Privacy becoming a Dream....

U

source:www.eff.org

Since its incorporation just over five years ago, Facebook has undergone a remarkable transformation. When it started, it was a private space for communication with a group of your choice. Soon, it transformed into a platform where much of your information is public by default. Today, it has become a platform where you have no choice but to make certain information public, and this public information may be shared by Facebook with its partner websites and used to target ads.

To help illustrate Facebook's shift away from privacy, we have highlighted some excerpts from Facebook's privacy policies over the years. Watch closely as your privacy disappears, one small change at a time!

Facebook Privacy Policy circa 2005:

No personal information that you submit to Thefacebook will be available to any user of the Web Site who does not belong to at least one of the groups specified by you in your privacy settings.

Facebook Privacy Policy circa 2006:

We understand you may not want everyone in the world to have the information you share on Facebook; that is why we give you control of your information. Our default privacy settings limit the information displayed in your profile to your school, your specified local area, and other reasonable community limitations that we tell you about.

Facebook Privacy Policy circa 2007:

Profile information you submit to Facebook will be available to users of Facebook who belong to at least one of the networks you allow to access the information through your privacy settings (e.g., school, geography, friends of friends). Your name, school name, and profile picture thumbnail will be available in search results across the Facebook network unless you alter your privacy settings.

Facebook Privacy Policy circa November 2009:

Facebook is designed to make it easy for you to share your information with anyone you want. You decide how much information you feel comfortable sharing on Facebook and you control how it is distributed through your privacy settings. You should review the default privacy settings and change them if necessary to reflect your preferences. You should also consider your settings whenever you share information. ...

Information set to “everyone” is publicly available information, may be accessed by everyone on the Internet (including people not logged into Facebook), is subject to indexing by third party search engines, may be associated with you outside of Facebook (such as when you visit other sites on the internet), and may be imported and exported by us and others without privacy limitations. The default privacy setting for certain types of information you post on Facebook is set to “everyone.” You can review and change the default settings in your privacy settings.

Facebook Privacy Policy circa December 2009:

Certain categories of information such as your name, profile photo, list of friends and pages you are a fan of, gender, geographic region, and networks you belong to are considered publicly available to everyone, including Facebook-enhanced applications, and therefore do not have privacy settings. You can, however, limit the ability of others to find this information through search using your search privacy settings.

Current Facebook Privacy Policy, as of April 2010:

When you connect with an application or website it will have access to General Information about you. The term General Information includes your and your friends’ names, profile pictures, gender, user IDs, connections, and any content shared using the Everyone privacy setting. ... The default privacy setting for certain types of information you post on Facebook is set to “everyone.” ... Because it takes two to connect, your privacy settings only control who can see the connection on your profile page. If you are uncomfortable with the connection being publicly available, you should consider removing (or not making) the connection.

Viewed together, the successive policies tell a clear story. Facebook originally earned its core base of users by offering them simple and powerful controls over their personal information. As Facebook grew larger and became more important, it could have chosen to maintain or improve those controls. Instead, it's slowly but surely helped itself — and its advertising and business partners — to more and more of its users' information, while limiting the users' options to control their own information.

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Has the time come yet we stop using facebook or are we awaiting for our bankruptcy of our personal data....................

R

Facebook has privacy issues but we don't have an option right now. Now a days everyone is affected by the social media virus and Google+ is still not so big that it can compete with Facebook.

People are so hooked up to FaceBook, wherein they are not bothered about their privacy issues.

F

rajeevk said:
Facebook has privacy issues but we don't have an option right now. Now a days everyone is affected by the social media virus and Google+ is still not so big that it can compete with Facebook.

You realy think google+ is/would be better (at least after a while).

Facebook obviously really changed over the course of time. But if you want privacy and only your friends to actually see what you post and share it is still posible. Of course it takes some efford to get all the settings right and think about it in everyday posting, but you can still have some sort of privacy.

N

pravinbv said:
The worst case is with Google and everyone is screaming about Facebook. Facebook just share and retain the information You share. Google is spying, stealing, keeping watch on you and no one have single word against. Great.

