 _Bane_ says: This article is really good only clipped a small piece. It is pretty even handed but it does go into detail as to Facebook's privacy policy which is much looser than many other internet companies. Worth the read. everything about facebook being "big brother" and a way to stalk people is bullshit. if people are giving the info then kudos to them. i have a facebook, and i dont care. if the gov't wants to spy on my facebook then go at it, but they could get the same info from the profile any straight-edge college sophomore. NOt only that, by simply clicking "privacy" and modifying your settings you can prevent 3rd party apps and data miners from getting your info.. This scarmongering is sad... and serves little purpose. Besides, like rooms said, if the CIA/NSA wants your info.. facebook might be a good place to get it, but so are dozens of other places... have amy space page? A blog? LInked-in account? ... If you are that worried, stay off teh net  Well if you read the article the potential for abuse is not by facebook so much but by the companies that facebook is planning to allow to develop apps on their network. Facebook is basicly taking no responibility as to the actions of third parties. That is what I find a little scary. But to facebooks credit they do lay it out clearly in their privacy policy. and give you the option to stop your info from being shared. Take a look at the privacy page & the options it provides.. you can basically turn everything off to 3rd party apps. Not everything. I read their privacy policy on their website. A couple of things, their advertisers get to view your IP address, drop cookies on your machine for identification purposes, etc... (this is under Third Party Advertising section, it does not have any opt out provision in it) Also they say that their third party developers will have to abide by their privacy policy then right after it they say that they (3rd party people) can draft their own privacy policy if they choose to. No provision in there that the privacy stuff has to be at least as inclusive as Facebooks. Lastly they provide no ability to opt out of some of the aggregate data collection done by facebook and gi... Cat Whisperer, if you actually read the privacy policy, the part that I find scary is this -- and this I think is the point of the article. Facebook's privacy policy states that you can opt out of data-sharing, but Facebook makes no guarantees that your decision to opt-out will actually be honored! That's the meaning of the fine print. I will agree though that the majority of the stuff you can opt out of. But I am a firm believer that data collection should be on an opt in basis since the user is rarely adequately informed when they sign up for an account.Are you paying for facebook? No? Are they plainly stating what they can or can not do if you read the privacy policy? Yes? If you don't want to share information that that can be used to target ads at you, don't use google or any of it's applications (they do this, but give you NO option to opt out at all). Don't use any MS service, or Yahoo, or... or... Paranoid people shouldn't use the web. Now, if I was paying for facebook, than I would expect... Enbar... I did read the policy & I'm not sure where you see that FB can ignore your opt-out? Can you quote it? I may have missed it, I read over it pretty quickly...) What i did see was: We do not provide contact information to third party marketers without your permission. We share your information with third parties only in limited circumstances where we believe such sharing is 1) reasonably necessary to offer the service, 2) legally required or, 3) permitted by youGranted #1 is a little vague... Furthermore the only thing I could see that really might give them the ability to freely distribute your info without your consent is a policy change... just about any service you use on the net can do the same thing. _Bane_: I didn't see anything about FB allowing 3rd parties to access your IP/Cookies... what I did see was: Unlike most sites on the Web, Facebook limits access to site information by third party search engine "crawlers" (e.g. Google, Yahoo, MSN, Ask). Facebook takes action to block access by these engines to personal information beyond your name, profile picture, and limited aggregated data about your profile (e.g. number of wall postings).This was under the heading: "Sharing Your Information with Third Parties" Oh, wait.. scratch that.. it's under 3rd party advertising.. they are granted your IP & are able to download cookies to YOUR machine, not from. Also under that is: "Third party advertisers have no access to your contact information stored on Facebook unless you choose to share it with them." I guess I was thinking of this part: Facebook requires the Platform Developer to enter into an agreement which, among other things, requires them to respect your privacy settings and strictly limits their collection, use, and storage of your information. However, while we have undertaken contractual and technical steps to restrict possible misuse of such information by such Platform Developers, we of course cannot and do not guarantee that all Platform Developers will abide by such agreements. Please note that Facebook does not screen or approve Platform Developers and cannot control how such Platform Developers use any personal information that they may obtain in connection with Pla... Well the difference between Facebook and google as far as targetting ads to you is that Google uses the search term(s) that you have put in to target ads to you. They do not (as of right now) target ads based on a ton of data they have collected from you in the past. Although they will be doing this in the future it will be on a opt in basis rather than forcing you to opt out. Like I said I don't think Facebook itself is the potential problem I see the potential of abuse comming from the 3rd party developers. "If you are that worried, stay off teh net" "Don't use any MS service, or Yahoo, or... or..." "Paranoid people shouldn't use the web." CatWhisperer, are you associated with FB? Or do you only advocate people NOT use the web if they question a site's privacy policy?? The world isn't as black and white as you might think. Asking questions/critical thinking was a good thing last I checked. As great as Facebook is, it needs to be evaluated objectively. I never said it didn't.. I'm just saying that the article clipped & many others out there are more scare tactics than informative or questioning... And all three of those statements are correct.. - If you are that worried about your personal information being possibly used in some nefarious way.. stay of the net. - Also, if you are afraid of information you provide to companies offering free services being used to target ads to you or being sold or provided to 3rd parties, don't use Microsoft/Yahoo, etc services... - Paranoid people should not use the web, because EVERYTHING you do CAN be tracked if someone really wants to track you. I never once said the world was black and white, and ac... |
View the Top Clips from May 28, 2007
Embed This Clip In Your Site...
|
||
|
|
|||
|
New from the makers of Clipmarks: Amplify.com - Don't just share the news...Amplify it!
|
|||
