Facebook Sucks

[ClimbingPanther]

online nutworking

[prole]

the problem with banking on facebook is that it became so popular in large part due to its lack of commercialization, relative to myspace. attempts to push advertising too hard have led to backlashes from facebook users in the past, and will no doubt be met with resistance in the future. just because people are investing in it doesn't make it worth what they're paying. maybe you're right, but I'm not convinced just yet.

 

Perhaps, and I may be wrong here, if facebook is just a giant data compiler, the information it sells to its corporate clients could be used to peddle junk through their other marketing outlets. In this case, facebook's relative lack of overt marketing would work in its favor. Companies aren't paying to have their ads plastered all over the place, they're paying for access to personal info (and probably online conversations between users as well).

[Crux]

Hillary will fix that.

 

What does Hilary have to do with facebook? If any politian is in favor of us putting personal information online, it's one who supports wire tapping and tracking down "terrorists".

According to the article posted by Prole: One of the three board members of Facebook, a neoconservative "futurist" named Peter Thiel, considers Hillary to be one of three arch enemies of the free world. (The other two being MoveOn.org and the left-wing media.) Says Thiel, "We'll teach MoveOn, Hillary, and the leftwing media some lessons they never imagined."

 

So the comment by KK is entirely understandable...in response to the love corporately distributed by Big Brother Facebook, Hillary is bound to deliver a retaliatory fix, provided she gets the chance. Surely you can see that the Democratic party is not a loosely organized coalition of opposition to conservative Republican rule, but a true political party of the worst sort -- tightly organized and forever scheming ways to place government at the service of people, rather than seeing people placed firstmost at the service of corporations. For this reason, Big Brother Facebook needs you! Now more than ever, now that the great and powerful HILLARY is awakening and threatens to destroy the one true hope for humanity!

 

SO JOIN US!! TOGETHER, WE WILL TEACH HILLARY AND THE LIBERAL MEDIA A LESSON THEY WILL NEVER FORGET!!!!

 

(And please submit your personal identification, consumer preferences, and the names of your friends for our permanent records. Thank you, and thank rainbows and bunnies and Coca Cola too.)

 

 

[archenemy]

I have only read the first couple posts of this thread. But I have to comment on the part about your fear of having your info online.

 

There is no reason to worry.

 

It has already happened. I assure you that everything "private" about you is already online. Why people still even talk like it isn't is a mystery to me.

[KaskadskyjKozak]

 

Black Helicopters

 

[olyclimber]

it is true...there are databases out there that have more info about you could believe, and they are unregulated (unlike the healthcare industry for ex. )

[G-spotter]

That's why when i registered on Fakesbook I used the name 'Porter'.

[gertlush]

I think maybe the reason they are trying to sell your personal data is they've invested a shit load of cash in this company and need to make some return on their investment.

[olyclimber]

funny, i used the name drew! lets see who has more friendz...it is the true measure of a man after all.

[prole]

 

Apparently, this is a pretty hot issue in surveillance-saturated and privacy-sensitive Britain. In case you needed any more reasons:

 

On Facebook, leaving is hard to do

By Maria Aspan

Monday, February 11, 2008

 

Are you a member of Facebook.com? You may have a lifetime contract.

 

Some users have discovered that it is nearly impossible to remove themselves entirely from Facebook, setting off another round of concern over the popular social network's use of personal data.

 

While the Web site offers users the option to deactivate their accounts, Facebook servers keep copies of the information in those accounts indefinitely. Indeed, many users who have contacted Facebook to request that their accounts be deleted have not succeeded in erasing their records from the network.

 

"It's like the 'Hotel California,' " said Nipon Das, 34, a director at a biotechnology consulting firm in New York who tried, unsuccessfully, to delete his account this fall. "You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave."...