LOL ?

pravinbv said:
The worst case is with Google and everyone is screaming about Facebook. Facebook just share and retain the information You share. Google is spying, stealing, keeping watch on you and no one have single word against. Great.

Google is stealing? Wow.

I am not on their social network (or any other for that matter). So I doubt they are stealing my data.

Facebook says that your data will be sold to anyone and everyone.

Google states that any data collected will never be given without your consent.

Privacy in the internet is a myth.

Extreme Gamer said:
Google is stealing? Wow.

I am not on their social network (or any other for that matter). So I doubt they are stealing my data.

www.google.com/history

Enabled by default in most cases. No need to give data to anyone. Show ads similar to your searches. Done.

Anyone who expects their so called "privacy" to be maintained on FB, is a ________"

Fill in the blanks with any obscene word.

Privacy in the internet is a myth.

+1. Correctly said.

I have deleted my facebook account due the privacy issue it can cause. I got tired of educating my friends and family about the privacy issues in social networks.

R

Charan said:
I have deleted my facebook account due the privacy issue it can cause. I got tired of educating my friends and family about the privacy issues in social networks.

How did you deleted your Facebook account. I tried the same but it can be re-activated by just entering e-mail and password, it's like logging in after a short time period.

Rishab2oo said:
How did you deleted your Facebook account. I tried the same but it can be re-activated by just entering e-mail and password, it's like logging in after a short time period.

check the FAQ here How do I permanently delete my account? - Facebook Help Center | Facebook

pravinbv said:
Now that's really funny. I can give you thousand of links and report that prove everything i have claimed.
But you can take help of your Google for that. Just search for the terms like
"Google Tracking" or Google Spying or
this one
Google Toolbar Tracks Browsing Even After Users Choose "Disable"
Google's Omnibox could be Pandora's box | Beyond Binary - CNET News

Give it a try. Though I am not saying that Facebook and others are Good but worst is the Google that also very silently. Just imagine how the ads are displayed in your email context same as the topic or your email? Not just this if you searched today for say "Baby Toy" even after 10 day whatever you browse in internet using your Google DI same targeted ads for "Baby Toy" will be displayed. Don't you think is possible. Its true.

But I dont use that toolbar lol

I wish infra_red_dude was here.

F

Of course all FB does use your data, but it just a matter of what you share and what you don't.

If you are posting each and every information about your life you can quickly have a privacy issue, but if you are a little careful about what you actually get out there I don't see any bigger issue yet.

Well for privacy you can always select the group with which you want to share that particular data.

W

don't login into any google account while browsing/searching in same browser.use one browser exclusively for checking into your google accounts(preferably in a private/incognito mode) & another for all other purposes.this should take care of most of the issues.

You should get to know what happens when you use services from Google.

Please visit this site to know how it works:
Google track you. We don't. An illustrated Guide.

Prime_Coder said:
You should get to know what happens when you use services from Google.

Please visit this site to know how it works:
Google track you. We don't. An illustrated Guide.

Think about the bright side. You, not only you but every user, gets the previledge from google without which we can't even live one day. So, even if they track out habits to improve their ad-sense, its their right to do so.

Deleted my old and ugly orkut account.

That's why I don't use even a single facebook app, too risky.

Neuron said:
Deleted my old and ugly orkut account.

You still have /have to use your gmail account.

W

risk is only for those who share too much.also remember that we live in India where compared to developed nations only a very small % of total population spend a significant amount of money online.when it comes to spending amount >10000 most prefer going to actual shop or major well known brand both of which do not depend as much on online ads as others.even google knows this.

W

LOL.@unsetld,take it easy,it's just google.if you don't like it don't use it as simple as that.google is not obliged to listen to people & neither are people obliged to use google services.

we should start boycotting google products and let us show whos the boss.

What're you waiting for?

I will stop using the Google products. it will take some time to for the migration.

First step: removed Google as my search engines in my browser.
Second step: remove chrome from my home computer.

unsetld said:
Just see the recent outcome of revolutions which came in egypt,libya etc.

Wait...what ?

N

Charan said:
I will stop using the Google products. it will take some time to for the migration.

