4 ms·

> But a lot of people are being strung along in ways they don't understand This is a pretty big assumption. Care to cite it?

by natrius 16y ago

jrockway 16y ago
Sure. I can visit a webpage to see who on Facebook is having rectal surgery surgery today. But I bet each person that used the words "rectal surgery" in their status update didn't really want me to know that -- Facebook took their private information and made it available to me without their consent. This is mostly embarrassing rather than harmful, but I think you get the idea. (And sure, you can say they consented when they signed up for Facebook and didn't opt out of whatever you're supposed to opt out. Doesn't mean they aren't embarrassed.)
- natrius 16y ago
  I agree that some people don't understand their current privacy settings. I don't know if the number amounts to "a lot". Regardless, I don't think they're being strung along. The privacy transition dialogs back in December were very clear and not misleading at all. Making the changes opt-out isn't necessarily evil, and they were only opt-out for people who hadn't touched those settings in the past. There are 25 hits for rectal surgery since April 27. Most of them are innocuous.
  - jrockway 16y ago
    How often do you have rectal surgery? Yeah. Try searching for "slept with" or something more common.
    - natrius 16y ago
      https://graph.facebook.com/search?q=slept%20with&type=post https://graph.facebook.com/search?q=slept%20with&type=po... No incriminating results I could find. (This search has a much higher turnover, so the results you see will be different from mine.) My point stands: You're making accusations without solid evidence. Neither the "rectal surgery" search nor the "slept with" search prove that "a lot of people are being strung along in ways they don't understand".
      - zach 16y ago
        Er, surely you meant: https://graph.facebook.com/search?q=%22slept%20with%22&type=post https://graph.facebook.com/search?q=%22slept%20with%22&t...
        jrockway 16y ago
        Indeed. This one was pretty good: { "id": "709527250_127568693924655", "from": { "name": "Heather Smith Kiessling", "id": "709527250" }, "message": "never going home to doug he is nothing more than a wife beating raping cheeting asshole who fucked my gay friend in the same bed he slept with me in. plus kept my dildo and wouldnt let me have it hhhhmmm yeah wonder where he sticking that at? sry i ever snuck you in to justin an megs house this last tuseday and fucked you and let you tell me you wanted me to have you baby.", "type": "status", "created_time": "2010-05-16T05:15:18+0000", "updated_time": "2010-05-16T05:15:31+0000" },
        natrius 16y ago
        Most people would consider that oversharing even among friends, so I don't think this is a privacy settings issue. I'm sure there are plenty of blog posts with the same kind of content, and there was never any semblance of privacy there. You can't pick a couple of potentially embarrassing posts and conclude that Facebook has misled a large portion of its userbase. Some people make bad choices.
        jrockway 16y ago
        People will always make bad choices. Good tools help reduce the damage those bad choices cause.
        natrius 16y ago
        I don't know of any similar tool that would prevent this example.
- philwelch 16y ago
  Personally, I really don't care who knows what surgeries I've had, who I'm sleeping with, or how much I enjoyed either experience. It's not so much a matter of my being clueless if you find out about my horrible secrets on Facebook unless I genuinely didn't want you to find out about them. And I'm not the only one who feels this way.

> But a lot of people are being strung along in ways they don't understand This is a pretty big assumption. Care to cite it?

by natrius 16y ago

> But a lot of people are being strung along in ways they don't understand This is a pretty big assumption. Care to cite it?

jrockway 16y ago

Sure. I can visit a webpage to see who on Facebook is having rectal surgery surgery today. But I bet each person that used the words "rectal surgery" in their status update didn't really want me to know that -- Facebook took their private information and made it available to me without their consent. This is mostly embarrassing rather than harmful, but I think you get the idea. (And sure, you can say they consented when they signed up for Facebook and didn't opt out of whatever you're supposed to opt out. Doesn't mean they aren't embarrassed.)

natrius 16y ago
I agree that some people don't understand their current privacy settings. I don't know if the number amounts to "a lot". Regardless, I don't think they're being strung along. The privacy transition dialogs back in December were very clear and not misleading at all. Making the changes opt-out isn't necessarily evil, and they were only opt-out for people who hadn't touched those settings in the past. There are 25 hits for rectal surgery since April 27. Most of them are innocuous.
- jrockway 16y ago
  How often do you have rectal surgery? Yeah. Try searching for "slept with" or something more common.
  - natrius 16y ago
    https://graph.facebook.com/search?q=slept%20with&type=post https://graph.facebook.com/search?q=slept%20with&type=po... No incriminating results I could find. (This search has a much higher turnover, so the results you see will be different from mine.) My point stands: You're making accusations without solid evidence. Neither the "rectal surgery" search nor the "slept with" search prove that "a lot of people are being strung along in ways they don't understand".
    - zach 16y ago
      Er, surely you meant: https://graph.facebook.com/search?q=%22slept%20with%22&type=post https://graph.facebook.com/search?q=%22slept%20with%22&t...
      - jrockway 16y ago
        Indeed. This one was pretty good: { "id": "709527250_127568693924655", "from": { "name": "Heather Smith Kiessling", "id": "709527250" }, "message": "never going home to doug he is nothing more than a wife beating raping cheeting asshole who fucked my gay friend in the same bed he slept with me in. plus kept my dildo and wouldnt let me have it hhhhmmm yeah wonder where he sticking that at? sry i ever snuck you in to justin an megs house this last tuseday and fucked you and let you tell me you wanted me to have you baby.", "type": "status", "created_time": "2010-05-16T05:15:18+0000", "updated_time": "2010-05-16T05:15:31+0000" },
        natrius 16y ago
        Most people would consider that oversharing even among friends, so I don't think this is a privacy settings issue. I'm sure there are plenty of blog posts with the same kind of content, and there was never any semblance of privacy there. You can't pick a couple of potentially embarrassing posts and conclude that Facebook has misled a large portion of its userbase. Some people make bad choices.
        jrockway 16y ago
        People will always make bad choices. Good tools help reduce the damage those bad choices cause.
        natrius 16y ago
        I don't know of any similar tool that would prevent this example.
philwelch 16y ago
Personally, I really don't care who knows what surgeries I've had, who I'm sleeping with, or how much I enjoyed either experience. It's not so much a matter of my being clueless if you find out about my horrible secrets on Facebook unless I genuinely didn't want you to find out about them. And I'm not the only one who feels this way.