 

...The stakes remain balanced between profit and alienating users for Facebook, which claims about 64 million users worldwide (MySpace has an estimated 110 million monthly active users). The network is still trying to find a way to monetize its popularity, mostly by allowing marketers access to its wealth of demographic and behavioral information. The retention of deactivated accounts on Facebook's servers seems like another attempt to hold on to as much demographic information as possible. ---from International Herald Tribune 2/11/08

 

Furthermore,

 

An American insurance company, in defending its refusal to pay out a claim, is seeking to call in evidence personal online postings, including the contents of any MySpace or Facebook pages the litigants may have, to see if their eating disorders might have "emotional causes". And the case is far from a lone one. Suddenly, those saucy pictures and intimate confessions on social networking sites can be taken down and used in evidence against you in ways never dreamed of.

 

In the US, a sex assault victim seeking compensation faces the prospect of her MySpace and Facebook pages being produced in court. In Texas, a driver whose car was involved in a fatal accident found his MySpace postings ("I'm not an alcoholic, I'm a drunkaholic") part of the prosecution's case. From Los Angeles to Lowestoft, thousands of social network site users have lost their jobs – or failed to clinch new ones – because of their pages' contents. Police, colleges and schools are monitoring MySpace and Facebook pages for what they deem to be "inappropriate" content. Online security holes and users' naivety are combining to cause privacy breaches and identity thefts...

 

...Just ask the 27 workers at the Automobile Club of Southern California fired for messages about colleagues on their MySpace sites; the Florida sheriff's deputy whose MySpace page revealed his heavy drinking and fascination with female breasts – and swiftly found himself handing in his badge; the Argos worker in Wokingham fired for saying on Facebook that working at the firm was "shit"; the Las Vegas teacher at a Catholic school fired after he declared himself gay on his MySpace page; the staff of an Ottawa grocery chain fired for their "negative comments" on Facebook; the 19 Northampton police officers investigated for Facebook comments; and Kevin Colvin, an intern at Anglo Irish Bank, who told his employers he had a family emergency, but whose Facebook page revealed he had, in reality, been cavorting in drag at a Hallowe'en party.

 

What these and other cases show is that employers and authorities are now monitoring what people imagined were private websites – and using the contents against them. Last September, David Rice, Britain's second-ranked tennis junior, and Naomi Brady, national U-18 champion, had their funding pulled and coaching suspended after the Lawn Tennis Association found pictures of them drinking beer, partying and, in Ms Brady's case, posing at a nightclub with her legs wrapped around a vending machine. And last summer, Oxford University proctors disciplined students after pictures of them dousing each other in shaving foam, flour and silly string in post-exam revelry were found on their Facebook pages.

 

At Cambridge, at least one don has admitted "discreetly" scanning applicants' pages – a practice now widespread in job recruitment. A survey released by Viadeo said that 62 per cent of British employers now check the Facebook, MySpace or Bebo pages of some applicants, and that a quarter had rejected candidates as a result. Reasons given by employers included concerns about "excess alcohol abuse", ethics and job "disrespect".

 

Viadeo's UK country manager, Peter Cunningham, said the results should act as a wake-up call to anyone who has ever posted personal information online. "Millions of people are leaving personal information online, much of which is cached and remains available via search engines even after the author has removed the web page," he said. "When people who are not the original intended audience – such as potential employers – find this information, it can have a major impact on their decision making process."

 

In America, the monitoring of social networking sites for content that may interest employers and officialdom is now so routine that software is being put on the market that will automate the process. Sure enough, software to try to defeat the snoops is also emerging – offering the prospect of a privacy "arms race" in the years ahead. ReputationDefender, for instance, offers the embarrassing personal information equivalent of credit reports, claiming it can help expunge from the online record material you regret revealing. Michael Fertik, the firm's CEO, said demand for their service is now "ridiculous", with hundreds of UK clients already.---from The Independent 2/10/08

 

[Off_White]

What these and other cases show is that employers and authorities are now monitoring what people imagined were private websites – and using the contents against them.

 

It's happened here too, and on other climbing websites as well.

[archenemy]

Who on earth still thinks that the "World Wide" in World Wide Web is "private"?

They should be fired for being stupid.

[prole]

What these and other cases show is that employers and authorities are now monitoring what people imagined were private websites – and using the contents against them.

 

It's happened here too, and on other climbing websites as well.

 

Thanks OW. I'm sure I'm not the only one around here that would appreciate any details or further information that you could provide...