What Facebook knows (and sells) about you

One of the reasons I de-facebooked my life, and also attempting to de-google my life.
 
Yeah, I'm getting there too. I'm actually not under contract anymore with Verizon, but I'm grandfathered in under the unlimited data plan, and even though I don't come close to using it now, I don't want to give it up.
 
Wonder if they still sell your data after you killed your account? No new info but the old stuff has much of the same value.
 
Before I killed my account, I sanitized it. I may have left my friends list intact, but I removed every post I ever made, and all information about me.
 
EdFred said:
Before I killed my account, I sanitized it. I may have left my friends list intact, but I removed every post I ever made, and all information about me.
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Right but if they are selling dead accounts they are keeping copies before someone decides to eject.
 
I'm shocked at the number of people who have their birthdays on Facebook. Is it really that important to have your entire universe of friends and quaintences wish you a happy birthday?
 
EdFred said:
Before I killed my account, I sanitized it. I may have left my friends list intact, but I removed every post I ever made, and all information about me.
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http://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia/term/57355/soft-delete

To mark a record in a database for deletion or to temporarily prevent it from being selected. In order to actually delete the record, a "hard" delete or "permanent" delete function must be performed.
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Lots of systems never, ever delete anything, even if you ask. They just hide stuff from you once you command the deletion. Worse, they can even keep a history of edits, even if they only ever show you the latest. Google's stuff is more honest -- they are completely open about the history they keep. Most companies aren't so up front.
 
nddons said:
I'm shocked at the number of people who have their birthdays on Facebook. Is it really that important to have your entire universe of friends and quaintences wish you a happy birthday?
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I'm shocked at the number of people who provide any personal information at all to Facebook.

I once needed to have a Facebook account to do one particular job for one particular client. I opened up the account using a throwaway email address, accessed it through a proxy server, and used a Pinger number for verification. My profile was a complete fiction. Not a single thing about it was true. Mark Twain would have been proud.

As soon as I had no further need of the account, I happily killed it. Even my fictitious alter-ego wasn't comfortable with her information being on Facebook.

-Rich
 
There's a simple maxim that you need to understand.

First: How much do you pay for your Facebook account?

Then, think to yourself: If you're not paying. you're not the customer, you're the product.
 
JeffDG said:
There's a simple maxim that you need to understand.



First: How much do you pay for your Facebook account?



Then, think to yourself: If you're not paying. you're not the customer, you're the product.
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This.

I've found FB to be useful (believe it it not, in the Navy there have actually been times when I have had to rely on FB to communicate with the outside world because ship email was down), but I definitely limit how much I put on there.
 
It's very simple, if you wouldn't be ok with it broadcast to the whole world then don't post it on facebook, internet forums, twitter, or any other media designed to broadcast information to the whole world.

NM facespace though, for a few dollars I can get your name and a city and get pretty much your entire life... everywhere you've lived, phone numbers, employment history, criminal record, DMV info, and on and on and on. Now pre-internet you could get all this stuff too but it was a lot more work and you had to know where to go and how/who to ask not to mention probably travel to various courthouses to get documents which made it not worth it for anything short of an investigation of some sort.

But now it's all in a searchable database nicely correlated and integrated for a low low price. This is the technology we have and it's not going away. I think trying to stop it is a lost cause and instead we ought to be looking to making our society a little more forgiving of a less than perfect past.
 
Why should I care that someone has my birthdate? Seriously, the tin-foil hat is strong in this thread. Do they sell your info? Yes. Does it cause some risk to you? No.

Worst case scenario, you get targeted ads that may actually be useful instead of just boner pills and women. For example, because of Facebook's info selling, I usually see products related to racing and flying.

Oh the humanity!
 
SkyHog said:
Worst case scenario, you get targeted ads that may actually be useful instead of just boner pills and women.
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I think you are completely wrong. Those ads are useful to me! :redface:
 
SkyHog said:
Why should I care that someone has my birthdate? Seriously, the tin-foil hat is strong in this thread. Do they sell your info? Yes. Does it cause some risk to you? No.



Worst case scenario, you get targeted ads that may actually be useful instead of just boner pills and women. For example, because of Facebook's info selling, I usually see products related to racing and flying.



Oh the humanity!
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The tin-foil contingent runs fairly strong at POA in general.

I don't trust FB any more than most large organizations, but like others have pointed out, much of the same info that people are afraid of FB selling is already available through other means yo those who (like FB customers) want to pay for it.
 
