Sharing is the new privacy
Posted by Mitch on 26th September 2011
Yep, that’s the next new thing the giant communications/social media corporations are selling.
Today I did something I’ve been meaning to do for ages. I removed myself from Facebook.
The last straw was their new Open Graph Technology which allows them to track your browsing history from 3rd party websites – whether you like it or not.
They euphemistically call it “frictionless sharing” but what it is really is total surveillance.
So, despite no longer being open to alerts to someone’s new dietary habits or funny pictures of cats that look like Hitler, I decided to become part of the solution instead of the problem.
It wasn’t easy.
First it took me a while to even find the ‘deactivate account’ link. When I did find it I had to overcome a series of challenges and obstacles to get out – a bit like a video game but without the interesting graphics. I had to tell them why I was leaving then ignore the message informing me that they “respect my privacy, no honest!” I may have added those last two words.
I also had to ignore pictures of some of my friends at the top of the page, each one telling me that they’ll “miss me”. I nearly crumbled, but I soldiered on.
Next came the re-entering of my password closely followed by the security Captcha thing.
Finally I got back to the Facebook homepage with my username and password auto-completed. The long goodbye was rounded-off by an email from them excitedly telling me that I could re-activate my account anytime I wanted by clicking on any of the three links they kindly included in the email.
I’ve learned to despise Facebook, not just because of its pitiless disregard for individual privacy, but also because it’s in the business of making obscene amounts of money out of people’s narcissism and voyeurism. And we know from those past giants of the media industry; television and print, how easily and quickly that turns ugly.
The only potential good news on the horizon is that young people are leaving Facebook in droves. Long may that continue.
Comments
By Phil O'Grady on Monday, 26 September 2011I had a conversation at the weekend with my Mum and Dad about Facebook.
I was talking about Facebook and how I was going to delete my profile. They love the thing though. When asked why, they explained it was the only way they could find out what was going on.
Just then my little (26 and still living at home) sister walked in from a night out staying at her friends house.
Q (from dad). Did you have a nice time?
A (Sister). Yes, only a quiet one
Q (Dad) Really, I thought your were still up at 4.30am sending messages on facebook….?
It still has its uses, just for the mid 50-s- 60’s
By Darren Ledger on Monday, 26 September 2011
Congratulations on biting the bullet and becoming one of the few who are wising up to what facebook is really all about.
I canned facebook about 8 weeks ago, following a number of incidents where my account got hacked by a phishing scam, facebook kindly sent me an email apologising for lapses in their security and could I please send them a colour, digital image of my passport to verify the account was mine? Odd really when you consider that I could have just told them who all the 115 friends were (unlike most people I actually knew personally all my friends)! Suffice to say I declined their kind offer, if random people in Indonesia can hack into my account how on earth can I be sure those same people can’t rip my passport details off of facebooks own server!
By Aboodi Shabi on Monday, 26 September 2011
Great post.
I’m still very ambivalent about FB, but the idea of leaving is very tempting for all kinds or reasons, not just the ones you mention.
The new Timeline will encourage millions of people to put their entire lives online which is very disturbing.
Maybe we can never really have true privacy any more, but we can look at harm reduction by leaving FB, etc.
By Mitch on Monday, 21 May 2012
The Facebook machine marches on:
http://www.kernelmag.com/yiannopoulos/2270/do-not-like-do-not-collect-100-billon-dollars/
By TONY GILES on Monday, 05 August 2013
FB and other communication channels are new options for candidates to apply for jobs. However, I still believe that candidates still should look into job boards where they can find hundreds of jobs. I am currently using http://www.strike-jobs.co.uk/ and it’s straightforward and easy to use. website currently offering 14.000+ jobs
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