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Is Facebook evil?

 
  

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zute_justzute
02:41 / 28.08.07
I was at a party the other night and a couple of my friends refuse to join facebook because they believe it's owned by the CIA. What do you think?

Oh, here's a video on youtube linking facebook to the CIA.

Facebook does have an awful lot of information about it's users that a third party might find useful. You have to give them your email password to join. There's also a "causes" application, so there's information about which political causes people support, and also information about political rallies that they're going to attend.

I live in Quebec, so I don't know if I care that the CIA can get information about me, but it's still a creepy idea. What do people here think? Is it all just paranoia, or are these legitimite concerns? (I think that it's a good idea to at least change your email password if you've already joined facebook, just as a precaution.)
 
 
Alex's Grandma
03:39 / 28.08.07
I'm not sure about Facebook - what's the point of it, who benefits, etc, but, as is usual when it comes to this stuff; if in doubt, just say no.

You don't seem like the sort of person who wants to wake up one morning and find hirself 'wanking for coins'.

But on a lot of these sites, it's a possibility
 
 
Hallo, Paper Spaceboy
03:57 / 28.08.07
Enh, I'm not sure if there's anything realistically interesting enough about me that a spy agency for a foreign power would even care, unless they care about seperating out the homosexuals from the heterosexuals and the bisexuals, or whether or not you want a monogamous relationship or just 'random play.' But then, I live in Canada and the equivalent is CSIS, who are the kind of spy organization that lets you know via an official letter that they're tapping your phone lines for the purposes of a sting operation though, you know, let them know if there's any weird interference and they'll take off the tap. It's hard to feel worried about spies when that you'r role model in-country.

On the other hand, it's never been clearly established that the Barbenauts aren't computer simulations designed in some dank laboratory somewhere to monitor your every move.
 
 
Lagrange's Nightmare
11:43 / 28.08.07
You have to give them your email password to join

Well that's not actually true... Once you have joined you can give them your password so it can easily add all of your email contacts as friends, but that is purely your choice.

I can't really see the rest of it being a concern as most websites these days seem to be collecting as much information as possible. It just seems people are more willing to give this information out on facebook.
 
 
Triplets
11:52 / 28.08.07
Surely only a Skrull would be concerned about CIAcebook?
 
 
Alex's Grandma
12:38 / 28.08.07
That's not true, Satan. What if you'd already been turned into a killing machine by the Canadian government, and, as is the way of these things, didn't even know it?

What then?
 
 
All Acting Regiment
14:16 / 28.08.07
Well, given that Myspace is owned by Murdoch, and AOL is part of Warner, and that similar things could be said about MSN, they're all as bad as eachother.
 
 
All Acting Regiment
14:25 / 28.08.07
Wow, I suddenly had to go because that part of the library shut down. Right, where was I.

All those sites, as well as whoever works at your ISP or runs your work or college network, are probably as bad as eachother in terms of taking your personal details - it's in a lot of people's interests, businesses and spammers, as well as spies.

The sensible thing to do is just not divulge things like your adress, or your specific movements; but I wouldn't shy away from putting as blatant political messages as you like on your profile. If that means people try to check up on me because I put short essays about Foucault on a website, well, they're probably wasting their time. You can also use a nick name instead of your real one.
 
 
iamus
14:36 / 28.08.07
Aye. I'm of the opinion that any information you post on t'internets is effectively in the public domain. You either suck it up or you don't do it, simple as that.
 
 
Gendudehashadenough
15:35 / 28.08.07
There's also people who have no qualms about sharing any manner of non-web details of people they know. Rumors and people using web sites will continuously compete with one another to determine who can score the best hand-over-foot gossip, but usually don't think of the the ramifications they might have on the person using the internet, or, as in the majority of my experiences, convince themselves and one another that it's not worth giving a crap.
 
 
All Acting Regiment
16:04 / 28.08.07
Photos are a major issue with that - people putting up drunken photos of their friends and tagging them, and then that person's boss finding out and sacking them, has happened to at least two people I know ...
 
 
STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK
16:10 / 28.08.07
See, this is why I make a point of turning up drunk, or at least horribly hungover, at least once in my first month of working ANYWHERE. Either they're gonna fire you, or you know where you stand. Better to find out sooner rather than later and have to speculate.

For the same reason I yell at my boss at least once a week. There's nothing I'd post on Facebook that's anywhere close to the shit I've actually said to his face.
 
 
STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK
16:11 / 28.08.07
Hang on, people get fired for being drunk when they're NOT AT WORK???

Fuck. What a fucked-up world.
 
 
All Acting Regiment
16:16 / 28.08.07
I know, I know ...
 
 
Alex's Grandma
16:35 / 28.08.07
There's nothing I'd post on Facebook that's anywhere close to the shit I've actually said to his face

Well, maybe. But at least on Facebook you can have your own farm.
 
 
STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK
16:41 / 28.08.07
That said, Facebook could yet get me fired, as I now spend most of the time in the office playing Chess or Scrabble...

(who the fuck knew "JASSID" was a word? Now that's one motherfucker who's gonna pay BIG...)
 
 
Alex's Grandma
17:32 / 28.08.07
You could raise a herd of virtual pigs on 'Stoat Acres', and you could train them not to take any crap off anyone.

This'd no doubt lead to all manner of hilarious confusion when your employer and his charming wife swung by your pad for a team-building dinner -

'So, Stoat, how do you see your future at this company?'

A short pause

'Pigs, do your bastard job! You've been raised for this! Get rid of the evidence!'

'But Mr Stoat, we cannot do this.'

'Why not, you ... oh, hang on ... Oh god ...'
 
 
Papess
18:22 / 28.08.07
Is Facebook evil?

Yes, Zute. Yes it is. But not because of any association with any gov. agency. It just is pure evil!

