Assange: Facebook an Appalling Spying Machine

[xecutable]

Here's an interesting Article: http://www.tomsguide.com/us/Facebook...ews-11040.html

Since a lot of people have fb I thought I see everyone's opinion on this.

[Renee]

I'm sure this happens everywhere..

If you're not doing anything worthy for the CIA to be tracking you down, who cares really.. Why would anyone care that I may upload a photo with a cat in it.. ?

[xecutable]

Doesn't necessarily have to be the CIA. But if someone or something is indeed building a profile of you, would be useful to know you got a cat. Now you can start receiving cat food ads,etc.

Now while this might be look at as a good thing, since stores find you, everyone sees those differently.

What bothers me personally is the fact that Mark Zuckerberg has sold information before, and holds the largest database for human info now. In my eyes that like giving an ex-pedophile to run a kinder garden.

This Interview is actually longer, and it ends with a question and an answer from Julian Assange. The question is "What's the number one enemy out there" and he responds "Ignorance".

While there's no reason for paranoia, it's a good topic to think about.

[AWH-Gemma]

I personally agree with Renee but I do think its important not to give too much away on social networking sites, there really is no need to post your real date of birth/phone number on facebook etc but I would say thats more for security reasons, if big brother wanted to know what you are doing they have other means

[ocreditor]

I don't know much about this - what information has Mark Zuckerberg previously sold?

I feel pretty comfortable about my own facebook account because I know I'm not up to anything illegal. The idea of someone building a profile of me just sounds like something out of a movie; perhaps I'm very naive.

What does concern me about facebook is young people who are too immature to use it wisely putting their whole, sometimes rather dysfunctional, lives up there for everyone to see. Employers apparently aren't above tracking you down on facebook to check you out. I have a young person in my family who's going through a hard time and just lets it all spill out on facebook. Her posts make me cringe. And her pages are just open to the public - she's seeking maximum attention. I worry for her future, I'd NEVER hire her for a job based on the content of her wall alone on a daily basis, never mind anything else....

[xecutable]

I don't know much about this - what information has Mark Zuckerberg previously sold?

I don't to be honest as everything I've see it's from the media, and you know how they can exaggerate. The article is from Business Insider and can be read here.

Apparently right after launching Facebook the following IM conversation was recorded. I don't know how, or if it's true as well, but made the business news:
Zuck: Yeah so if you ever need info about anyone at Harvard
Zuck: Just ask.
Zuck: I have over 4,000 emails, pictures, addresses, SNS
[Redacted Friend's Name]: What? How’d you manage that one?
Zuck: People just submitted it.
Zuck: I don’t know why.
Zuck: They “trust me”
Zuck: Dumb f*cks.

As for what you said about people seeking attention I know what you mean. When I used to have a facebook, I had my sister in it. She would basically post on every move of hers. Drinking coffee, taking a shower, studying, driving for college, etc etc.

Also, as far as I understand the law, wouldn't mentioning Facebook in the news be hidden advertising? Like "Victoria Beckham bought a new dress. Visit her Facebook fan page bla bla bla"

[ocreditor]

Thanks for the link to that article; that snippet of conversation you've included here is pretty damning as it is. He's supposed to be a pretty arrogant character anyway, right?

As for attention seeking, I think a lot of people who have facebook (myself included) are guilty sometimes of posting status updates about events that seem very important to us but frankly aren't of any interest to anyone else. My personal gripe is people who post details of every rotten cold or dose of the flu they come down with, complete with snotty tissues, etc.

As for advertising law (again not a specialist field of mine) I can't remember in the news ever hearing a newscaster say something along the lines of "visit Victoria Beckham's facebook page to see her new dress" - facebook has been mentioned in connection (as far as I can remember) with the revolutions in Egypt, etc., Mark Zuckerberg and all the various people who want to sue him, and that's about it. I don't remember ever hearing the BBC, for example, say "go to facebook" and have a look. Although, on the other hand, radio talk shows etc., do tell listeners to join their followers on Twitter.

I see you've said elsewhere that you don't watch or read news at all..is that really true? Does that take self-discipline? I'm pretty addicted to my online newspapers...

