The utterly bizarre world of Facebook

[cyprus7]

My posts there have a reported reach of one... that would be me checking, haha.

 

[Stephen Palmer]

I have to say - as somebody who came to FB late, and who shied away from it because of working in education - if like me you don't have a smart phone and hardly ever use your steam-powered mobile, FB and the internet in general is great. I have a MacBook at home, I check out my friends pretty much every day, I've made loads of new friends and fans, and I never look at the FB adverts. Also, when I'm writing a novel, I stay off for the whole time. I suspect FB via a laptop is an entirely different experience to FB welded to you via smartphone…

 

[Foxbat]

As I've stated previously, I de-activated my FB account a couple of weeks after signing up. I never saw much point to it after trying it out. It seems, however, that the people at Facebook decided that I just couldn't live without them and I recieved an e-mail from them recently telling me my account had been re-activated. I promptly logged on and de-activated it once again.

I don't know what goes through their minds but this kind of thing makes me even more determined never to use Facebook again. In the words of Al Pacino...Every time I think I'm out, they pull me back in...

 

[TheDustyZebra]

I like Facebook because it has let me get to know my cousins and extended family in a way that I never could, growing up. We live in far-flung states from each other and only had a few visits as kids, but now I know how very much alike some of us turned out -- which ones are geeky like me, and which ones have geeky kids just like mine.

It also lets me see what's going on with people without having to do much actual talking to them, which is a blessing in the world of an introvert. I don't "friend" people I don't know from real life or Chrons. I don't "unfriend" people for having different opinions. I just enjoy having a nice, superficial electronic relationship with family and people I would also enjoy having a nice, superficial relationship with in real life. It works for me.

 

[Dave]

The 11 things you should delete from your Facebook page now - Independent.ie

I took at look at those 11 things. I either have them set to an audience of one i.e. only me, or I haven't ever added them. However, I get a message most days asking me to add them, or else informing me that my settings mean that only I can see them. You must provide some of those details, otherwise, if your account gets hacked then you will never be able to recover it. Apart from those messages, which I consider to be spam rather than informational, I have no problem with the way I use Facebook, though I'm sure that this way is peculiar only to me. I see Facebook membership as a necessary evil to participate in the groups that everyone else uses, and to manage the Facebook page for a community group, which is again essential in 2016.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

otherwise, if your account gets hacked then you will never be able to recover it.

Though it works fine if none of the information is real

and to manage the Facebook page for a community group, which is again essential in 2016

Any "Community" that thinks Facebook is essential needs educated. It's not.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

It's not just Facebook, beware all apps and the permissions they seek

Facebook using people’s phones to listen in on what they’re saying, claims professor - BelfastTelegraph.co.uk

If you can do it by a web page, never install the app.
Only install apps after research, not just a browse of iTunes or Play Store
Only install apps you really need. Very many are malicious and at least invade privacy, often taking location data and your address books to make the writer money.
Beware "free" apps that need "in app" purchases.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

More on Facebook listening to you
Shhhh! Facebook is listening
Note there are also apps and web pages that listen for coded sounds just above normal hearing range. Some TV adverts have these and then the app reports what advert you have watched.

Facebook ... is capable of always listening and does not tell you what it does with the information it receives.

None of this should comes as a surprise to people: Facebook has repeatedly given itself access to people's personal data and then begged forgiveness afterwards.


It continually tweaks its privacy settings, requiring people to keep making changes to prevent the company from sharing the information you provide. And whenever there is an uproar, it announces small changes that require people to actively change their settings again. Most don't.

Facebook claims the feature is good for users because it makes it easier and faster for you to post about what's going on around you. If that's a persuasive argument for you, continue on, but for everyone else the answer is to go into your phone's settings and manually prevent your Facebook app from accessing your microphone.

How to turn it off
iOS: Settings > Facebook > Settings > Microphone.

Android: Settings > Privacy and emergency > App permissions. Find Facebook and turn off mic access

Most versions of Android don't have that setting!

Or even better, REMOVE the app and only use the web page if you really want to use Facebook.

 

[J Riff]

Unreal! Listens to your living room? Sorts out ads? Targets you based on this? Science fiction! DumbDownographix!

 

[Ray McCarthy]

Listens to your living room? Sorts out ads?

that's two different app families, Facebook just listens.
Allegedly Apple's Siri, MS Cortana and Amazon's Echo/Alexa only "wake up" on command, though Amazon's box only stops doing stuff if you disconnect power, "Sleep" might be cosmetic".

Samsung's voice command and the WiFi Barbie* both send ALL the sound they pickup to a private server on the internet.

