is definately an "impulse" decision. Since many of us had friends there and jumped on the bandwagon. But,no, of us thought about privacy at the time we signed up!

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  16. People list their phone numbers on facebook over here. That is probably why they continue to come up on your side. I have quite a few that have phone numbers and checked and it was because it is in their fb information! What nutty folks!!

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