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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Facebook is far Creepier than I realised!

84 replies

Rainbunny · 23/10/2015 23:27

I usually don't believe the warnings about facebook tracking stuff, like the post last week where the OP was worried that her ex could see that she'd been looking at his fb page. Then I read this article which explains a lot of strange things that I've experienced on FB, friend suggestions etc... I guess I'm posting this as more of a public service announcement than an AIBU. Definitely going to check my fb settings on my phone now!

www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2015/10/why_did_facebook_suggest_i_friend_my_ex.single.html

OP posts:
sltorres9 · 24/10/2015 11:58

I can't get concerned either, the only thing available to view on my Facebook is my cover photo. Everything else is hidden, it takes two seconds to Google and a few more to make sure everything in private if you're that concerned

SwedishEdith · 24/10/2015 12:11

You spend your free time noodling around on FB, they get very rich
You are working for them for free
I don't think it's a fair exchange!

But they're giving you the service for free. I'm no FB defender but it's not compulsory to use it.

FFSYourself · 24/10/2015 12:18

I don't have Facebook and it irritates me to think that friends think it's ok to give Facebook access to my details by allowing Facebook to have access to their contacts.

fingersinears · 24/10/2015 12:21

glad i got fb of my phone- it absolutely kills the battery- I guess all the sniffing around it does WITHOUT EVEN ASKING is why.

the whole facial recognition thing scares me.

Overall i think FB is unwholesome and yes creepy and I am glad to be addicted to twitter instead. WAY more fun arguing with people you dont know, over issues you dont really care about at 3 am in morning.

zoobaby · 24/10/2015 12:22

FB is definitely tracking my cookies and putting advertising onto my feeds, especially Amazon searches I've done. Or maybe they're in it together? But it's the same with MN. I followed a link on a thread once which was a dress and since then I've seen the site advertised at the top of my MN page. Maybe the answer is to always log off FB and always search incognito/private.

WotNoLoobrush · 24/10/2015 12:28

Does anyone else here not use the fb app?

I'm wondering if the mobile site is less intrusive. So far, I've got away with not providing them with a phone number, nor does it want to sync contacts.

SwedishEdith · 24/10/2015 12:30

I got rid of the app. Don't use it on my phone.

CantSee4Looking · 24/10/2015 12:37

I don't use an app, i use my laptop and go in via the website and have refused to give anything a mobile number. It still links to any contact that i might have encountered and no through the email that is linked to the account. Other emails that I might have checked using the same computer. it is bloody annoying. I am seriously considering getting rid of it, but it is used as a means to communication organisation info by some things that are important to me. It is a nightmare. Hmm

differentnameforthis · 24/10/2015 12:58

I guess all the sniffing around it does WITHOUT EVEN ASKING is why.

Except it's in their T&Cs

MrsHathaway · 24/10/2015 13:16

I don't use the app or Messenger any more because I refused to accept the terms.

I've also refused to supply a phone number.

So far so good.

suzannecaravaggio · 24/10/2015 14:29

But they're giving you the service for free
I know, the farmer lets the cows in the milking shed for free, they're quite happy in the warm and dry wile the farmer milks them and sells the milk at a profit.
A far as FB is concerned it's users are livestock to be herded into virtual milking sheds and enticed to stay there while they are milked for data

I'm no FB defender but it's not compulsory to use it
It doesn't need to be actually compulsory, if all your friends are on it then it is de facto compulsory, if you're not on it you're out of the loop, no one wants to be out of the loop

facebook have monopolized the loop

Atenco · 24/10/2015 15:25

As for using false names, I had to change my false name on fb last month because they started demanding that I send them official ID to prove that I am who I say I am. It seems that anyone can report you as possibly using a false name and then they feel entitled to ask for your ID. In my case it was because I had an argument with some supporters of the government of my country.

The other one that is optional on fb but that I consider to be really dicey is the app that tells everyone where you are. Kidnapping is huge industry here and the teenage offspring of the rich are the most at risk and also the most likely to think it is clever to have an app on fb saying where they are at any given moment.

