Facebook stupidity? Seems to have trouble "letting go" of user info...

[Mr. Analog]

Apparently the hacker who discovered the issue is now reporting that Facebook has "fixed" it: http://www.zdnet.com/blog/facebook/facebook-fixes-cookie-behavior-after-logging-out/4120

Also today; if you use Spotify it now wants you to have a FB account: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-20111974-93/spotify-users-steamed-over-facebook-requirement/

[Thorin]

Here's good reason to keep using Chrome: Facebook Disconnect

[Mr. Analog]

Or you know, if privacy is a concern, stop using FB altogether. I mean really the purpose of the site is for you to share information about yourself so that others can track you...

Just a wild thought

[Thorin]

I think a lot of people want to use it to let _some individuals_ track them without _corporations and advertising agencies_ tracking them.

There's always that question, though - if a website provides free access, how do they get money to pay for bandwidth?  By selling what they track about you, of course.

[Darren Dirt]

Joy Of Tech sees Zuck as a villain too...
http://www.geekculture.com/joyoftech/joyarchives/1542.html

[Mr. Analog]

Well, he is a bit of a douche after all...

[Darren Dirt]

Sean Parker lets a bit of FB truth slip...
http://blogs.reuters.com/mediafile/2011/10/19/facebook-makes-us-embrace-creepy/


(I for one am fine with Zuck et al calling me a Luddite...)

[Mr. Analog]

Well, here's the thing; right now Facebook, Google, Microsoft and a large number of Advertisers have a shadow profile for someone who very well might be you, if you provide information about yourself on Facebook or the like at least you get to set your own record rather than say having someone who doesn't like you tag your name onto a bunch of things that don't belong to you.

So, either you ensure that no one that ever knew you posts things about you online or you get on top of it and make sure your "public profile" is "correct".

In a way we've just started moving back into the small town/settlement mode where everyone knows everyone else and what's going on around "town".

[Darren Dirt]

Well, here's the thing; right now Facebook, Google, Microsoft and a large number of Advertisers have a shadow profile for someone who very well might be you, if you provide information about yourself on Facebook or the like at least you get to set your own record rather than say having someone who doesn't like you tag your name onto a bunch of things that don't belong to you.

So, either you ensure that no one that ever knew you posts things about you online or you get on top of it and make sure your "public profile" is "correct".

In a way we've just started moving back into the small town/settlement mode where everyone knows everyone else and what's going on around "town".

Speaking of huge-user-base social media services having the ability to "profile" you... hey did ya hear what's happening in CHINA?

https://www.aclu.org/blog/free-future/chinas-nightmarish-citizen-scores-are-warning-americans

...the basics are this:

Everybody is measured by a score between 350 and 950, which is linked to their national identity card. While currently supposedly voluntary, the government has announced that it will be mandatory by 2020.

The system is run by two companies, Alibaba (like Amazon) and Tencent (like Facebook), which run all the social networks in China and therefore have access to a vast amount of data about people?s social ties and activities and what they say.

In addition to measuring your ability to pay, as in the United States, the scores serve as a measure of political compliance. Among the things that will hurt a citizen?s score are posting political opinions without prior permission, or posting information that the regime does not like, such as about the Tienanmen Square massacre that the government carried out to hold on to power, or the Shanghai stock market collapse.

It will hurt your score not only if you do these things, but if any of your friends do them. Imagine the social pressure against disobedience or dissent that this will create.

Anybody can check anyone else?s score online. (good idea in theory...) Among other things, this lets people find out which of their friends may be hurting their scores. (oops -- a kind of social shaming, peer pressure writ large, dang.)

Also used to calculate scores is information about hobbies, lifestyle, and shopping. Buying certain goods will improve your score, while others (such as video games) will lower it.

Those with higher scores are rewarded with concrete benefits. Those who reach 700, for example, get easy access to a Singapore travel permit, while those who hit 750 get an even more valued visa.

Sadly, many Chinese appear to be embracing the score as a measure of social worth, with almost 100,000 people bragging about their scores on the Chinese equivalent of Twitter.

...how fast this kind of info-sharing became the encouraged social expectaiton makes me think of this "Abstract Goose" web comic...


But seriously, on the subject of the linked article, OF COURSE no "western democracy" right now would think of doing anything like that, officially.

But many of the comments point out was that the elements are all there, even if not systematically linked (esp. not linked in a way exploited by The State). However, just imagine if something even presently gets you "flagged" and eventually you get accused of something for which there is completely-made-up-by-the-state "forensic evidence" against you ...and you are unable to adequately defend yourself against this accusation. Yikes. Scanner Darkly, I need to watch you again, brah.