[Olaf]

Facebook crosses a line for me, I won't do it. I don't like my cellphone either. I love going places where there isn't cell reception like the place we are buying in Alaska. Also, we are going to Mongolia for the next three years. . . lots of places without cell reception there.

Nice...

[pedalling_faster]

Facebook crosses a line for me, I won't do it. I don't like my cellphone either. I love going places where there isn't cell reception like the place we are buying in Alaska. Also, we are going to Mongolia for the next three years. . . lots of places without cell reception there.

i'm not sure which line you're talking about, but i am finding myself wanting to find a similar but more mature ap.

in one case Facebook deleted a link i put up, to a simple website about a Jewish woman's travel in the MidEast -
http:/www.annainthemideast.com/

in another case, there is a new ap, sort of like "quiz your friends.com", that randomly asks questions like, "is so and so a jerk ?", "should so and so come out of the closet ?". note - these are Facebook generated questions

i found these when i visited a friend's facebook page. i've known her for about 5 years. she's had some REALLY rough times, related to a bad outcome from LASIK eye surgery - including 2 suicide attempts. and she fought her way back.

for someone like that to randomly be subjected to the immature imagination of 20-something Facebook programmers left me with a feeling - this is BEYOND stupid.

still, Facebook shows a market. it's just that their execution is spotty.

what other websites are like Facebook, but with fewer ads, fewer gimmicks, & fewer idiotic programmers ?

there's got to be some. i belong to the Oathkeepers network on Ning, i kind of like that.

http://oathkeepers.com

[dinopello]

Senate trying to influence how Facebook handles user data

Sens. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), Michael F. Bennet (D-Colo.), Al Franken (D-Minn.) and Mark Begich (D-Alaska) sent a letter Tuesday to Facebook, urging the social networking giant to change the way it gives user data to third-party advertisers.

Last week, changes at Facebook made data from its users available to third parties unless a user opted out, the lawmakers said. That means, they said, the default for most users is for private information to be available to advertisers and other third parties.

"Social networking sites are a Wild West of the Internet; users need ability to control private information and fully understand how it's being used," the lawmakers wrote in a news release.

[pablonite]

There are some great peak oil pages on there, and a lot of Transition folks.

No doubt! Is there something wrong with this site though? Does it not cover all of your Peak Oil requirements?

http://www.blacklistednews.com/news-8725-0-7-7--.html

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

The founder was then 19, and he may have been joking. But humour tells you a lot. Some might say that this exchange shows Zuckerberg was not particularly aware of the trust issue in all its depth and complexity.

I question anything that comes out of Harvard or Yale. The story might be true, it might not be. In reality, Facebook looks like a Stasi wet dream. When the Stasi was at its peak in East Germany they lost track of the number of suicides in the country but they went through the roof.

Have you ever visited the cryptome site?

http://cryptome.org/

Here is links to various online spying guides...
http://cryptome.org/isp-spy/online-spying.htm

Sorry, I'm a bit paranoid. The question of trusting this guy or whoever is behind facebook is a no brainer for me. By the way I worked in the back end of a large ISP for about 5 years and in the field for about 10 altogether. It's why I got out, it was easy to see where everything was going.

[Heineken]

PeakOil is my facebook!

[Jotapay]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/g ... hmidt.html

Young will have to change names to escape 'cyber past' warns Google's Eric Schmidt

The private lives of young people are now so well documented on the internet that many will have to change their names on reaching adulthood, Google’s CEO has claimed.

Eric Schmidt suggested that young people should be entitled to change their identity to escape their misspent youth, which is now recorded in excruciating detail on social networking sites such as Facebook.

"I don't believe society understands what happens when everything is available, knowable and recorded by everyone all the time," Mr Schmidt told the Wall Street Journal.

The 55-year-old also predicted that in the future, Google will know so much about its users that the search engine will be able to help them plan their lives.

Using profiles of it customers and tracking their locations through their smart phones, it will be able to provide live updates on their surroundings and inform them of tasks they need to do.

"I actually think most people don't want Google to answer their questions. They want Google to tell them what they should be doing next."

[Sixstrings]

Using profiles of it customers and tracking their locations through their smart phones, it will be able to provide live updates on their surroundings and inform them of tasks they need to do.

"I actually think most people don't want Google to answer their questions. They want Google to tell them what they should be doing next."

I imagine that could be a Netflix kind of thing, Google could get to know you so well that it knows what kind of events you'd be interested in, what restaurants you'd like, etc. This isn't too hard to do, the Netflix algorithms sure do a good job of predicting what someone would like to watch.

If you take a step back though, the relentless march to complete loss of privacy is stunning. In many cases, people actively seek to live a public life -- everybody on Youtube imagines they're a celebrity.

And then there's Foursquare, I have a hard time understanding that. I guess it's sort of neat to look on your phone and see where all your friends and family are at any given time, but on the other hand why would someone want to be trackable like that? If you want to have lunch with someone, just call them for crying out loud, not show up and wait for someone to track you down.

This total loss of privacy is a goldmine to advertisers, of course. Think how much money they can save if they target you with ads for only those products you'd be interested in. One day, when all of us doomers sit down to watch TV Google will play us commercials for #10 cans and bugout bags, whereas someone else would see commercials for Nordstrom's or whatnot.

