FB Friend Suggestion: Privacy Violation or Digital Age Necessity?

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harborsparrow said:
Facebook is reported to be on the verge of getting a penalty from the FTC (Fed. Trade Commission) over privacy violations: https://www.cnet.com/news/facebook-ftc-reportedly-negotiating-massive-fine-to-settle-privacy-issues/
Yesterday, Berkely ICSI faculty member Serge Egelman posted another of his writings, this one about Android apps that, along with storing your current non-persistent (changeable in regular settings) "ad ID", also store persistent identifiers such as "IMEI, WiFi MAC address, SIM card serial number, etc." and the "Android ID", for purposes of selling the identifying information (mainly to advertisers).

Following the link at the bottom of that page leads to this:
https://blog.appcensus.mobi/2018/09/10/tiny-lab-responds/
and from there, the bottom link leads to this:
https://blog.appcensus.mobi/2018/05/14/apps-sending-location-secretly/

The MFs are not only collecting kids' personal data, they're following kids around with GPS and trying (ineptly) to be surreptitious about it -- that is truly beyond creepolian.
 
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EngWiPy said:
These companies are manipulative. You cannot possibly expect users to read pages and pages in Terms and Conditions in vague terms before you register. It's ridiculous.
Keep in mind that services such as Facebook are free, and no one is putting a gun to anyone's head.

Though you may not want to admit it, you are making a decision about the benefits of Facebook versus the cost to your privacy. You have implicitly decided that the benefit is worth the cost.
 
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DaveC426913 said:
Keep in mind that services such as Facebook are free, and no one is putting a gun to anyone's head.

Though you may not want to admit it, you are making a decision about the benefits of Facebook versus the cost to your privacy. You have implicitly decided that the benefit is worth the cost.

The problem with this reasoning is that the user doesn't have a choice. He/she either fully gives up their privacy, or don't use the application, and make yourself isolated. Twitter is a free application, too, but Facebook is very aggressive in what and how they do business. They are under investigation and a potential fine for a reason.
 
EngWiPy said:
The problem with this reasoning is that the user doesn't have a choice.
Of course they do.

What they can't do is have their cake and eat it too. TANSTAAFL.

EngWiPy said:
He/she either fully gives up their privacy, or don't use the application, and make yourself isolated.
No. Just what fraction of people do you think are not on Facebook at all?
Just in my circle of friends - and Iive in a major megatropolis - it's about 50%.
EngWiPy said:
Twitter is a free application, too, but Facebook is very aggressive in what and how they do business.
They can't do any business with people who don't agree to have business be done with them by signing up. In fact, you have to actively go and find them to sign up. Again, no gun to your head.

Don't get me wrong - I sympathize with you. I'd like to see their privacy incursions curtailed too. But let's not pretend we don;t go into it willingly and with our eyes wide open.
 
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DaveC426913 said:
...no gun to your head.

...

That's correct. That's why I am off Facebook. I can live without it. But the point I was trying to make from this whole thread is that we need political decisions to contain these giants on how they use users' data. Their terms and conditions should be aligned with a well-defined privacy conditions. They shouldn't be allowed to define what digital privacy is. I think the free stuff has some negative impact. It's allowed an intrusive business model. I don't know if we can change that, though.
 
EngWiPy said:
That's correct. That's why I am off Facebook. I can live without it. But the point I was trying to make from this whole thread is that we need political decisions to contain these giants on how they use users' data. Their terms and conditions should be aligned with a well-defined privacy conditions. They shouldn't be allowed to define what digital privacy is. I think the free stuff has some negative impact. It's allowed an intrusive business model. I don't know if we can change that, though.
It's changing. I think there's been an argument afoot that Facebook is beginning to serve as a primary news source for a significant fraction of the population.
That allows regulators to get a foot in the door. They are already leaning on Facebook about its manipulation of political news items.