Some Quitting Facebook as Privacy Concerns Escalate

[tarotx]

I can understand Facebook issues concerning privacy as it relates to oneself and actual or potential ramifications of the sites privacy on a whole but why care what others post? Don't have them in your feed or defriend them. I know a few people who talk on Facebook and other message boards as if it's a private conversation. It's easier for them somehow. If they post something they regret later that is their problem.

[vesperholly]

From FB's terms:
For content that is covered by intellectual property rights, like photos and videos ("IP content"), you specifically give us the following permission, subject to your privacy and application settings: you grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use any IP content that you post on or in connection with Facebook ("IP License"). This IP License ends when you delete your IP content or your account unless your content has been shared with others, and they have not deleted it.

That is SKETCH CITY as far as I'm concerned. I wouldn't be surprised if in a few years, it will be illegal for companies to assume copyright was relinquished when a user uploads a photo or video. Not that I'm any kind of bigshot, but I took down all my professional photos because of this rule. Yikes.

[*Jen*]

I've had friends delete and reactivate their accounts with months in between and all their old tags automatically show up again in my pictures of them and whatnot. So I would agree with you that it's still there.

Yep. Like I said in a post before, if you don't delete everything from your account before you close it, then it is still there. I deleted my account for a few days (long story) and all I had to do was click on reactivate for it to come back. A friend of mine deletes hers during semester all time time, but the content comes back the moment she does.

You can't just close your account - what you do is deactivate it. If you want to delete it, then you need to delete every friend, every photo, application, wall post etc.

I can understand Facebook issues concerning privacy as it relates to oneself and actual or potential ramifications of the sites privacy on a whole but why care what others post? Don't have them in your feed or defriend them. I know a few people who talk on Facebook and other message boards as if it's a private conversation. It's easier for them somehow. If they post something they regret later that is their problem.

Unless it's someone you're close to who is posting things they might regret, I agree. I've blocked a few people from my newsfeed and put a few on limited profile, and they've stopped annoying me

[Reuven]

I've had friends delete and reactivate their accounts with months in between and all their old tags automatically show up again in my pictures of them and whatnot. So I would agree with you that it's still there.

I think that ANYTHING out on the "internets" is there forever.

That is SKETCH CITY as far as I'm concerned. I wouldn't be surprised if in a few years, it will be illegal for companies to assume copyright was relinquished when a user uploads a photo or video. Not that I'm any kind of bigshot, but I took down all my professional photos because of this rule. Yikes.

I'm inclined to think companies such as FB will push to retain copyright, and probably get it.

[PDilemma]

My SiL posts very personal things on her FB wall. Then they appear in the news feeds of about 400 people in town. Then she gets dreadfully upset that "everyone always knows (her) business".

I think some people just don't entirely comprehend that posting something on a Facebook wall means people can read it.

[walei]

I like Facebook but the 'phoniness' of people commenting and posting are starting to grate me a little...

For privacy concerns though, I agree that it's up to the user to be knowledgeable of what they are getting into in the first place.

[*Jen*]

For privacy concerns though, I agree that it's up to the user to be knowledgeable of what they are getting into in the first place.

I agree, but want to reiterate that some people have been on facebook since it started. I've been on it since it went international, way back in 2006. The privacy policy and issues surrounding privacy have changed DRASTICALLY since then.

It's all well and good to know what you're getting into, but you also have to keep up to date and know what you're staying in, because the FB privacy policy changes regularly and gives us less and less privacy each time, without notification (except for that one change a few months ago).

[Choupette]

I've never had a Facebook account, I don't plan to get one and I feel concerned by this issue anyway... even more after reading this thread and how it can even search through e-mail addresses in Outlook! I've had a picture of me posted on Facebook by somebody else, even if I had said when the picture was taken that I didn't want it on the Internet. The picture in itself wasn't a problem, it went up there as the result of some weird circumstances and misunderstanding, it was quickly taken away after I asked, but it's scary to think that there can be pictures of me out there, and the chances of me being aware of it are slim especially since I do not have a Facebook account in the first place.

Facebook or not, anybody could do it on a personal page, but 99.9999% of people's personal pages would never get as much views as a Facebook account so the problem is amplified. I'm doing everything I can to keep my private life private, and yet it's somewhat out of my hands.

[Carolla5501]

Umm.. Facebook can't search what it doesn't have access to.

I set mine up using an email address that's really only SPAM, I never 'email' my friends etc from that account (I use it to sign up to read online newspapers and junke like that. and for PayPal... another company I won't let NEAR my real info. They get ONE credit card number which they have attempted to screw up several times!) So if Facebook wants to spam paypal from my account.. more power to them

I have had one photo posted, but knew it was going to be posted. None of my friends are into "posting" Generally we just email each other. We use it more to mointor the activities of their kids

[*Jen*]

Umm.. Facebook can't search what it doesn't have access to.

