8 ms·

Facebook uses location to suggest new friends

92 points by braythwayt 10y ago

ulli 10y ago
Goddamned Facebook!! Creating environments filled with unintended consequences everyday of the week. There are so many untrained, misguided, semi-literate people in the world, who just get thrown into these environments totally unprepared. It literally sickens me. Sorry I woke up today morning to read this - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/salem/21-yr-old-woman-commits-suicide-after-morphed-photo-appears-on-Facebook/articleshow/52948971.cms http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/salem/21-yr-old-woma... Parents get blamed. Police get blamed. Govts get blamed. Blame goes around. People get defensive rather than constructive. What a mess! Seriously how the fuck is anyone supposed to be prepared technically and socially to deal with this stuff?
- 9935c101ab17a66 10y ago
  If you don't think the result of this was intended by the people who doctored and posted the photos, you're naive. It's a huge stretch to pin deliberate harassment and incredibly strict cultural mores on facebook. I'm not saying no one is to blame, and that this should ever happen, but laying all the responsibility at the feet of facebook is naive and frankly duplicitous
- jasonkostempski 10y ago
  That's a shitty story, but blaming Facebook for it seems a bit of a stretch. By that logic, photo editing software is responsible; computers; electricity, etc. A horrible society is definitley responsible for that one.
  - tdkl 10y ago
    Yes, horrible society that overvalues a social networking site in every aspect in our lives.
wastedhours 10y ago
"Location information by itself doesn’t indicate that two people might be friends" - interesting, and guessing it was IP based so they might put more weight behind it, but I keep getting this for an ex-housemate. Nothing else in common, no common friends, just the fact we were both regularly in the same place/same network.
- xuhu 10y ago
  The man from the article attended a common event with the other man who appeared on his friends suggestion list. Maybe facebook has a rule that if the event is small, the attendees can be assumed to have met IRL.
akerro 10y ago
What if I moved out from a neighbourhood because I had enemies there, we didn't like each other? Now I'm coming back to my parents house and facebook reminds me about them and them about me?
- m0v_eax 10y ago
  If you have actual enemies, it might make sense to block them on things like Facebook, LinkedIn, etc..
- gmarx 10y ago
  Do you have enemies? Does a typical person have enemies?
  - zaccus 10y ago
    It's not unheard of to have people in your extended network who you would rather not have alerted to your whereabouts. Examples: abusive ex, clingy co-worker, mother in law, etc. "Enemy" is a rather melodramatic term but you get the idea.
guard-of-terra 10y ago
Just yesterday somebody warned that Facebook does location-based friends suggestion (was suggested to friend a taxi driver) and promptly accused to be tin foil hatter. That's just how it goes every time.
ourmandave 10y ago
How awkward would it be when the FBI agents parked in the van outside your house keep popping up on your suggested friends list?
- gmarx 10y ago
  Genius. Let's write that screenplay!
creshal 10y ago
> Facebook uses location to suggest new friends–which could be a privacy disaster No, the privacy disaster happened when Facebook was allowed to collect all that data in the first place.
netman21 10y ago
Linkedin does this too. It suggested that I connect with an academic copy editor. My only other connection? We sat next to each other at a co-working space. Of course Linkedin was not using geo-location. They must have noticed that we were both on the same network.
- Jdam 10y ago
  agree, LinkedIn suggestions are really, really good/creepy, way more than Facebook, at least for me.
- 0xmohit 10y ago
  > Unsubscribe from LinkedIn > Delete email account > Sell house, live in woods > Find bottle in river > Has note inside > It's from LinkedIn Source: https://twitter.com/darylginn/status/590664399041519617 https://twitter.com/darylginn/status/590664399041519617
- cylinder 10y ago
  I can't think of a single reason to use LinkedIn's native app.
  - fps 10y ago
    linkedin's IP based tracking includes their website, and doesn't require you to share your location through the browser. They've been doing that for years. If you share a network gateway with someone, LinkedIn will suggest that person as a contact.
HBreakhh 10y ago
I don't expect anything to Facebook when it comes to privacy.
- gcb0 10y ago
  just because you shrug it off, doesn't mean they are above the law.
- braythwayt 10y ago
  Well, there are several levels of non-privacy to expect: - Facebook collects data about me - Facebook shares my data with big corporations who want to sell me stuff - Facebook shares my data with my friends - Facebook shares my data with people who aren't my friends For many people, this is a surprising escalation of their expectations. For some, it is outright dangerous.
  - m0v_eax 10y ago
