Facebook holding your information in the balance...

Third-party devs temporarily barred from addresses, mobile phone numbers. Facebook has suspended plans to enable third-party application developers to request users' geographical addresses and mobile phone numbers. The plans were announced on Saturday on the social network's developer blog, which included instructions for requesting users' permission to access their contact information. Because the data was deemed "sensitive information", Facebook required third party application developers to obtain users' permissions via the site's standard dialogues.

This is why I deactivated my facebook. People I didn't know or trust started contacting me, and I really didn't feel like broadcasting my life or personal information out to the internet.

According to Facebook's platform policies, developers could only request data that was required to run their applications. A spokesman for the site said the change would help "to make applications built on Facebook more useful and efficient", but it raised privacy concerns with organisations like Electronic Frontiers Australia and Sophos. EFA acknowledged that legitimate uses for users' addresses and phone numbers could include the delivery of goods, coordinating local social networks and SMS notifications of important events of interest to the user. But "illegitimate users are out there as well," EFA chair Colin Jacobs wrote, highlighting the potential use of such information for junk mail, spam SMS, bill collectors, thieves and stalkers. Noting that Facebook apps did not go under strict quality control processes, Jacobs warned that users could be tricked into granting permissions to "dodgier operators".

A few more paragraphs at the source

Before you deactivated your account....did you delete EVERYTHING from your page first?? If not, i'll let you in on a little secret.......it's still there!!! Did you...or anyone else...read their policy? Everything you post stays there, til you actually delete it...even if you deactivate your account. You have to restore your facebook page BACK to it's original state...so, have fun with that. I deleted EVERYTHING from my page...last year...and it took me a good three hours to do so. That's why i only leave 1 days worth of posts...then delete it all. When and if i do decide to deactivate my account...the only info they'll have of me...is pictures of my cat!

reply to post by jamiejames


Good point, I'm glad you wrote that. I didn't actually delete everything from my profile, just deactivated. At least it isn't public, and when my account was activated my information was friends only too. I better get to deleting it all...I already backed up the pictures to my HD. Thanks

even AFTER deletion it is still stored somewhere, as a stupid APP just proved recently.

use it for what it is. a new fad for marketing.

otherwise WATCH YOUR facebook BACK

Originally posted by okamitengu
even AFTER deletion it is still stored somewhere, as a stupid APP just proved recently.

use it for what it is. a new fad for marketing.

otherwise WATCH YOUR facebook BACK

What does AAP stand for, and do you have a link so I can read about this? I just reactivated my account and removed all info I didn't want available and deactivated it again. I feel modestly safer.

reply to post by totalmetal


I used to live with this level of paranoia, until I realized, as an individual, I probably wasn't interesting enough to warrant any kind of surveillance, nor was I in any kind of position to make changes in the world. Anyone with any kind of "pull" in this world, can find out everything about you. You don't have the resources, to properly safeguard your digital self. Maybe it's time you were asking yourself, what exactly it is you're doing with your life, to rationalize the need for such guarded privacy(secrecy). Maybe you genuinely require it. Just a thought.

Originally posted by JustSomeGuy74
reply to post by totalmetal

 

I used to live with this level of paranoia, until I realized, as an individual, I probably wasn't interesting enough to warrant any kind of surveillance, nor was I in any kind of position to make changes in the world. Anyone with any kind of "pull" in this world, can find out everything about you. You don't have the resources, to properly safeguard your digital self. Maybe it's time you were asking yourself, what exactly it is you're doing with your life, to rationalize the need for such guarded privacy(secrecy). Maybe you genuinely require it. Just a thought.

Dude, I think you've got me all wrong. I'm not paranoid, but I don't want my information to be available to lets say, stalker ex-girlfriends, or employers, or people trying to sell me #, that's all. Thanks for the response but uh, I think you're a little off base.

reply to post by totalmetal


as i said, maybe you do require it. as for the advertisers, i used to hate the fact that we were databasing my internet activity in order to specialize the way advertisements are presented to me. customizing to my preferences, if you will. i still get ads, but i find a lot of the time, i'm actually interested in what's being advertised. we're still consumers after all. anyways, sorry to disrupt! you must know some real whackos! sorry to hear that!

Why are people storing this kind of information on Facebook? No where do I have my address or phone number on my page. This is much ado about nothing.

Originally posted by hotbakedtater
Why are people storing this kind of information on Facebook? No where do I have my address or phone number on my page. This is much ado about nothing.

Well, when I first made my Facebook I put my new cellphone number on there so my friends could see it, and I've had friends tell me to check their Facebook to get their cell # as well. I never put my address on there though.

Why so paranoid?

I really don't care that Facebook knows my secrets such as the bacon eggs and pancakes I had for dinner and put it as my status.

reply to post by PoorFool


So don't post it as your status? I like putting myself in front of the measuring devices and challenging them to make an accurate reading!

App ... an application. it was something like your history of status updates.

hope that helps..