Foo - Facebook - argh

("thud" head hitting desktop) I don't do Facebook, I won't do facebook, my wife does Facebook, I'll do Twitter but not Facebook, seems like most companies these days that run promotions or events want people to get the info from their Facebook page thereby forcing people to either sign up with Facebook or be blocked, argh Facebook is taking over the world. My wife tried to access her Facebook account from my phone one day and Facebook tried to capture all my contacts and phone logs and waaaaaayyyyyy too much stuff like my calender schedules to sync everything about me into her account, AND FACEBOOK DIDN"T EVEN ASK FOR PERMISSION TO DO THIS so I pulled the battery. If I don't have authority to tell Facebook what they can and cannot have access to about me then I won't do Facebook. :crash:

The point of this thread: since I don't do Facebook, and since so many companies and events that I'm interested in are using Facebook as their primary customer/participant link, is there a way to have a facebook account but not give facebook access to all my privacy? It makes me feel like they want to put a webcam on my shower head and another one under the rim of my toilet. I would like to share what I choose to share, none of which will be bathroom related, I also would like to keep my calender and contacts/address-book and phone logs private as well, is this even possible with a facebook account?

And please don't give me a link to a Facebook FAQ page which requires membership to access it. :twitchy:

Thank you for listening/reading. I was about to post this in a thread about a ride event that linked to a facebook page, but then decided it might detract from the event so I posted here in Foo instead. :bike2:

I didn't know about the reading contacts part. That sucks.

How about starting an account from a desktop? Use the minimum info. And make some of the required info bogus. Plenty of people use alternate names. I wouldn't have FB if it weren't for family...mainly for the sharing of pictures and planning the occasional get together/party. It's too easy for an app's requirements to be overlooked. I've aborted app downloads many times because of requirements.

I have all that stuff blocked in facebook, it does ask me to add my cell number every time I log on though.

I have all that stuff blocked in facebook, it does ask me to add my cell number every time I log on though.

Hotmail wants my phone number too. But I don't see it giving me much security on the immediate scale, but I do see including my phone number in their database as being a major hole in my own security when someone tunnels into their database. So I don't give it.

use your desktop, download a browser you don't use for anything else and set up an e-mail account that you only use for company contacts and junk. A pain in the tail, but it works. I have a hotmail account under a different name that's tied to a facebook account under the same name and any time I have to sign up for anything, I used that account. I check it occasionally, but not too often. Every time I use that account I use Opera and that's the only thing I use that browser for. I also have a facebook account under my real name, but I got on before they got all info grabby and have updated my privacy settings pretty regularly to keep them the hell out of my business. I probably do that as much as I do anything else on facebook (i.e., I'm not on there very often).

This privacy issue keeps getting bigger. I just noticed that this page now has an ad from Amazon for a Bob Dylan recording. The thing is, I did a web search on a Bob Dylan song last night. Coincidence? I don't think so.

Though I'm not familiar with the mobile version, I know that everytime I either log off and log back in from my laptop or log into facebook from a different machine, I get prompted to give a bunch of info I'd care not to. I've found that when that screen pops up, simply click on the facebook in the banner at the upper left and it takes you straight to the news feed.

Last I heard, there are reportedly 85 million 'false identity' accounts.

This privacy issue keeps getting bigger. I just noticed that this page now has an ad from Amazon for a Bob Dylan recording. The thing is, I did a web search on a Bob Dylan song last night. Coincidence? I don't think so.

I thought it was odd when I went to TV guide.com and there was an ad for a cyclocross skinsuit myself.

They are pushy with emails and notices. I've quit them twice, and they don't make that easy. Then I had to sign up again because of an organization that I work with.

I do the absolute minimum with them, but hardly a day goes by that they don't send an email.

This privacy issue keeps getting bigger. I just noticed that this page now has an ad from Amazon for a Bob Dylan recording. The thing is, I did a web search on a Bob Dylan song last night. Coincidence? I don't think so.


I thought it was odd when I went to TV guide.com and there was an ad for a cyclocross skinsuit myself.

I'm just guessing here, but I'd say the Omnigoogle was the culprit. Probably Google Analytics.

My family uses Facebook so I'm forced to use it, too. Every time I log off, I immediately delete the FB cookies and cache from my computer. That seems to help a lot.

This privacy issue keeps getting bigger. I just noticed that this page now has an ad from Amazon for a Bob Dylan recording. The thing is, I did a web search on a Bob Dylan song last night. Coincidence? I don't think so.


COOKIES!

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2009/11/5/1257385305168/Cookie-Monster-Google-doo-001.jpg

I think I'll just resist a little longer. Thanks for some methods to keep them under control though, I appreciate it.

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[[attempt at staying in compliance with forums rules, link sources below:]]
Image address: http://i.chzbgr.com/completestore/2012/3/27/ae715f91-255e-4814-9f23-cb71fec7a433.jpg
Found here via Google image search: http://cheezburger.com/6037684480

I didn't know about the reading contacts part. That sucks.

It only reads your contacts if you allow it. It explicitly asks you ever time. I know this, because I gave the permission to look at my contacts on my dog's account, but not on my account. So my dog's account often suggest people I've received email from as Friends. My dog always refuses them.

If it started pulling them off your cell phone, it's because your wife gave it permission (she may not have realized she was doing this if she did it on her own computer; it sounds innocuous like, "Would you like FB to suggest more friends for you?" and if it you hit Yes, then it scans contacts.)

I do the absolute minimum with them, but hardly a day goes by that they don't send an email.

You can shut off those notifications. I haven't gotten and email from FB on my main account in months/years. My dog gets them once in a while, but leaves them turned on because he doesn't go on FB very often.

One last tip: Don't allow Apps to access your FB information. When you go to an app (say, the Washington Post Social Reader), it will ask for permission to access your information. Just say no. If you want to read a story you found on FB, just copy the headline and paste it into a search engine and it will bring up the original, non-social reader version of the story. I allow one App, I think, to access my FB- BlipFoto, which is a one-pic-a-day photoblog and I like to post those to my FB account so I allowed that access. But that's an action *I* want to happen. Anything that asks for permissions that I don't want to post as me, I refuse access. After a while, it is not a conscious action to refuse, just a habit.

Any time you get a game request or whatever, click on the X on the right and select the "Block all from [whatever the game is]". You have to do a a few times early on, but pretty soon all the popular games are blocked and you don't see any of that noise.

Hotmail wants my phone number too. But I don't see it giving me much security on the immediate scale, but I do see including my phone number in their database as being a major hole in my own security when someone tunnels into their database. So I don't give it.

Today I realized the real reason why Hotmail wants my phone number. They want to be able to market it just as Facebook is doing.

Facebook markets via email addresses and your phone number. (http://news.yahoo.com/facebook-ad-targeting-to-use-e-mails--phone-numbers.html)

It used to be that nobody knew you were a dog on the Internet. Now it's more like you are krill in a blue whale feeding frenzy.

Social media marketing, as near as I can tell, is designed for people like me (students) to look busy at $10 an hour jobs. I'm sitting in an empty building with my laptop out eating a sandwich? Marketing! playing with my phone? Marketing!

(I do actually use facebook to market my own business and communicate with clients)