    Because people expect services as robust and useful as Facebook to be free? Based on how much time people spend using their service, the user's data is hardly a large price to pay. Have certain types of things you like, profession, education, gender, demographic and expect your profile able to be targeted (anonymously) with advertising. Share something public (including anything above), expect any corporation to be able to see or mine it.
    - Natanael_L 10y ago
      And how do you explain shadow profiles?
    - braythwayt 10y ago
      I think your comment is in line with mine. Many people think they are making a trade-off: The use of the service in exchange for data that corporations can mine. Some even consider this a win-win, as they believe that they will receive advertising for things they may actually want to buy. However, not everybody expects the data to be shared with other users of the service. This is why I suggested that this may be an unexpected escalation of expectations. Facebook is quite transparent about sharing your data with advertisers. It is less transparent about sharing your data with other individuals.
alistairSH 10y ago
I don't understand why people use the Facebook native app at all. Their mobile website works quite well and should avoid many of the issues with the app (location sharing, battery drain, etc).
- drcross 10y ago
  Facebook recently disabled their messenger platform on the website, when you click the messages tab it brings you directly to the app store to install their app. This means you have to use the App to message people. The app requires such egregious permissions that I absolutely refuse to install it. It's a shame because it worked perfectly in the past.
  - wslh 10y ago
    And also Messenger doesn't have end to end encryption, so every message remains in Facebook.
  - alistairSH 10y ago
    They must be A/B testing; I can still access messages on the mobile site (Safari on iPhone 5s). And, given privacy issues and anecdotal reports of battery drain, I'll just forgo messages on that platform if they make the mobile site change permanent.
  - germanier 10y ago
    You could use messenger.com with a desktop user-agent. That site works fine on a phone screen.
  - soylentcola 10y ago
    I agree with your assessment of Messages and I also don't have either the FB or Messages mobile app installed. That said, messages are still working for me in Metal (third party FB app) and in my mobile browser. Even if/when they stop working that way, I figure I'll be able to tick the "desktop mode" box in my mobile browser to set the user agent and get it that way. Barring that I can just check those handful of messages I get via my desktop computer. I guess I just don't depend on FB messaging for anything important so it's less an issue for me. If someone wants to reach me, they can call or text and Hangouts works fine across mobile and desktop on Android, iOS, Windows, OSX, Linux, etc. for group messaging.
thirdsun 10y ago
I really thought this was already a well-established and known fact. I saw friend suggestions quite often after attending events where I ran into very loose acquaintances I never spoke to but share a few friends with. That by itself isn't too surprising, but the fact that this happens after we were geographically close led me to believe that this is common knowledge.
m0v_eax 10y ago
I love it. I've wished this feature implemented for quite some time.
skynetv2 10y ago
i never use facebook on mobile devices, i have a different "supervised" profile on Chrome for facebook use and nothing else. i use it because of how many people are on there, but i wont let them snoop on me
- 0xmohit 10y ago
  Do you need anybody else to snoop upon you if you're using Chrome? Has Google stopped identifying a given Chrome installation using unique IDs?
0xmohit 10y ago
I'm not sure if it is either new or surprising. I did an experiment some 3 years back from within a corporate network -- the difference being that it was done on a desktop, not mobile. The sequence of events was roughly: - Spin off a new VM - Create a brand new email address with fictitious identity - Sign up to Facebook using the newly created fictitious identity Result: The suggested "friends" were folks in that building (who were on the same network). (The experiment was performed to demo how creepy such networks are.)
- brett40324 10y ago
  Nice:)
pmlnr 10y ago
Or it may result in real-world friendships. Too bad I don't have the Facebook app installed any more.
zeeshanm 10y ago
They also suggest friends based on who has viewed your profile.
jedberg 10y ago
They probably aren't using location but IP block. In fact, I'm almost certain your IP block is used for both suggested friends and your Newsfeed. I used to see my coworkers all the time in my Newsfeed, but now that I don't work there (and therefore we don't share an IP anymore) I suddenly started seeing them a lot less. I go to their page and see they are posting, and after interacting with a few posts they started showing up again, but I have to go to their page and interact every few weeks to get them to keep showing up. Also, whenever I go and visit the old office, if I use Facebook there, all of a sudden I get them all showing up in my Newsfeed again.

