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I wrote this several years ago - it is still true: https://sheep.horse/2013/10/the_seven_realities_of_social_networking.html https://sheep.horse/2013/10/the_se

I wrote this several years ago - it is still true: https://sheep.horse/2013/10/the_seven_realities_of_social_networking.html https://sheep.horse/2013/10/the_seven_realities_of_social_ne... You do not have a Facebook page. You never did. Facebook has a page on you.

mtgx 9y ago
A dossier, if you will.
- Raphmedia 9y ago
  One could almost call it a book of faces.
dwringer 9y ago
At the time Facebook was created, there was a lot of talk about how private organizations already had such dossiers on the general public. Facebook is more like the "tip of the iceberg". At least it gives users some control over how they are presented (though less and less every day as they filter timelines and use our names to endorse their ads)
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659087 9y ago
> And besides, they take nothing that you don't give them. This isn't true, at all. Facebook collects plenty of data that users and non-users don't directly give them.
- AndrewKemendo 9y ago
  I think it's important to make a couple of distinctions here. 1. Facebook collects on you when you interact with their systems 2. You can purposefully interact with facebook systems by requesting content from a Facebook registered IP (eg, FB.com, whatsapp, IG, Messenger, comment widget etc...) 3. You can passively interact with facebook systems by accessing a website that posts metadata/telemetry to a Facebook registered IP (eg. FB pixel etc...) In either case you are requesting to access or interact with a facebook system, however in the latter you aren't aware of it unless you know to block it specifically. So yes you do directly give it to them, but it's guilt by association. It's also not hidden at all, you can inspect the page and see the requests clearly [1]. I think the major issue is that 99% of people have no clue any of this is happening and just assume that they aren't under the spotlight of facebook because they aren't on facebook.com. However it's not just facebook, it's thousands of internet companies not to mention all of the ISPs and State Actors. So Facebook isn't really the issue, the issue is that people don't know or care about how their data flows around the world. [1]https://imgur.com/a/G8FQz https://imgur.com/a/G8FQz
  - pwinnski 9y ago
    My account is deactivated now, but once upon a time I was an active FB user. I did not tell Facebook my birthday. However, friends who knew me would still post Happy Birthday messages on my birthday, and FB would auto-populate my birthday as a result. So I would go in every year and delete my birthday again. Then they stopped allowing me to clear it out. Since people--without prompting--had wished me a happy birthday, FB was sure it was my birthday, and that was that. I could leave the year blank, but the month and day were literally unmodifiable. That's when I started clearing all the personal data out of FB I could. No likes, no group memberships, nobody allowed to "check me in," and so on. They were collecting data on me I had no provided, against my expressed will.
    - AndrewKemendo 9y ago
      Yea good example of how network effects really work. In this case your network opted in to Facebook and opted your data in - so again "guilty by association."
hnyk 9y ago
Facebook mostly collects data from non-users from the webpages they visit through its embedded 'like' buttons on those sites.
Kiro 9y ago
No-one thinks otherwise.

mtgx 9y ago

A dossier, if you will.

Raphmedia 9y ago
One could almost call it a book of faces.

dwringer 9y ago

At the time Facebook was created, there was a lot of talk about how private organizations already had such dossiers on the general public. Facebook is more like the "tip of the iceberg". At least it gives users some control over how they are presented (though less and less every day as they filter timelines and use our names to endorse their ads)

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659087 9y ago

> And besides, they take nothing that you don't give them. This isn't true, at all. Facebook collects plenty of data that users and non-users don't directly give them.

AndrewKemendo 9y ago
I think it's important to make a couple of distinctions here. 1. Facebook collects on you when you interact with their systems 2. You can purposefully interact with facebook systems by requesting content from a Facebook registered IP (eg, FB.com, whatsapp, IG, Messenger, comment widget etc...) 3. You can passively interact with facebook systems by accessing a website that posts metadata/telemetry to a Facebook registered IP (eg. FB pixel etc...) In either case you are requesting to access or interact with a facebook system, however in the latter you aren't aware of it unless you know to block it specifically. So yes you do directly give it to them, but it's guilt by association. It's also not hidden at all, you can inspect the page and see the requests clearly [1]. I think the major issue is that 99% of people have no clue any of this is happening and just assume that they aren't under the spotlight of facebook because they aren't on facebook.com. However it's not just facebook, it's thousands of internet companies not to mention all of the ISPs and State Actors. So Facebook isn't really the issue, the issue is that people don't know or care about how their data flows around the world. [1]https://imgur.com/a/G8FQz https://imgur.com/a/G8FQz
- pwinnski 9y ago
  My account is deactivated now, but once upon a time I was an active FB user. I did not tell Facebook my birthday. However, friends who knew me would still post Happy Birthday messages on my birthday, and FB would auto-populate my birthday as a result. So I would go in every year and delete my birthday again. Then they stopped allowing me to clear it out. Since people--without prompting--had wished me a happy birthday, FB was sure it was my birthday, and that was that. I could leave the year blank, but the month and day were literally unmodifiable. That's when I started clearing all the personal data out of FB I could. No likes, no group memberships, nobody allowed to "check me in," and so on. They were collecting data on me I had no provided, against my expressed will.
  - AndrewKemendo 9y ago
    Yea good example of how network effects really work. In this case your network opted in to Facebook and opted your data in - so again "guilty by association."

hnyk 9y ago

Facebook mostly collects data from non-users from the webpages they visit through its embedded 'like' buttons on those sites.

Kiro 9y ago

No-one thinks otherwise.