Here is about the inaudible advert monitoring, it's short pulses at frequencies higher than most people can hear that aren't actually quite ultrasonic. Actual true ultrasound can't be transmitted via TV, Radio, DVD etc.
Beware of ads that use inaudible sound to link your phone, TV, tablet, and PC
Even a web page might be able to use your PC or laptop microphone, unfortunately, if it's running flash or javascript. I block those by default and "whitelist" known safe sites (but not the advert domains on them)


[* Harry Harrison's Teddy. ]

 

[Ray McCarthy]

Facebook, Google etc alleged to manipulate elections

Facebook manipulated users in India’s 2012 election campaign without their knowing it, describing it for Nature as “A 61-million-person experiment in social influence and political mobilization” (pdf).
Google's role in affecting the outcome of elections has been the subject of some recent academic debate.
“Google’s search algorithm can easily shift the voting preferences of undecided voters by 20 per cent or more – up to 80 per cent in some demographic groups – with virtually no one knowing they are being manipulated,” according to peer-reviewed work by psychologist Robert Epstein, that he described to Politico last year.
“America’s next president could be eased into office not just by TV ads or speeches, but by Google’s secret decisions, and no one – except for me and perhaps a few other obscure researchers – would know how this was accomplished.”

From: Google is the EU Remain campaign's secret weapon

 

[cyprus7]

But it's a wonderland of fiction fodder for writers!

 

[Ray McCarthy]

wonderland of fiction fodder for writers

See Fahrenheit 451, 1984, ESPECIALLY Harry Harrison's "To the Stars" trilogy and Brunner's "Shock Wave Rider". Possibly also "The Diamond Age: Or, A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer"

Loads of other books. The problem is it's real and also being monitored by GCHQ, NSA as modern extension of Echelon (and others monitor their citizens). Fortunately the STAZI are gone. Social Services. Police and Employers also trawl so called "Social Media".

Keep in contact using your own ISP or private email (Not hotmail/Outlook, Gmail, Yahoo etc). I get near unlimited private email boxes on my hosted domains at no extra charge.

 

[Edward M. Grant]

Facebook, Google etc alleged to manipulate elections

Big Corporations love Big Government shock! Full story at 11!

 

[Ray McCarthy]

Facebook invade privacy AGAIN.
Surely this behaviour is immoral and might be illegal in Europe?
Facebook just introduced a really scary new setting – and opted you in

I found a bunch of other "preferences" they claimed I'd created, which I hadn't.

 

[Ursa major]

ALL the sound they pickup to a private server on the internet.

Since I discovered that Samsung is listening, I no longer limit my oral communication with my Samsung TV to shouting at the more outrageous things that appear on it. So for instance, when watching Escape to the Country**, or Location, Location, Location (I'm into property porn ), I always say, "Nice cat!" when the homeowner's feline pet appears in shot. If they choose to believe that this means I want to buy expensive food for my (non-existent) cat, they're free to do so.

Oh, and I hope they notice that (unless I've left the room), I nearly always use ad-breaks as an opportunity to watch another channel. (Note that I watch a lot of US programmes and the ad-breaks in them tend to be very long, allowing me to, perhaps, catch all of what passes for deep analysis of a news item on BBC News.)


** - I can't imagine why retired people would want to move to an isolated spot (it doesn't sound very sensible to me), but I do like seeing the insides of the houses they're shown.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

Drilling a hole in the microphone works
Tape over cameras
(Likely you don't want to do this to a phone, only a TV)

 

[J Riff]

I only watch the playoff hockey, the roomie watches literally everything else, I mean whatever is on, he's a TV addict for real, so it's always on. That means they hear lots of 'hhur-huhr' from him, and then 'Oooh! Ah! Arrr!' when the game is on.
The revelation that one can talk back to one's teevee set.... well I just don't know what to say. 'Hello... programmers?.. anyone there? ... uh, I've got some stories for sale here... kinda scifi... maybe better than a lot of the stuff you are playing... hello?'

 

[Ray McCarthy]

The revelation that one can talk back to one's teevee set

It's only certain models with voice activated controls. People assumed it was local, it works by sending to Samsung's server which then sends back command to TV. The revelation was two fold:
1) That the "smart" wasn't built in, it was like Cortana or Siri. Oddly Ford Audio and Nokia phones (before Apple iPhone Era) DID work well enough with voice commands on the slow cpus built in.
2) That they "recorded" everything and the fine print on T&C of TV said they could give to third parties.

The barbie doll with WiFi you talk to is very creepy as it sends all to a server and that third party server produces Barbie's spoken responses.

"Barbie, I'm hungry."
"Susan, tell your parent you so much love <insert paid product placement>"

Or what if WiFi Barbie's server (or local WiFi by bloke next door) is hacked by someone that likes little girls?

 

[J Riff]

No wonder SF writers are struggling, the news has taken over. The Barbie-bot could be a horror story... 'Susan, go to the window now... that's right ...and now, (&!&!^!%)
Horrifying. Could make for some great practical jokes as well though.
What other talky-toys are out there, for boys n girls, that could be telling them to take a walk on the roof, or that Mr. Fork and Mr. electrical outlet are friends?