[AmCan]

There have been issues with privacy and FB from the very beginning, because they don't care about anybody's privacy, rather they care about making money off our info. In fact there have been claims for years that one of the initial venture capital for FB came from a group known to work with the CIA helping with setting up front companies, etc. A good story, generally debunked.

As for sharing too much info, i sure know that. I have some 20 something relatives that are constantly posting about their addictions and how long they've been sober etc. One kept posting things like "I'm moving in with my soul mate.", unfortunately there was a new "soul mate" every couple of weeks. It was clear that this person has a lot issues with relationships and intimacy. Imagine the job interview where the dirty old man interviewing this young woman called her in because her facebook page led him to believe she was slutty?

Those who think they have nothing to worry about. Say a facebook friend says "I'm going to get those bastards at the tax office", everyone thinks they're just bitchin. You post "Go Get'em guy " Then the guy goes and shoots someone there. Now the cops come to you saying "you read what he said, you posted a reply, you didn't call the cops........etc." that's the part to worry about, getting associate with a person or event that casts you as being involved.

[xecutable]

I am guessing he is arrogant, after all he cut off his best friend and co-founder of Facebook, making him sign a contract that stated his shares could be liquidated as new shareholders join. If that's not backstabbing what is .

As for attention seeking, I think a lot of people who have facebook (myself included) are guilty sometimes of posting status updates about events that seem very important to us but frankly aren't of any interest to anyone else

Right, as a result of which, there's no real conversation but more like 200,000 monologues, with everyone writing about what's important to them.

I see you've said elsewhere that you don't watch or read news at all..is that really true? Does that take self-discipline? I'm pretty addicted to my online newspapers..

Yeah, I don't own a radio, have an old TV that's smaller than my monitor, inch wise, and I have like 10 sports channels 5-6 music channels and that's about it. First two weeks were the hardest, as quitting every bad habit. I realized I was wasting hours a day reading gossips, world crisis related stuff. I'd say self-discipline until you break the habit, and the new one (not reading and watching news) kicks in. Then it's as easy as waking up in the morning

I don't understand also why your contacts in Facebook have to be called Friends. I have a much different definition of a friend, than known associates. Plus a co-worker that you don't really talk to or hang around with finds you on Facebook and offers you friendship. You decline, what happens now.. think he will be happy with that? And many people collect "friends" as post cards. I doubt there's away to have 2987 friends and actively communicate with all

[ocreditor]

I am guessing he is arrogant, after all he cut off his best friend and co-founder of Facebook, making him sign a contract that stated his shares could be liquidated as new shareholders join. If that's not backstabbing what is .

Hmm..I think you're right. I have to confess I haven't seen Social Network yet, so am a bit behind there

Yeah, I don't own a radio, have an old TV that's smaller than my monitor, inch wise, and I have like 10 sports channels 5-6 music channels and that's about it. First two weeks were the hardest, as quitting every bad habit. I realized I was wasting hours a day reading gossips, world crisis related stuff. I'd say self-discipline until you break the habit, and the new one (not reading and watching news) kicks in. Then it's as easy as waking up in the morning

I don't understand also why your contacts in Facebook have to be called Friends. I have a much different definition of a friend, than known associates. Plus a co-worker that you don't really talk to or hang around with finds you on Facebook and offers you friendship. You decline, what happens now.. think he will be happy with that? And many people collect "friends" as post cards. I doubt there's away to have 2987 friends and actively communicate with all

I find your choice to live this way really interesting and you've definitely given me something to think about I'm with you on the TV, that's for sure. From a personal point of view this sounds very attractive - I'm particularly bad at focusing in on the news about some emerging world crisis, and then wasting time reading about it for too many hours. However, given that OCR covers a lot of different topics in its news items, etc, it would be pretty impossible for myself or my colleagues to completely cut off from the "gossips"and celebrity news.

As for the "friends"issue, yeah, nothing more uncomfortable that getting a request to be friends from someone at work or someone in your family you don't relate to that well. I don't think that only facebook is guilty of changing our definition of what it is to be friends though; I'd say that our idea of what constitutes a friendship has been changing ever since ordinary people like ourselves became able to have daily internet access in our own homes.


