Facebook - your personal information is not safe

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I think Facebook can build a pretty good picture of a person out of the little things they share.  I post pictures of family, pictures of places I've been, comments about how life is going.  Most of these things seem like no big deal, but I've been doing this for about 10 years, I guess, and when a bunch of computers put this data together they can get a good idea of who I am.  Facebook also keeps a record of every photo, news article or other post that I've clicked Like on, so Facebook has an idea of how I think.  I find it unsettling that Facebook is now advertising that it's perfecting its facial recognition software.  When someone posts of picture that I'm in, one of their friends might identify me in the picture, and Facebook has more information about who I am and what I'm doing.  As someone on TV pointed out, I am not Facebook's customer--I am Facebook's product that they are selling to other businesses.

On the other hand, it's been wonderful to make contact with people from my childhood who I never thought I'd see again.  I prefer to post a photo or comment to Facebook, rather than write a hundred letters or emails to my friends.
 
I largely agree Richard, especially "I am Facebook's product", although I'm getting less and less inclined to use FB and I'm thinking I'll delete my account. It will be interesting to see what further non-explanations and half apologies we see over the latest issue.
 
The irony of modern society is that so many people are claiming "I know my rights" (even though they often don't) and supposedly wanting privacy/autonomy from the government and big business, but then they grab their phone or computer and promptly give away all of that personal information themselves.  At some point, people are going to have to decide which of those two areas they truly desire.
 
First if you think your personal info is safe ANYWHERE .... Well.... I won't draw the obvious intellegence compairson but yours is not high. let's just leave it there.

Now.. one thing I do is lie.. Most of the time when ask for my DOB I give 1/20/1950
I was NOT born on 1/20/1950 Some places have a legit need for my Real DOB. they get it.
But places that do not have a genuine need this forum included) do not.
 
I'm only on Facebook because the new generation of Escapees management is using it as their primary means of sharing information wirh their membership. I volunteered to help moderate a couple of their discussion groups but deliberately have little or no personal information in my profile.
 
When I first joined the AF back in 1975 anytime you wrote a check on base you had to include your SSAN on the front of the check. The military has since done away with that requirement. Our neighbor was the victim of an online scam some years ago, not sure which one it was, but it ended up costing him thousands of dollars. pays all his bills via USPS. I pay all our bills online. I don’t think the USPS is safe or reliable. The post office has no trouble getting mounds of junk mail to us in a timely matter but official mail more than often either takes weeks to arrive or doesn’t make it to us at all. And how safe is a check with all of your banking information included in a flimsy paper envelope being handled by many people.
 
jymbee said:
Things like your bank account info aren't particularly vulnerable via FB, but If you sign in to any other area using your FB credentials, all of those sites collect data that FB uses to monetize ads. You may have seen details of the current kerfuffle where FB users were "invited" to participate in a survey not realizing that due to the complete lack of security FB had in place with regard to those kinds of apps, users data as well as their friends data could be captured. I think most regular folks would be amazed to know just how much FB knows about their lives and their activities.

It's likely that if FB doesn't provide a way to cut off that level of access to 3rd party apps that legislators will step in with new regulations.

There's no doubt that FB in some respects has done a lot of good. Some real heart-warming stories out there to bear witness to that. But make no mistake about it, FB exist for one reason: TO MAKE $$$.
Click to expand...
This OP posted back in March but I liked jymbee's remarks. If you want to have your privacy, I would go back to a flip-phone. That's it. It's not just Fakebook that is spying on you. Everything in your life in the tech world is spying on you. I was just trying to sign up for a course on Udemy. It said 22 bucks, normally 120. I added to cart, signed in and it said "that price is only for NEW users". ok... delete cookies & history, go back to the site, wola... now it's 22 bucks again with a different e-mail address. Your smart phone can be hacked easily. Keep protection on it and cover your camera's. If you're not disabling practically everything in the 21st century, all social media, living off the grid and have a flip-phone, you have no privacy. Even if you ONLY have Facebook, your password hacked could be a keymaster to many private items in your life. Facebook, Twitter, Google, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon etc... they are not your "friends". That's not just one man's opinion, that's a lot of research coming from that comment and you can see what the main objective is. Power and Money. This community is ten times better than Facebook and no ADs! :)
 
Oldgator73 said:
BAZINGA! Happens with any search engine we use. Look something up on Yahoo and you start getting hit with ads about that thing. Look something up on Bing and same thing happens. Whatever you put on the Internet is out there for anybody to see and do with what they please.
Click to expand...
You also don't have to "look something up", they are constantly listening. We've sat in our kitchen talking about something and then the next day you start seeing ads for that and you know you haven't seen ads for that particular subject you were discussing. Go home tonight and talk about something with your phones around or that "Alexa" device sitting close by"
Also back to searching, you can type in "Crazy things to search for online" and Google will spit out all the things people search for so they can customize your life with searches for that but that is exactly what Oldgator73 is talking about.