All your personal information is already out there in hundreds of places, there is no such thing as 'privacy', especially not since the Internet age, but even before that. If you are truly worried about things, it's best to have a back up set of unused paperwork, birth certificate, Passport, SSN, and DL stowed away attached to one Cayman bank account with your 'get out of dodge and start over' funds in it.
 
nddons said:
I'm shocked at the number of people who have their birthdays on Facebook. Is it really that important to have your entire universe of friends and quaintences wish you a happy birthday?
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IIRC, FB requires that info to get an account.

That said, I put very, very little information on FB. Despite the constant nagging, I've refused it's demand for my phone number, schools I went to, graduation dates, things I like, etc.

Google has managed to assimilate my phone number and a bit of other info.

That said, I have no illusion about privacy. FAA & FCC records are public (which is why I get ham radio ads on FB, even though I haven't been active in years), phone books and home ownership (and prop. tax) records are public, and pretty much anything that's on professional profiles at LinkedIn are public. I still limit what I put on FB & other sites as there's no point in confirming (or denying) any info they have.
 
EdFred said:
Yeah, I'm getting there too. I'm actually not under contract anymore with Verizon, but I'm grandfathered in under the unlimited data plan, and even though I don't come close to using it now, I don't want to give it up.
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+1... :D
 
Read an article on SciAm or Atlantic recently where some futurist dude proposed a structure to allow you to be paid for access to your data. Totally unmanageable, but an interesting thought experiment...
 
Strong to Very Strong on the Tinfoil Hats in this thread.

There is a big book that gets published every year with my Phone Number and my Address in it. And, most of my neighbors. Also has a bunch of Yellow Pages in the back that has similar information on local businesses.

If bored, you can go to the local library and pull up old copies of the local newspaper, and it will have my name and Date of Birth in it.

And, for a few pennies, somehow you can get a list of the vehicles I own from the State DMV.


The fact that Facebook knows I like the band Reckless Kelly is likely not a great security risk to me.

I got 99 problems, this ain't one of them.
 
The difference is that you don't use your white pages for social networking, so the amount of information in it about you is pretty bare-bones. People use FB to share fairly intimate details of their lives. If by mistake they leave that info in the wrong place in their account, it can wind up literally anywhere.

And the White Pages do not actively entice others to check out your information. Though I can't prove it, I very strongly suspect that FB sends out robo-invitations to friend you to people who are friends of your friends, and friends of their friends. (This because I used to get friend invitations from people who I had never heard of, but whose friends included people I had at least a passing acquaintance with.)

As someone wrote above: if you aren't paying for the ads, you aren't the customer, you're the product. Wiser words never spoken.
 
cowman said:
NM facespace though, for a few dollars I can get your name and a city and get pretty much your entire life... everywhere you've lived, phone numbers, employment history, criminal record, DMV info, and on and on and on.
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There are companies which use this info too. I have encountered it when trying to sign up online for financial or medical sites. They ask questions which I know I have not chosen voluntarily as "privacy questions". "Which street name is associated with you?" A, B, or C? It was someplace I lived in the 1980s. "Who did you purchase X residence from?" A, B or C? I didn't remember this one so I had to start over.
 
SkyHog said:
Why should I care that someone has my birthdate?
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Because it is one bit of info that can be used to validate your identity, including getting a credit report (which has a whole lot more).

On its own, it's benign. But it's never on its own.
 
Everskyward said:
There are companies which use this info too. I have encountered it when trying to sign up online for financial or medical sites. They ask questions which I know I have not chosen voluntarily as "privacy questions". "Which street name is associated with you?" A, B, or C? It was someplace I lived in the 1980s. "Who did you purchase X residence from?" A, B or C? I didn't remember this one so I had to start over.
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Heck, even the TSA does that if you show up to board a commercial flight without an ID. They did get in trouble in the early days when one of the questions was "what political party are you registered with".
 
Everskyward said:
There are companies which use this info too. I have encountered it when trying to sign up online for financial or medical sites. They ask questions which I know I have not chosen voluntarily as "privacy questions". "Which street name is associated with you?" A, B, or C? It was someplace I lived in the 1980s. "Who did you purchase X residence from?" A, B or C? I didn't remember this one so I had to start over.
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That stuff all comes off your credit report.
 
If you make an insurance claim for personal injury, your Facebook page is the first thing the insurance company looks at. Insurance company lawyers sometimes seek court orders requiring claimants to "friend" the insurance company to open up their FB account, and/or disclose their user name and password on every message board they've ever used.
 