Amcan, you say:

Those who think they have nothing to worry about. Say a facebook friend says "I'm going to get those bastards at the tax office", everyone thinks they're just bitchin. You post "Go Get'em guy " Then the guy goes and shoots someone there. Now the cops come to you saying "you read what he said, you posted a reply, you didn't call the cops........etc." that's the part to worry about, getting associate with a person or event that casts you as being involved

Again, this sounds far-fetched to me (which I think was your intention) but I could perhaps see something like this happening in a slightly less dramatic scenario. For example, social services blaming the wider family for failing to protect a troubled child, given that the child's relatives should have had access to information about what was going in his/her life via facebook.

[xecutable]

I find your choice to live this way really interesting and you've definitely given me something to think about I'm with you on the TV, that's for sure. From a personal point of view this sounds very attractive - I'm particularly bad at focusing in on the news about some emerging world crisis, and then wasting time reading about it for too many hours. However, given that OCR covers a lot of different topics in its news items, etc, it would be pretty impossible for myself or my colleagues to completely cut off from the "gossips"and celebrity news.

That's different then. To you, getting informed is productive, it has to do with your work. Plus I find most people too informed, start worrying about stuff they can't even control.

I am guessing you have never seen the South Park episode making fun of people's way of living involving Facebook. It's a bit exaggerated, but it's quite funny and actually very true .

But hey who am I to judge or tell people what to do."Everyone has the right to waste their own life, as they please". According to the research the average American watches more than 4hrs a day of TV. In a 65 years lifespan that's 9 years of watching TV.

I am guessing most people that are into Facebook spent a similar amount of time a day there. In an year, they spent 2 months in Facebook. I had read an article somewhere that most people want to be millionaires in life. With all of the holidays and weekends and a week vacation per year it comes down to making about 480$ an hour(or close to that I don't remember the exact numbers) to achieve that goal. So basically your time spent on Facebook then will be equal to 30k $ a year. Mix that with TV time and it comes to 60k $.

So even if Facebook is not a Spy Machine, it's an expensive habit (unless you are using it for traffic of course, but that's a different topic).

[Renee]

I don't understand also why your contacts in Facebook have to be called Friends. I have a much different definition of a friend, than known associates. Plus a co-worker that you don't really talk to or hang around with finds you on Facebook and offers you friendship. You decline, what happens now.. think he will be happy with that? And many people collect "friends" as post cards. I doubt there's away to have 2987 friends and actively communicate with all

I agree..

The worst is when you delete someone and they keep coming back and requesting you.. Or you ignore and they keep coming back. Some people think facebook is the be all and end all of friendship. I actually had one friend stop being friends with me because I deleted her because I was sick of seeing photos of her with my ex (who she chose to be friends with over me). Told her it wasn't anything personal and that I just preferred not seeing them, that facebook didn't mean we werent friends but she chose to be a nutter about it.. Probably wasn't a bad thing then I guess..

They used to have privacy options back in the day that would close your FB so much to non friends that if someone searched for your name they couldn't even see your profile pic. I had that setting on mine.. They couldn't see any of my info whatsoever. Over the years they have changed that though which really sux IMO. I wish they would bring that back.

[xecutable]

Facebook develops in a way that suits them best, which is normal, after all it's there to make money. If that privacy thingie robbed them from few hundred impression of ads per person, it's a good way to bring additional revenue. Not sure if that's the case but just an idea.

It's scary however that a website can have such a deep impact on people's lives and relationships.

And is it me, but checking stuff like that from your phone, is even crazier? While I was on it, I used to see old mates post things from the mobile version like "Going in the disco in 5 minutes"

[Renee]

I have to say I do update on my mobile most of the time because I'm rarely at home. Mostly it's because I'm bored, or I'm somewhere that people want to know about, and it's easier to just update it so multiple people can read rather than sending same thing to more than one person.. In saying that, my personal facebook only has people that I would be comfortable seeing my updates. Anyone who I don't want to see them I will put them into the limited profile group or not have them at all.

[ocreditor]

I am guessing you have never seen the South Park episode making fun of people's way of living involving Facebook. It's a bit exaggerated, but it's quite funny and actually very true .

I'll check it out I think I'm going to experiment and try a week without my personal facebook account...

[xecutable]

I've PM-ed you the official link of the episode, so check it out when u have time to laugh a bit. Good luck with your task though might not be as easy as it sounds