I’m baffled.  Okay, this is mostly about FB, where people keep posting privacy issues, how to stop people from gathering information about you, warnings that stuff you ‘hid’ before can now be gleaned by third parties, what you need to do to block stuff, hide stuff…..................in the end, how to barricade and arm yourself from intrusion.

Here’s the thing:  unless you’ve written about your intent to murder, rape, pillage, run a government coup, invade another country, pose nude, slaughter, harm and maime, cheat on your spouse, there are few people interested in what you post except very close friends and family and if it’s really inflammatory, don’t post it at all.  Better yet, just don’t open a FB account in the first place.  I sort of feel like some of these folks are the same ones that walk about with guns holstered to their hips and an AK strapped to their back because at any moment the government is coming to get them, specifically targeting them.

I class myself as a “resentful user of FB”. I’d prefer not to use FB but nearly everybody else is using it. So I’d be missing out on too much if I didn’t use FB.

I do think the real issue is that the users of FB are the real commodity being sold, i.e. to advertisers.

As it happens in one of my classes at university it was mentioned that FB is taking over from email. Apparently a lot of the younger people are preferring FB (and other such sites) compared to email when it comes to keeping in touch with people. I can understand this happening but with the privacy issues I find this to be a concern. I for one would not want to see email disappear especially if the only alternative is to use FB.

Peter - 29 January 2013 08:48 AM

I class myself as a “resentful user of FB”. I’d prefer not to use FB but nearly everybody else is using it. So I’d be missing out on too much if I didn’t use FB.

I do think the real issue is that the users of FB are the real commodity being sold, i.e. to advertisers.

As it happens in one of my classes at university it was mentioned that FB is taking over from email. Apparently a lot of the younger people are preferring FB (and other such sites) compared to email when it comes to keeping in touch with people. I can understand this happening but with the privacy issues I find this to be a concern. I for one would not want to see email disappear especially if the only alternative is to use FB.

Peter let’s look at all of this closer though:

1.  Did you know that remarks/posts made here on the Hoax Forum get way more exposure than the same ones you may make on FB?  If you do a Google search for yourself you will discover all the past posts you’ve made here and also responses.  It’s actually quite amazing especially since we are not only more open to discussion here, but also remain on a topic often for quite a while and then return to it.

2.  E-mail took over for other long-standard types of communication such as written letters, telegrams, telephone and those phones that had message machines attached.  Some telephone services were party-line connections for a goodly number of people could listen in and take notes without the knowledge of the caller and receiver too. 

3.  No matter where you are, whether here on the internet or even in a store, club or street, conversations can be monitored and recorded right along with your moving image….it’s called video cameras.

Most of what is ‘sold’ to others via FB are merchants that watch for the kinds of things you appear to be interested in purchasing, and groups getting an idea of general social behaviors that are used in research both politically and in scientific research.  Videos we put onto YouTube for example are giving us all a better understanding of social behaviors both good and bad and helping us to understand the health of the global community. 

Everything we say and do gives a more complete picture of where we are going and where we want to go and where we SHOULD go.  It’s like nature, neither good nor bad but a very good and interesting thermostat.

NOTE:  I also don’t like phones so I just don’t use them unless I have to.

hulitoons - 29 January 2013 10:20 AM

Peter let’s look at all of this closer though:

1.  Did you know that remarks/posts made here on the Hoax Forum get way more exposure than the same ones you may make on FB?  If you do a Google search for yourself you will discover all the past posts you’ve made here and also responses.  It’s actually quite amazing especially since we are not only more open to discussion here, but also remain on a topic often for quite a while and then return to it.

But FB seems to cater to advertisers to a much bigger degree than other sites. Plus there are the ever changing privacy settings.

hulitoons - 29 January 2013 10:20 AM

2.  E-mail took over for other long-standard types of communication such as written letters, telegrams, telephone and those phones that had message machines attached.  Some telephone services were party-line connections for a goodly number of people could listen in and take notes without the knowledge of the caller and receiver too. 

But I heard that FB and other social media is largely taking over from email for the younger generation.

hulitoons - 29 January 2013 10:20 AM

3.  No matter where you are, whether here on the internet or even in a store, club or street, conversations can be monitored and recorded right along with your moving image….it’s called video cameras.

 

I wasn’t aware my conversations on the street in downtown Melbourne here in Australia were being recorded. That’s news to me and I’m sure it would be news to a lot of people where I live.

hulitoons - 29 January 2013 10:20 AM

Most of what is ‘sold’ to others via FB are merchants that watch for the kinds of things you appear to be interested in purchasing, and groups getting an idea of general social behaviors that are used in research both politically and in scientific research.  Videos we put onto YouTube for example are giving us all a better understanding of social behaviors both good and bad and helping us to understand the health of the global community. 

Everything we say and do gives a more complete picture of where we are going and where we want to go and where we SHOULD go.  It’s like nature, neither good nor bad but a very good and interesting thermostat.

NOTE:  I also don’t like phones so I just don’t use them unless I have to.

That gets back to the issue of privacy on FB (and why I don’t like being “forced” to use FB). I don’t mind the minimalist advertising on the MOH Forums. The advertising on FB seems more pervasive and this is against the backdrop of the ever changing privacy settings on FB. A democracy needs a certain respect for privacy for it to function.

I do agree with you on these counts Peter.  And I know random video cameras in stores etc. may see movement, but I’m unsure about audio too.  I guess what I was trying to say is that no one is forcing any of us to use any application or site on the internet at all.  Heck we don’t even have to own a computer or telephone if we don’t want to.  It is true that any forum can change privacy settings at any time and not even let us know too.  So, I mostly view all of this the way I view all human beings:  they will do what they want to do, they will own guns or not, they will have their own sets of values and beliefs. 

Knowing all that, I enter into the arena knowing what I will show of myself and what I will withhold.  In the end, there are always unknown hackers who can or will do far worse than change ‘settings’, they are the germs that kill us all without regard.

hulitoons - 29 January 2013 06:36 AM

I’m baffled.

Leonard Nimoy would be proud of you. Linky.

Here’s a better Linky

The privacy issues with facebook are something that the younger generation really doesn’t seem to get.  How many stories have you heard of some kid posting something on facebook, or somewhere else, and it ends up going around the world in a couple of days.  They haven’t really learned that everything on a social network and, for all intents and purposes, the net is basically open to discovery by anyone else.  The closest you can come to securing facebook is to set all your privacy settings so that only you can see anything.  That will not prevent others from seeing what you post on other pages or when you comment on something though as that will depend on the other persons settings.  Going that far however, defeats the purpose of being on a social network in the first place.

gray - 01 February 2013 12:56 PM

The privacy issues with facebook are something that the younger generation really doesn’t seem to get.  How many stories have you heard of some kid posting something on facebook, or somewhere else, and it ends up going around the world in a couple of days.  They haven’t really learned that everything on a social network and, for all intents and purposes, the net is basically open to discovery by anyone else.  The closest you can come to securing facebook is to set all your privacy settings so that only you can see anything.  That will not prevent others from seeing what you post on other pages or when you comment on something though as that will depend on the other persons settings.  Going that far however, defeats the purpose of being on a social network in the first place.

BINGO! I agree wholeheartedly with this!!!