Eys, but what it has access to is Some of the friends suggestions it has given me are alarming. No friends in common, no networks or links in common, yet up pops a random person I should know. And sometimes do know. But facebook shouldn't know that, not unless they have access to a lot more than they're letting on...

[skatemommy]

Even more annoying than the baby posts are the invitations to the games. I honestly don't care about your farm, mafia, etc. Please get a life!

[Karina1974]

I had also heard that the copyright of any picture you post automatically reverts to Facebook and I didn't appreciate this at all either.

Really... I never heard of that. Well... they'd have a very hard time arguing that point with me seeing as how I have shots on my profile that my parents took 20-30 years ago, and they still own the negatives.

[Karina1974]

Same here.

On another Facebook related note, does anyone find rather weird when couples, married or not, write message to each other in the status updates?

I think I'm going to post this as a Question of the Day on my profile, because I have one friend who does it, and it really makes me gag to read it. Especially since his gf is 47 and writes like she's a teenager.

[Auntie]

Really... I never heard of that. Well... they'd have a very hard time arguing that point with me seeing as how I have shots on my profile that my parents took 20-30 years ago, and they still own the negatives.

I frequent a website where people ask questions about kitchen remodeling, decorating, home building, etc. People often post pictures with their requests for advice. Like Facebook, the website assumes use of pictures that are posted on the site. So, it's not unusual for someone to find a picture of their kitchen on a part of the site that they never frequent. For instance, their kitchen (and others) could be used in a blog post of "Favorite kitchen makeovers". Facebook could easily do the same. If you check the box that says you understand terms and conditions, I don't see how you could complain if they use your pictures.

[Yehudi]

I think you also have to watch just who you "friend" on facebook. I don't have a very high "friend" count because I limit it to people I actually want to keep in touch with, rather than accepting friend requests from random people I may or may not know. I'm a little less discriminatory on linkedin because for work purposes, I want to be connected to as many people as possible and I'm not posting anything on linkedin other than stuff related to work.

[rjblue]

I find the worry about Facebook a bit silly.

When I was a child, you could phone any telephone operator and get them to look up Sam Anyman and they would tell you his phone number and where he lived (and probably give you some gossip about him). Directory assistance is almost useless now, and it is hard to get someone's address unless you pay for a service.

When I was a child many people's telephones were Party lines, with up to 6 (12?) households having the phone ring and you had to know the pattern of your ring. If you were talking on the phone then several other people were almost certainly listening.

Local newspapers had extensive coverage on whose sister was in town for a visit, who had a dinner party, who had an anniversary party, what people wore, etc.

What you do in the privacy of your own home, behind closed doors, is no one else's business. But it is, and always has been, that anything you do or say outside of your home can be other people's business. The internet is just an electronic outdoors.

I have the "Grammie Rule" for my kid's Facebook and other internet usage, too. They don't have any control over pictures other kids post of them, but they aren't supposed to be doing anything illegal or inappropriate anyway.

[Prancer]

Even more annoying than the baby posts are the invitations to the games. I honestly don't care about your farm, mafia, etc. Please get a life!

Um, block the apps. You'll still get invites, but nothing will show up in your feed.

I find the worry about Facebook a bit silly.

I wouldn't say silly, but I do think that people overestimate just how much privacy they have without Facebook. It's not that hard to track anyone down if you have just a little bit of information.

The thing is, most of us don't have anyone particularly trying to track us down, and if there is someone looking, it's usually not for some nefarious purpose. I do think people should be careful about identity theft, but you are more at risk for that when you pay for something with a credit card in person than when you post on the internet. I also think people should be discreet if they don't want everyone in their business. But most of us, quite frankly, aren't interesting enough to have to worry about whether someone sees our photo on the internet or not or finds our Facebook pages.

Unless you are in some way strikingly unusual, most people don't care who you are or what you are doing.

[mmscfdcsu]

http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/co...%2F19473822%2F

[Desperado]

Yes, I did delete all my stuff before requesting the "in 14 days" official delete. The only reason I knew about this however was from a newspaper article, Facebook never tells you this when you ask them to delete.

The article above is interesting but it begs the question why just deactivate an account, leaving all your information in the hands of FB, if you don't trust the way they deal with privacy.

[Simone411]

I don't have a Facebook acct. for my own personal reasons and part of it has to do with safety since there are psychos that like to include hacking and stalking as part of their favorite "thing" to do.

Anyway, I receive a newsletter from a site called technix update. This newsletter included an article with a lot of safety tips for privacy for those that use Facebook. I thought I'd share it since there are so many that do use it here.

http://www.technixupdate.com/hide-pr...ebook-friends/