Facebook / Myspace

[frogger]

In order not to hijack another thread going on, let's talk about Facebook & Myspace.

Comments were made about not posting personal information, setting your user settings to private, and not posting anything on the internet that you don't want seen.

How many of you think you are "really" private when social networking and why do you think that?

[tigergem]

Oh of course we're not private. I mean not unless we set up a fortress of proxy servers, and never put any ounce of truth into anything we post.

I took self defense training from a ("former"?) CIA agent who told me that she could get into ANY facebook page, regardless of what the privacy settings were. I have no reason to doubt her.

Not to mention that if you do so much as message somebody not on your friends list, you automatically open your page to viewing by that person, even if you have your privacy setting set to friends only. Privacy is smoke and mirrors and not to be had, and of course, as you know, Facebook is constantly looking for ways to circumvent privacy anyway and make those settings more elusive.

[AngelinaCatHub]

Frogger yes I have addressed this many times. Your anonymity here is only by the fact you give a fictitious name. If I have an IP address and time stamp I could find anyone. I preach this gospel all the time. Particularly to folks with children. My God we have had some terror stories over children. Even suicides. in this tool. It is a wonderful tool but it can be a merciless weapon if allowed.

One good friend of mine I befriended here asked me how I know so much about him. (Let this be a lesson) I am learned in 'skip tracing' and with a location, and a real first name, I could tell you who you are in one hour. There IS NO ANONYMITY ON THE INTERNET, and it IS FOREVER!!! and people cannot forget this.

This Face Book stuff and My Space stuff is a killer. Stay off these toys. They harvest information to sell to others. Tracking cookies are nothing new and then of course we have programs as XP Antivirus 20XX or other names that pop ups tell you that you have a virus. Click on ANYTHING and you have allowed it to download. It is not a virus, it is a program you give permission to load but does contain a virus. A tracking and key logging virus. It is next to impossible to remove. (I just re-image a customers machine).

You have to be RESPONSIBLE in what you say. Mrs. as a Mod (also a computer tech) always warns newbies when they cut too close to the chase will PM them to fix their signature or proper names and information in their text.

OK, I'm off my soapbox at this time. 'Hub

[frogger]

OK, I'm off my soapbox at this time. 'Hub

Don't worry about getting off the soapbox. It seems that so many people just don't get it about social networking sites.

How many of our members are social networking to meet new "friends"?

And just how many of them know who those new "friends" are?

[Mi Bankruptcy]

I have several websites that I use to make money online. When I am bored I will post something like.. according to this article more people are filing bankruptcy or letting their homes go.

I use statcounter.com or googleanalytics to see who views my website after I post a comment with a link on facebook. I can pretty much see who went to my website because I know where they live. I can grab their IP address and do further research if I wanted to. I did this out of curiosity one day when some people were being holier than though about bankruptcy.

[Exployer1234]

The only way to be safe and ensure your information is private is to never use the internet, never buy a house or car, never go to the doctor, and so on.

The scary thing is even with all the "private" settings on these social sites someone who knows what they are doing can still get all your information. I had an employee once who was commiting workman's comp fraud. She was investigated by the WC board for the state and the company. Her pics from these sites were just one thing they used to prove she was commiting fraud. She thought she had everything set private, but when the investigation hit all her friends and myself were required to submit any pictures that appeared on her page. By the time the WC rep spoke with me he had a file that was huge of everything she had done for a 6 week time frame.

So anything that is on the internet is free game.

[tigergem]

Don't worry about getting off the soapbox. It seems that so many people just don't get it about social networking sites.

How many of our members are social networking to meet new "friends"?

And just how many of them know who those new "friends" are?

Ha. Exactly. There are people on Facebook with 5000 "friends". I call them NARFs. Not A Real Friend. They befriend people willy nilly for the purpose of playing games on facebook and that requires them to expose their profile to strangers. I use it mainly to keep in touch with friends and family, because my family is scattered wall to wall across the country.

[jdcat]

Me too. I have family from coast to coast (and in between). I have 39 friends and most of them are people that I talk to in "real life" anyway. Facebook is great for sharing pics of my kids with my family because I'm horrible about printing pics and mailing them. I have a neice who has over 1000 friends and I call her the friend collector.

[tigergem]

Some of mine are NARFs but they are people I am interested in for their artwork or their articles or something of significance to me. I have a separate list that blocks them from seeing my wall, my pictures, my friend's list. Some of them have even complained about that, but whatever. I don't care.

[frogger]

Me too. I have family from coast to coast (and in between). I have 39 friends and most of them are people that I talk to in "real life" anyway.

And these are the only "friends" that should ever be allowed to access your private account.

"Friends" are not always what they appear to be.......

[tigergem]

What I think is really stupid is that people will update their status to read... leaving for work now... or out to doctor appt.... something that lets everybody know NOBODY IS HOME. What better time to break in. I about had a heart attack when my (real) friend posted on her wall when she was leaving for her 3 week vacation and when she would be returning. I know she has people checking the house, because she has pets... but still...

[frogger]

Google the word "facebait" and see if you find anything interesting.

[tigergem]

Google the word "facebait" and see if you find anything interesting.

What? Just a big picture of frogger...hehehe

[AngelinaCat]

Google the word "facebait" and see if you find anything interesting.

That was indeed an interesting exercise. Check it out:

http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=1G1ACEW_ENUS370&=&q=facebait&btnG=Google+Search&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

[tigergem]

Just happened to run across this. In case anybody is interested.

http://facebookprotest.com/

About Facebook Protest

On June 6th we are asking those who disagree with the changes Facebook has made to its “privacy” policies to commit to not logging in or interacting with Facebook in any way. Be sure to log out of Facebook in all of your browsers no later than the evening of June 5th. On the 6th, be sure to not use Facebook connect or click any “Like” buttons: basically refrain from ALL Facebook related activity.

Not sure this is going to get much attention. There was an article in USA Today that said the protesters of the privacy issues aren't half as vocal as the folks who raised a stink about the change to Facebook's layout. That figures, eh? Maybe people think since that protest had no impact, neither will this one. And... well.... they are probably right.