92 points by braythwayt 10y ago

ulli 10y ago

Goddamned Facebook!! Creating environments filled with unintended consequences everyday of the week. There are so many untrained, misguided, semi-literate people in the world, who just get thrown into these environments totally unprepared. It literally sickens me. Sorry I woke up today morning to read this - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/salem/21-yr-old-woman-commits-suicide-after-morphed-photo-appears-on-Facebook/articleshow/52948971.cms http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/salem/21-yr-old-woma... Parents get blamed. Police get blamed. Govts get blamed. Blame goes around. People get defensive rather than constructive. What a mess! Seriously how the fuck is anyone supposed to be prepared technically and socially to deal with this stuff?

9935c101ab17a66 10y ago
If you don't think the result of this was intended by the people who doctored and posted the photos, you're naive. It's a huge stretch to pin deliberate harassment and incredibly strict cultural mores on facebook. I'm not saying no one is to blame, and that this should ever happen, but laying all the responsibility at the feet of facebook is naive and frankly duplicitous
jasonkostempski 10y ago
That's a shitty story, but blaming Facebook for it seems a bit of a stretch. By that logic, photo editing software is responsible; computers; electricity, etc. A horrible society is definitley responsible for that one.
- tdkl 10y ago
  Yes, horrible society that overvalues a social networking site in every aspect in our lives.

wastedhours 10y ago

"Location information by itself doesn’t indicate that two people might be friends" - interesting, and guessing it was IP based so they might put more weight behind it, but I keep getting this for an ex-housemate. Nothing else in common, no common friends, just the fact we were both regularly in the same place/same network.

xuhu 10y ago
The man from the article attended a common event with the other man who appeared on his friends suggestion list. Maybe facebook has a rule that if the event is small, the attendees can be assumed to have met IRL.

akerro 10y ago

What if I moved out from a neighbourhood because I had enemies there, we didn't like each other? Now I'm coming back to my parents house and facebook reminds me about them and them about me?

m0v_eax 10y ago
If you have actual enemies, it might make sense to block them on things like Facebook, LinkedIn, etc..
gmarx 10y ago
Do you have enemies? Does a typical person have enemies?
- zaccus 10y ago
  It's not unheard of to have people in your extended network who you would rather not have alerted to your whereabouts. Examples: abusive ex, clingy co-worker, mother in law, etc. "Enemy" is a rather melodramatic term but you get the idea.

guard-of-terra 10y ago

Just yesterday somebody warned that Facebook does location-based friends suggestion (was suggested to friend a taxi driver) and promptly accused to be tin foil hatter. That's just how it goes every time.

ourmandave 10y ago

How awkward would it be when the FBI agents parked in the van outside your house keep popping up on your suggested friends list?

gmarx 10y ago
Genius. Let's write that screenplay!

creshal 10y ago

> Facebook uses location to suggest new friends–which could be a privacy disaster No, the privacy disaster happened when Facebook was allowed to collect all that data in the first place.

netman21 10y ago

Linkedin does this too. It suggested that I connect with an academic copy editor. My only other connection? We sat next to each other at a co-working space. Of course Linkedin was not using geo-location. They must have noticed that we were both on the same network.

Jdam 10y ago
agree, LinkedIn suggestions are really, really good/creepy, way more than Facebook, at least for me.
0xmohit 10y ago
> Unsubscribe from LinkedIn > Delete email account > Sell house, live in woods > Find bottle in river > Has note inside > It's from LinkedIn Source: https://twitter.com/darylginn/status/590664399041519617 https://twitter.com/darylginn/status/590664399041519617
cylinder 10y ago
I can't think of a single reason to use LinkedIn's native app.
- fps 10y ago
  linkedin's IP based tracking includes their website, and doesn't require you to share your location through the browser. They've been doing that for years. If you share a network gateway with someone, LinkedIn will suggest that person as a contact.