Facebook was designed for 14 year old girls and gay male flight attendants. Newsflash - other than you mother nobody really gives a sh*t about where you are and what you just did ! If you want to find an old long lost friend use Lexus Nexus and be done with it.
 
Pilawt said:
If you make an insurance claim for personal injury, your Facebook page is the first thing the insurance company looks at. Insurance company lawyers sometimes seek court orders requiring claimants to "friend" the insurance company to open up their FB account, and/or disclose their user name and password on every message board they've ever used.
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Do you have a link or anything that would confirm your claim?

I can't imagine the first thing an insurance company looks at is Facebook. What a complete waste of time and resources if there is no hint of fraud. I would think the first thing they would look at would be the actual claim paperwork.
 
Art VanDelay said:
Facebook was designed for 14 year old girls and gay male flight attendants. Newsflash - other than you mother nobody really gives a sh*t about where you are and what you just did ! If you want to find an old long lost friend use Lexus Nexus and be done with it.
Click to expand...

Actually it was designed by heterosexual male college students to be able to figure out what female college co-eds were single and available. About as completely opposite as your claim can be.
 
MAKG1 said:
Because it is one bit of info that can be used to validate your identity, including getting a credit report (which has a whole lot more).

On its own, it's benign. But it's never on its own.
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Soooooooooooooooooooo true.....:mad:
 
facebook is free because YOU are the product they are selling
 
Datadriver said:
facebook is free because YOU are the product they are selling
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Just like Google, And a bazillion other websites.

Just like ABC, NBC, and CBS.

They ain't actually selling you, or your data. They are selling the opportunity to pitch a commercial in front of someone that has a demographic feature that makes you valuable to an advertiser.

Nothing sinister.
 
JoseCuervo said:
Actually it was designed by heterosexual male college students to be able to figure out what female college co-eds were single and available. About as completely opposite as your claim can be.
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You're both wrong. It was designed to make money, and is run by a scumbag who doesn't care how he goes about doing that, even if it means partnering with the Russian Mob.

People find all sorts of ways to justify their addictions.

-Rich
 
JoseCuervo said:
Do you have a link or anything that would confirm your claim?
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Yes. http://www.theemployerhandbook.com/Largent.pdf

Here's a cut-and-paste from a set of Requests for Production we received last month from a big-name insurance defense firm on one of our personal injury cases ...

1. Please produce ********’s electronic devices, including, but not limited to, cell phone(s), computer(s), cameras, iPod(s) and/or iPad(s) to forensic expert [name, address redacted] for evaluation, identification, examination, collection and preservation of all digital evidence contained on ********’s cell phone(s), computer(s), iPad(s) and/or iPod(s).

2. Please produce a copy of ********'s electronic device records, including but not limited to, cell phone records for any and all cell phones identified in response to Interrogatory Nos. 3, 4 and 7 including, but not limited to, any and all text messages received or sent by ******** on any phone from the date of the accident to the present date.

3. Please produce ********’s electronic devices, including, but not limited to, cell phone(s), camera, iPods, iPad(s) and/or computers he used from the date of the accident to the current date.

4. Please produce an electronic copy/.PST file of ********’s personal and/or work Outlook files/folders, including, but not limited to, calendars and emails (inbox, sent, deleted and/or archived).

5. If you have a Facebook account, please provide a complete zip file of your Facebook information. This can be accomplished on the Facebook website by going to Account, selecting Account Settings, and then clicking the "learn more" link on the line that states "Download Your Information." Follow the directions contained on that page and provide the resulting zip file via e-mail, CD/DVD, or thumb drive, as you prefer. If you choose one of the latter options for production and would like a CD/DVD or thumb drive provided to you, please advise and one will be provided by the undersigned.​

I can't imagine the first thing an insurance company looks at is Facebook. What a complete waste of time and resources if there is no hint of fraud. I would think the first thing they would look at would be the actual claim paperwork.
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One of the partners in our law firm was formerly an insurance defense attorney. Going to the claimants' FB page first thing was S.O.P. in his former practice, and for the insurance companies he worked for. They want to harvest whatever they can online as soon as possible, in case the claimant later starts deleting things.
 
Pilawt said:
Yes. http://www.theemployerhandbook.com/Largent.pdf

Here's a cut-and-paste from a set of Requests for Production we received last month from a big-name insurance defense firm on one of our personal injury cases ...