I am not worried about gov. agencies because I have no WMD, or plans that threaten anyone. Then again, with the U.S foreign policy being based largely on paranoia who knows what kind of evils myself or others like me might be imagined to be up to.

I am Canadian ya know!

Hey, I once new a guy who worked for CSIS, who also ran a small porn film production company. His mom worked as his secretary.

Remember America...we're right behind ya! All. The. Way.

Baby.
 
 
sorenson
20:28 / 28.08.07
That said, Facebook could yet get me fired, as I now spend most of the time in the office playing Chess or Scrabble...

i only joined facebook for the scrabble (wanna play, Stoatie?). but then i discovered that most of my friends are there too, including ones who i am usually really crap at keeping in touch with, which has turned out to be unexpectedly lovely.

mostly it seems like a tool for corporations to glean info about what movies and music people like - like most things it's all about money.

so of course it's evil. but it's also kinda fun - aren't lots of evil things fun?
 
 
Tryphena Absent
10:19 / 07.09.07
For those of you who don't know facebook has just opened profiles to the public. If you don't want to be searchable by people who are not members of facebook you need to change your facebook privacy settings now. The feature will also allow people to track down Facebook members via search engines such as Google so I highly recommend making sure your profile does not turn up in the public search listings.
 
 
All Acting Regiment
12:07 / 07.09.07
There is this, for anyone who has since joined facebook and would associate with barbe-pals there.
 
 
Mon Oncle Ignatius
13:51 / 07.09.07
I'm probably more worried about random people who I know slightly or not at all looking up information about me online (whether on Facebook or anywhere else) than the CIA, NSA or MI5, to be honest. I'm sure there's some sort of file on me somewhere, with someone, even if it's just the lovely Queen's Own Revenue & Customs.
 
 
BioDynamo
17:21 / 19.09.07
I've been boycotting this one from day one, and occasionally send nasty replies to all the "will you be my friend"-e-mails, irregardless of any CIA connections. The main point for me is the handing over of all my contact network, a VERY valuable thing, for free, to a company that then basically claims ownership of any metadata that this produces. Hell, I wouldn't do that for less than, oh, 5-600 euro/month, which is what I figure that network to be worth in pure production value.

I really don't understand why people go along with that stuff rather than set up their own open source alternatives...
 
 
Lama glama
18:11 / 19.09.07
I suppose people just don't have the time to set up their own open source social networking websites.

But regardless of Facebook/Cia shenanigans, it is evil. It's full of irritating people pawing to be your friend (even if you've only met them the once), or to poke you, or hug you, or do their bloody movie quiz or something. It's far too much effort for something that purports to be about having fun.
 
 
petunia
18:26 / 19.09.07
I got rid.

In real life, friend x knows i'm bi. Workfriend y doesn't. I like it that way. How do i let both people access my profile without letting both of them know the same stuff about me?

I like secrets, they keep me happy and proud. Facebook isn't about secrets, it's about people letting everyone know what they are doing, who they are, who they know. That seems rather inhuman to me, but maybe i just have strange values.

And yeah, i know i could make a fiction account, but apart from the ickiness of wondering why someone who bullied me in secondary school is adding me, i just find the whole thing boring and painful.
 
 
Lama glama
18:36 / 19.09.07
the ickiness of wondering why someone who bullied me in secondary school is adding me

Exactly. It seems that in the almost Pokémon-esque gotta catch 'em all quest that a lot of people pursue in search of Facebook "friends," they can quite easily forget any past transgressions or bullshit that they may have enacted upon a person in the past.

I'm on the verge of ridding myself of it, but I have to admit that it's fairly useful for keeping in touch with distant friends. Friends who unfortunately check their facebook account more frequently than their e-mail.
 
 
Spaniel
14:39 / 14.01.08
Well, it turns out that Facebook is indeed evil, or at least run by demons, or neocons, as I like to call them.

Nnnn, now that my social group is all about work and babies and serious life shit - basically now atomisation has started to set in - Facebook looked like a viable way of keeping a whole slew of important personal relationships going. In fact, I had planned to sign up this week. Now I'm not so sure I want to.
 
 
Closed for Business Time
15:47 / 14.01.08
Well, you could do a number of things to lessen potentially negative effects of signing up: avoid posting anything remotely sensitive (birthday, phone numbers, non-free email addresses etc, home address), don't upload pix or anything remotely valuable to it, and disable the "wall" + refuse any applications (except Scrabble). Oh, and don't use the internal email system, I guess. In effect use it as a directory to find people and then take any serious interaction onto other and safer channels.

Not that I did any of this when I signed up...
 
 
Spaniel
19:02 / 14.01.08
That's exactly what I was thinking, Nolte. It doesn't have to be either or.
 
 
STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK
19:54 / 14.01.08
It's quite funny, but being naturally paranoid has actually made this far less of a worry. I've always assumed that any information I put anywhere, or even attempt to keep private, is going to end up in the wrong hands if they want it, so I stopped worrying about it a long time ago.
 
 
Tsuga
20:56 / 14.01.08
WE know that.
 
 
All Acting Regiment
14:25 / 15.01.08
Thing is, Boboss, are there many venture-capitalists/people who run things like facebook who aren't neocons?
 
 
Spaniel
18:52 / 15.01.08
I like to think so.
 
 
STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK
18:58 / 16.01.08
Whether it's evil or not, you've got to admit, Scrabulous rocks. And... Oh dear. Another company not quite getting it.

There's a Save Scrabulous group- if you're on FB and like yer Scrab, then sign up.
 
 
Proinsias
22:14 / 16.01.08
Reminds me of Alan Partridge:

"OK! There will be no telephone Cluedo today because of a threat of a court injunction from the makers of Cluedo. It's 6:58am"
 
  

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