HBreakhh 10y ago

I don't expect anything to Facebook when it comes to privacy.

gcb0 10y ago
just because you shrug it off, doesn't mean they are above the law.
braythwayt 10y ago
Well, there are several levels of non-privacy to expect: - Facebook collects data about me - Facebook shares my data with big corporations who want to sell me stuff - Facebook shares my data with my friends - Facebook shares my data with people who aren't my friends For many people, this is a surprising escalation of their expectations. For some, it is outright dangerous.
- m0v_eax 10y ago
  Because people expect services as robust and useful as Facebook to be free? Based on how much time people spend using their service, the user's data is hardly a large price to pay. Have certain types of things you like, profession, education, gender, demographic and expect your profile able to be targeted (anonymously) with advertising. Share something public (including anything above), expect any corporation to be able to see or mine it.
  - Natanael_L 10y ago
    And how do you explain shadow profiles?
  - braythwayt 10y ago
    I think your comment is in line with mine. Many people think they are making a trade-off: The use of the service in exchange for data that corporations can mine. Some even consider this a win-win, as they believe that they will receive advertising for things they may actually want to buy. However, not everybody expects the data to be shared with other users of the service. This is why I suggested that this may be an unexpected escalation of expectations. Facebook is quite transparent about sharing your data with advertisers. It is less transparent about sharing your data with other individuals.

alistairSH 10y ago

I don't understand why people use the Facebook native app at all. Their mobile website works quite well and should avoid many of the issues with the app (location sharing, battery drain, etc).

drcross 10y ago
Facebook recently disabled their messenger platform on the website, when you click the messages tab it brings you directly to the app store to install their app. This means you have to use the App to message people. The app requires such egregious permissions that I absolutely refuse to install it. It's a shame because it worked perfectly in the past.
- wslh 10y ago
  And also Messenger doesn't have end to end encryption, so every message remains in Facebook.
- alistairSH 10y ago
  They must be A/B testing; I can still access messages on the mobile site (Safari on iPhone 5s). And, given privacy issues and anecdotal reports of battery drain, I'll just forgo messages on that platform if they make the mobile site change permanent.
- germanier 10y ago
  You could use messenger.com with a desktop user-agent. That site works fine on a phone screen.
- soylentcola 10y ago
  I agree with your assessment of Messages and I also don't have either the FB or Messages mobile app installed. That said, messages are still working for me in Metal (third party FB app) and in my mobile browser. Even if/when they stop working that way, I figure I'll be able to tick the "desktop mode" box in my mobile browser to set the user agent and get it that way. Barring that I can just check those handful of messages I get via my desktop computer. I guess I just don't depend on FB messaging for anything important so it's less an issue for me. If someone wants to reach me, they can call or text and Hangouts works fine across mobile and desktop on Android, iOS, Windows, OSX, Linux, etc. for group messaging.

thirdsun 10y ago

I really thought this was already a well-established and known fact. I saw friend suggestions quite often after attending events where I ran into very loose acquaintances I never spoke to but share a few friends with. That by itself isn't too surprising, but the fact that this happens after we were geographically close led me to believe that this is common knowledge.

m0v_eax 10y ago

I love it. I've wished this feature implemented for quite some time.

skynetv2 10y ago

i never use facebook on mobile devices, i have a different "supervised" profile on Chrome for facebook use and nothing else. i use it because of how many people are on there, but i wont let them snoop on me

0xmohit 10y ago
Do you need anybody else to snoop upon you if you're using Chrome? Has Google stopped identifying a given Chrome installation using unique IDs?

0xmohit 10y ago

I'm not sure if it is either new or surprising. I did an experiment some 3 years back from within a corporate network -- the difference being that it was done on a desktop, not mobile. The sequence of events was roughly: - Spin off a new VM - Create a brand new email address with fictitious identity - Sign up to Facebook using the newly created fictitious identity Result: The suggested "friends" were folks in that building (who were on the same network). (The experiment was performed to demo how creepy such networks are.)

brett40324 10y ago
Nice:)

pmlnr 10y ago

Or it may result in real-world friendships. Too bad I don't have the Facebook app installed any more.

zeeshanm 10y ago

They also suggest friends based on who has viewed your profile.

jedberg 10y ago

They probably aren't using location but IP block. In fact, I'm almost certain your IP block is used for both suggested friends and your Newsfeed. I used to see my coworkers all the time in my Newsfeed, but now that I don't work there (and therefore we don't share an IP anymore) I suddenly started seeing them a lot less. I go to their page and see they are posting, and after interacting with a few posts they started showing up again, but I have to go to their page and interact every few weeks to get them to keep showing up. Also, whenever I go and visit the old office, if I use Facebook there, all of a sudden I get them all showing up in my Newsfeed again.