1. Please produce ********’s electronic devices, including, but not limited to, cell phone(s), computer(s), cameras, iPod(s) and/or iPad(s) to forensic expert [name, address redacted] for evaluation, identification, examination, collection and preservation of all digital evidence contained on ********’s cell phone(s), computer(s), iPad(s) and/or iPod(s).

2. Please produce a copy of ********'s electronic device records, including but not limited to, cell phone records for any and all cell phones identified in response to Interrogatory Nos. 3, 4 and 7 including, but not limited to, any and all text messages received or sent by ******** on any phone from the date of the accident to the present date.

3. Please produce ********’s electronic devices, including, but not limited to, cell phone(s), camera, iPods, iPad(s) and/or computers he used from the date of the accident to the current date.

4. Please produce an electronic copy/.PST file of ********’s personal and/or work Outlook files/folders, including, but not limited to, calendars and emails (inbox, sent, deleted and/or archived).

5. If you have a Facebook account, please provide a complete zip file of your Facebook information. This can be accomplished on the Facebook website by going to Account, selecting Account Settings, and then clicking the "learn more" link on the line that states "Download Your Information." Follow the directions contained on that page and provide the resulting zip file via e-mail, CD/DVD, or thumb drive, as you prefer. If you choose one of the latter options for production and would like a CD/DVD or thumb drive provided to you, please advise and one will be provided by the undersigned.​

One of the partners in our law firm was formerly an insurance defense attorney. Going to the claimants' FB page first thing was S.O.P. in his former practice, and for the insurance companies he worked for. They want to harvest whatever they can online as soon as possible, in case the claimant later starts deleting things.
Click to expand...

Certainly doesn't look like the first thing that got done was going to Facebook. Looks like that was quite some period of time after the claim.
 
Pilawt said:
Yes. http://www.theemployerhandbook.com/Largent.pdf

Here's a cut-and-paste from a set of Requests for Production we received last month from a big-name insurance defense firm on one of our personal injury cases ...

1. Please produce ********’s electronic devices, including, but not limited to, cell phone(s), computer(s), cameras, iPod(s) and/or iPad(s) to forensic expert [name, address redacted] for evaluation, identification, examination, collection and preservation of all digital evidence contained on ********’s cell phone(s), computer(s), iPad(s) and/or iPod(s).

2. Please produce a copy of ********'s electronic device records, including but not limited to, cell phone records for any and all cell phones identified in response to Interrogatory Nos. 3, 4 and 7 including, but not limited to, any and all text messages received or sent by ******** on any phone from the date of the accident to the present date.

3. Please produce ********’s electronic devices, including, but not limited to, cell phone(s), camera, iPods, iPad(s) and/or computers he used from the date of the accident to the current date.

4. Please produce an electronic copy/.PST file of ********’s personal and/or work Outlook files/folders, including, but not limited to, calendars and emails (inbox, sent, deleted and/or archived).

5. If you have a Facebook account, please provide a complete zip file of your Facebook information. This can be accomplished on the Facebook website by going to Account, selecting Account Settings, and then clicking the "learn more" link on the line that states "Download Your Information." Follow the directions contained on that page and provide the resulting zip file via e-mail, CD/DVD, or thumb drive, as you prefer. If you choose one of the latter options for production and would like a CD/DVD or thumb drive provided to you, please advise and one will be provided by the undersigned.​

One of the partners in our law firm was formerly an insurance defense attorney. Going to the claimants' FB page first thing was S.O.P. in his former practice, and for the insurance companies he worked for. They want to harvest whatever they can online as soon as possible, in case the claimant later starts deleting things.
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They do indeed do those things. I got a similar request some time ago from lawyers representing Kazaa. They were threatening me with a lawsuit for defamation for some things I'd written about the company and it's software.

My response consisted of a three-word, anatomically impossible suggestion, duly sent to the law firm by certified mail. They never got back in touch with me; and as Kazaa is now out of business, I doubt that they will.

-Rich
 
RJM62 said:
You're both wrong. It was designed to make money, and is run by a scumbag who doesn't care how he goes about doing that, even if it means partnering with the Russian Mob.

People find all sorts of ways to justify their addictions.

-Rich
Click to expand...


Russian mob?

Tin Foil strong. It is also partnered with Jewish bankers on Wall Street..... And Baptists in Alabama, Methodists in Texas, Mormons in Utah, and Atheists in California.

Oh, my.
 
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