ArkhamOffitt · 24/10/2015 15:40

I didn't say it was your experience, or everyone's experience, differentname. Just that it was mine this week after 7 years or so on FB happily pootling along with no phone number. Maybe they are doing it in batches

DoctorTwo · 24/10/2015 16:39

I don't have Facebook on my phone but only on my laptop. If you use Firefox or Chrome you can install add-ons that stop targeted ads from cookies that follow you around the web. Ghostery has an option to block cookies and Self Destructing Cookies deletes them. A weekly running of CCleaner will get rid of even the superest of super cookies.

Anastasie · 24/10/2015 17:15

Atenco, were they happy to accept your real name without ID? I think it's very bizarre that a social media site is demanding to see RL ID.

It makes me wonder what they are up to, certainly.

hackmum · 24/10/2015 19:07

My address book on my mobile phone has the phone numbers of a load of people on FB I barely know in real life. It's simply mined their phone numbers and helpfully given them to me. I doubt that they have consciously agreed to this - I suspect it happens when FB asks for your mobile number for "security" reasons.

One of the things that recently became clear after a major court case in the European Court of Justice is that US based companies are breaking European data protection laws, flouting the "Safe Harbour" agreement. FB's behaviour seems to be a good example of this.

techcrunch.com/2015/10/06/europes-top-court-strikes-down-safe-harbor-data-transfer-agreement-with-u-s/

differentnameforthis · 25/10/2015 01:28

It doesn't need to be actually compulsory, if all your friends are on it then it is de facto compulsory, if you're not on it you're out of the loop, no one wants to be out of the loop

I don't understand why people can't think for themselves. You don't have to do anything just because friends do it. That's school yard thinking.

And I have lots of people on my list who use false names, and none of the have ever reported fb asking them for id. If fb really did do this, wouldn't it be in the news/common knowledge by now??

ArkhamOffitt · 25/10/2015 07:04

I've at least 5 people on my Friends list who have been asked for ID, different. Including my DC (innocuous anonymous name for gaming) and some with false names alluding to a shared hobby, for use in groups to do with that hobby. Plus someone with an unusual set of names, all on their birth certificate, but FB reckoned it was false.
Hardly going to make News At 10, but it is becoming more common, whether you have experienced it personally or not.

ArkhamOffitt · 25/10/2015 07:07

Just one link about it

Plenty more info brought up by a quick Google 'Facebook real name id' or similar.

Floppityflop · 25/10/2015 09:08

Just another example of the extra-territorial application of US law, I expect, or collusion with corrupt foreign governments. Last time I checked I lived in England where I can go around calling myself what I b**y well like, as can anyone, and say whatever I want, short of inciting racial hatred or threatening to kill someone. If I can do it in the pub I should be able to do it online. (Puts soapbox away.)

suzannecaravaggio · 25/10/2015 09:12

I've had Facebook accounts in various false names, never been asked to verify any thing, never heard of such a thing!

suzannecaravaggio · 25/10/2015 09:15

Are you in north Korea Arkham?

ArkhamOffitt · 25/10/2015 09:18

Well now you have, suzanne. You're welcome Smile

Spiteful twonks have been able to dob in people with names they know to be false for a while now, but FB have started to get more proactive with more accounts.

Lol at the Well, I've Never Heard Of It! shirtiness.

ArkhamOffitt · 25/10/2015 09:21

Yes, I am indeed in N Korea, suzanne

Because that's the only explanation for me having an experience with FB that you have never heard of and refuse to do a simple Google about.

Well done you, spotting misinformation from someone living under an oppressive regime. Have a Tufty Badge.

gamerchick · 25/10/2015 09:30

I get hounded now and then for a phone number but I never give it, nor do I use the app. I wish it would let me see my messages without going round the houses because it's
Demanding I install messenger though Angry

Don't you have to provide id if someone reports you as a fake account?