And if your interests or activities begin to change, Google will know about it and introduce different ads into the mix. Heck, using comparative algorithms like Netflix, Google could even predict what you're likely to do in the future. So that's where it's headed, Google will know your past, present, AND future.

Ad targeting is already here, of course.. as I look to the left of my screen I see two ads for products relating the Gulf oil spill, and one for some kind of newsletter for oil traders. I haven't read this anywhere, but I suspect Google uses IP addresses to target ads. If not, I'm sure they're planning on it.

[Keith_McClary]

Can Facebook make you feel better about yourself?

...
The study of 100 students ranked participants based on levels of narcissism and self-esteem. It revealed that those who ranked high for narcissism almost universally spent more time logging into and updating their Facebook profile.

The study, which defines narcissism as "a pervasive pattern of grandiosity, need for admiration and an exaggerated sense of self-importance," seems common sense enough as Facebook is seemingly the perfect tool for bragging and showing off.

How students deemed to have low self-esteem used Facebook was more surprising.

...

[KevO]

well I never!!
http://youtu.be/Hp8rJVWC2a0

[KevO]

Interview will be on RT in the next 10 minutes.
The link at the OP is the full interview and we are told that so far the leaks released so far are only the tip of a huge iceberg

[FairMaiden]

We had a story here where a college students was ejected from a political party rally bc there was pic on facebook of her w/the opposing policial party leader. She just happened upon the leader in the street and thought it would be cool to photograph herself w/him...even tho she was interested in the party that she was ejected from. Of course, they thought she was a spy...

if rally security are looking that closely at spectators at a rally then what are other security organizations doing? makes you wonder just how far/how much they are tracking and noting...

[Ferretlover]

It's really quite simple: If you go out in public, someone, or something, somewhere is noting your existence & activity.
Live accordingly.

[Dreamtwister]

No way... really?

[evilgenius]

It's not that much different when the ads that appear are related to your search history.

That being said, it doesn't matter if you do or don't have anything you would be embarrassed about or that would down right ruin your life if it got out. If a society does not make certain that it always puts the right people in charge all that the wrong people have to do is retroactively make some part of your life illegal. Winning on the issue of privacy is about battling long before it ever comes down to one individual against a system. We all have to join together. We have to define what the limits are.

[Keith_McClary]

CIA's 'Facebook' Program Dramatically Cut Agency's Costs

[Sixstrings]

Hamburg rejects Facebook facial recognition

The Hamburg data protection authority on Tuesday ruled that Facebook’s facial recognition feature, which attempts to identify people in photos uploaded to the site, violates German privacy laws.

Johannes Caspar, the head of the authority, said Facebook should not be collecting users’ biometric data – such as their face shape and the distance between their eyes – without getting their explicit consent. He has demanded that the social networking site change or disable the feature. All data collected so far should be deleted.

Mr Caspar has given Facebook two weeks to respond. If the company is unable to make changes, Mr Caspar said the Hamburg authority would consider bringing legal action against it. The German courts can impose fines of up to €300,000 ($426,397) for privacy breaches.
The Hamburg ruling could encourage data protection authorities across Europe to act. The Irish, UK and Berlin privacy officials are also looking into Facebook’s facial recognition feature, as is the Article 29 Working Party, a group of officials that advises the EU on privacy policy.

“The problem is not with the facial recognition itself, but the data that is stored in the background to allow the system to recognise a face,” Mr Caspar told the Financial Times. “Facebook needs to design a new kind of system to get consent from people before their data is stored.”
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/14007238-bd29-11e0-9d5d-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1Tx7JKs00

I hadn't even heard of this before. This is creepy.. Facebook is measuring the distance between the eyes of people in your photos.. so they can identify them for data mining..

[Arthur75]

Facebook mindset (and the one of its participants) is truly disgusting, this "social networks" thing is nothing but the usual love of the "petit bourgeois crowd" for the police, private or not.
Same as google fighting the use of pseudonyms on Google+

Plus it is rather obvious that true discussions and exchanges take place on thematic/subject oriented "social networks" such as current forum for instance, and not on facebook ..

[Alan Cain]

It's just sad that a group with almost 3,000 members is filled with such a retarded bunch. It's too bad. Aw well, better chance of me having a spot in an ecovillage while these retards wait for the tooth fairy :D !

Have you not heard of the Oil Fairy? She comes to visit often and is a regular voter - err, supporter - in American politics...

[Alan Cain]

I didn't see a choice saying, "Have you quit facebook as a result of this survey?"

I just did; don't know if it will let me quit (resistance being futile) but I feel, somehow, more private...

[rangerone314]

Maybe I'm being paranoid, but it seems that the social media sites can fulfill two parts of the agenda of intelligence organizations like the CIA:
1) Destabilize countries in hostile or potentially hostile countries, such as Iran or Libya or China (consider the role of social media in the Arab Spring)
2) Acclimate an entire generation of people to the idea of not having privacy... I don't see too much of the OWS generation of young people concerned about lack of privacy, they are all up about "economic justice" or such.

Actually, I probably should have said "funded" instead of "funds", since they are self-perpetuating now.