One last thing for no-tech savy... it's in the news all the time of some older folks being scammed very easily. IF ANYBODY CALLS YOU about something you should pay, something you owe, or something you apparently did against the law and you don't know if they are legit or right, hang up the phone and call that company's customer service and ask them directly about your account. If the scammer you hung up on is talking about a company you are not affiliated with, then no worries, hang up after telling them to pack sand. Being added to a do-not-call list really doesn't do anything for you anymore. ALL of them have a right to call you ONCE, and then you can ask to be taken off their list, but they'll use a different phone number which is not illegal. I'm thinking about going back to a light phone so there's nothing smart about it and not taking any calls.
 
That's why we don't have a microwave. Tossed it out and put in an exhaust fan. Actually no we just got rid of it because we believe it's bad for our food. I don't know if that's true but it wouldn't surprise me if their smart microwaves nowadays
 
Facebook is the low hanging fruit for hackers to pick. No matter if you give false info when setting up your account, how many times your are on it or how secure you think you're being, once your IP address is out there, it's out there. Every key stroke is seen. That is how they can hack a password or an account. If you have a rewards card with your local grocery store or Target or wherever, there is someone hired & paid to watch what you purchase & adjust advertisement specifically to you. Same as on Facebook. True story, Dad found out his daughter was pregnant before she told him because coupons for diapers & baby items came to the house. He contacted the store & told them it was inappropriate to send his teenage daughter these coupons. They told him it was because she had bought a pregnancy test. Amazon, Etsy, anywhere online you've given information, has opened an portal. Bank online or on your phone? It's not a matter of if, but when.
Oh my goodness, so sorry, not sorry, for the tangent. Stepping off the soapbox.
 
Oldgator73 said:
When I first joined the AF back in 1975 anytime you wrote a check on base you had to include your SSAN on the front of the check. The military has since done away with that requirement. Our neighbor was the victim of an online scam some years ago, not sure which one it was, but it ended up costing him thousands of dollars. pays all his bills via USPS. I pay all our bills online. I don’t think the USPS is safe or reliable. The post office has no trouble getting mounds of junk mail to us in a timely matter but official mail more than often either takes weeks to arrive or doesn’t make it to us at all. And how safe is a check with all of your banking information included in a flimsy paper envelope being handled by many people.
Click to expand...
Remember when the SSN or Drivers license # were required on checks? Then you'd have to show ID? Checks sent in a flimsy paper envelope via USPS is not safe. One of the scams 10-15 years ago before banking online became a thing was people stealing mail & getting checks, having a routing number and account number. Banks used a special machine that would read MICR ink, the ink that was used in printing checks. A person could buy a MICR ink cartridge for the printer and blank check stock, make up a company name, use the stolen routing and account number, print fake account names on the checks and present to the bank. The banks became so automated that the signatures weren't check, ran through the machine and if the routing & accounting number matched, the check cleared the bank. We had several clients that had accounts wiped out.
However, banking on line is not that safe either.
 
John From Detroit said:
First if you think your personal info is safe ANYWHERE .... Well.... I won't draw the obvious intellegence compairson but yours is not high. let's just leave it there.

Now.. one thing I do is lie.. Most of the time when ask for my DOB I give 1/20/1950
I was NOT born on 1/20/1950 Some places have a legit need for my Real DOB. they get it.
But places that do not have a genuine need this forum included) do not.
Click to expand...
One of the best seminars I sat through was by the FBI direct of cyper security & criminal investigations. He said to lie. Don't list your mother's maiden name, your high school, your address, etc. One of the answers to his security question was something like "your a jerk & your boss is a moron." So when they asked him what his answer was, he'd repeat it. For sure got their attention.
 
W
prnebs said:
Don't list your mother's maiden name, your high school, your address, etc. One of the answers to his security question was something like "your a jerk & your boss is a moron." So when they asked him what his answer was, he'd repeat it. For sure got their attention.
Click to expand...

Well the FBI does like to tell the truth and the hacker who tries to get that answer... is a jerk and his boss is....
 
I use Duck Duck Go for my browser, use Adgaurd for ad filter (highly recommended), and Norton Utilities plus their VPN. I dumped FB for Gab, Tell & Rumble. I get real news from Epoch Times. I'm covered lol...
 
Sharing your data is how facebook makes its money, and I'm pretty sure it has always been that way. I quit a few months ago because they seemed to be getting heavy handed in deciding which lies are okay, and which lies are not okay. I think that is their right as a business, just as it is my right to leave.
 
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