First step: removed Google as my search engines in my browser.
Second step: remove chrome from my home computer.

wow...why ? what you will accomplish after this ?

It would be very worse if employers start using our facebook timeline to view our profile, won't it be? timeline!!! :sad:

They already do that AFAIK

N

Came across this comment

I have to confess that I find the furor to be overblown.

Collecting data isn't evil. It's the currency of the future, a currency that we provide in order to buy useful services, many of which can ONLY be provided if that data is aggregated and analyzed and made relevant. There are evil things that you can do with that data, but just collecting it isn't evil. I wish people would avoid the linkbait headlines unless they have evidence that Google is actually doing bad things with that data.

If you want an example of a company that is doing "evil", consider Apple. I was horrified when I heard Mike Daisey, author of the one-man show "The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs," talking on This American Life about working conditions in the factories that make the iPhone and iPad, and Apple's tepid monitoring of those conditions. When a company has $98 billion in cash, and profits of tens of billions of dollars each quarter, does it really need to squeeze every last cent out of manufacturing costs?

The account of how Apple's factories substituted n-hexane, a neurotoxin with well-documented long term adverse health effects, for alcohol to wipe those shining screens clean, gaining a miniscule advantage in drying time but exposing workers to a lifetime of disablement, nearly brought me to tears.

That's evil. Of course, Apple never promised to do no evil, so they get a free pass.

Journalists should listen to this episode, and then write about that, please:

Mr. Daisey and the Apple Factory | This American Life

noob said:
wow...why ? what you will accomplish after this ?

simple... I cannot agree with the new Privacy Policy of Google. After this would be to migrate to another Email provider, remove my Google Apps account (another personal email) , later migrate to another non-google services based phone or build my own version of Android without google services.

I know I will be handicapped without these services, but that the risk I will take to protect my privacy.

N

And where in the new policy or even old they have said that your identity will be sold to advertisers ? Even MS requires you to have Live ID to access any of their service these days.

What Google is doing is just unifying all their services to provide a better end user exp across all their products.

I know I will be handicapped without these services, but that the risk I will take to protect my privacy.

your privacy is already protected..no one is going to bomb your place...no matter what you use privacy on internet is myth

R

Privacy & Piracy both becoming a dream :neutral:

^ The second part is not the thing to be discussed here, but it is as good as ever 7 will go on without any problem by proper medium. Taking down one or two 1 click hosting site(s) won't affect the bigger & broader problem(?) of piracy.

Do You Like Online Privacy? You May Be a Terrorist!

A flyer designed by the FBI and the Department of Justice to promote suspicious activity reporting in internet cafes lists basic tools used for online privacy as potential signs of terrorist activity. The document, part of a program called “Communities Against Terrorism”, lists the use of “anonymizers, portals, or other means to shield IP address” as a sign that a person could be engaged in or supporting terrorist activity. The use of encryption is also listed as a suspicious activity along with steganography, the practice of using “software to hide encrypted data in digital photos” or other media. In fact, the flyer recommends that anyone “overly concerned about privacy” or attempting to “shield the screen from view of others” should be considered suspicious and potentially engaged in terrorist activities.

Logging into an account associated with a residential internet service provider (such as Comcast or AOL), an activity that could simply indicate that you are on a trip, is also considered a suspicious activity. Viewing any content related to “military tactics” including manuals or “revolutionary literature” is also considered a potential indicator of terrorist activity. This would mean that viewing a number of websites, including the one you are on right now, could be construed by a hapless employee as an highly suspicious activity potentially linking you to terrorism.

The “Potential Indicators of Terrorist Activities” contained in the flyer are not to be construed alone as a sign of terrorist activity and the document notes that “just because someone’s speech, actions, beliefs, appearance, or way of life is different; it does not mean that he or she is suspicious.” However, many of the activities described in the document are basic practices of any individual concerned with security or privacy online. The use of PGP, VPNs, Tor or any of the many other technologies for anonymity and privacy online are directly targeted by the flyer, which is distributed to businesses in an effort to promote the reporting of these activities.

Should I have posted this in LOL thread?

Time for the next bolly flick "I use a proxy and I'm not a terrorist".