Facebook privacy

[Andeh13]

I've just found out my profile (ie everything about me) can be pretty much be seen by every dick, joe & harry. I've been trying to change my privacy settings to friends & networks only but every time i change it, it doesn't save. I've tried clicking on the drop down boxes and making the selection, but every time I do, whenever I navigate away from the page and come back to it, the change has been reversed back to 'friends of friends'.

Am i doing something wrong? iv tried it with both firefox & IE.

thanks guys

[Rob_B]

I had this (kinda) there is no 'Save' button at the bottom of some privacy pages, I just changed it a few times & clicked the top-right drop down box to go to my account again & that seemed to take after a few tries.

FB do my head in, I changed my settings to hide pretty much everything after that last change then they open it all up again!!! Grrr...seriously thinking of deleting my account (considering it's primary use is people showing off or giving random 'funny' update) but pressure to have an account is suprisingly high!

[Powderhound]

Thanks for flagging this; I suddenly realised that it had set all my interests and music and so on to be visible to everyone! What the hell do they think they're doing?

[digit]

You'll want to have a read through the following: http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/04...vil-interfaces same site has a few more articles about facebook and privacy

[Georgy291]

i think its completely fine, i dont care who reads my profile. if your not happy about it then delete profile. Dont just moan on stuff like here. You know what you were signing up for should have made a decision then.

sorry this is a little harsh but.......

im already annoyed to death with moaning like this about facebook privacy. you opened your account, no one else done it for you. so you knew what you were doing.

edit: i dont use my facebook for silly status updates, facebook seems to be the only way my uni can distribute information about events etc

[Rob_B]

i think its completely fine, i dont care who reads my profile. if your not happy about it then delete profile. Dont just moan on stuff like here. You know what you were signing up for should have made a decision then.

sorry this is a little harsh but.......

im already annoyed to death with moaning like this about facebook privacy. you opened your account, no one else done it for you. so you knew what you were doing.

It was opened when the ability to use it only to communicate with friends in private was available, not having my details freely available to everyone & getting them sold to advetisers with little to no checking done to see if they're legit. The facebook today is not the same as it was when I (& lots of others) signed up, that's why people are 'moaning'

[Andeh13]

i think its completely fine, i dont care who reads my profile. if your not happy about it then delete profile. Dont just moan on stuff like here. You know what you were signing up for should have made a decision then.

sorry this is a little harsh but.......

im already annoyed to death with moaning like this about facebook privacy. you opened your account, no one else done it for you. so you knew what you were doing.

edit: i dont use my facebook for silly status updates, facebook seems to be the only way my uni can distribute information about events etc

I created my Facebook account around 4 years ago, and set it up so only friends could see me. This is the 3rd time i have had to go back and change my privacy settings because every time the powers that be update it, they seem to reset all my privacy stuff.

My gripe is the fact that it took me nearly 2 hours of selecting the 'friends only', refreshing it & seeing it not having changed before it finally stuck. You might not care about your privacy, but with an active social life, a daughter & a variety of conquests in various forms there are certain parts of my profile I would rather certain people, like you....and everyone else, not knowing.

[jim]

i think its completely fine, i dont care who reads my profile. if your not happy about it then delete profile. Dont just moan on stuff like here. You know what you were signing up for should have made a decision then.

sorry this is a little harsh but.......

im already annoyed to death with moaning like this about facebook privacy. you opened your account, no one else done it for you. so you knew what you were doing.

edit: i dont use my facebook for silly status updates, facebook seems to be the only way my uni can distribute information about events etc

There's a difference between being over the top about Facebook's privacy values, and getting irritated because they keep messing around with it.

I think it was a few months back, they revamped the whole thing so you could very specifically state what would be public, and what would be private - rather than a catch-all private/public switch. I'm guessing that's what caused the most recent mess. I think mine's always been friends only, the entire lot, so I've been okay.

[Biscuit]

aw man you mean i cant spy on you guys anymore

[Stringent]

Its stuff like this which really keeps me on the not joining side. I'd be one who locks my profile down completely (for reasons which will go off topic!).

He opened his account and applied privacy settings which suited him. He shouldn't have to change these again, and Facebook should not apply changes without making people review (force if need be) the changes they (Facebook) have made first before opening up peoples profiles.

[Rob_B]

10 Reasons to quit facebook

[Georgy291]

10 Reasons to quit facebook

theres only 1 reason there, just repeated 10 times

[TooNice]

Probably not too different from other social networking sites. My stance on social networking site is to never put information you would not give a complete stranger down the pub. Granted, by default, they can work out some of the people I know but that's a fair price for the service itself I guess.

[jim]

Yeah that's what I think.

I don't chuck everything out there, because frankly it's nobody's business... not a future employer's, and not a current mate's either. Everything I put on, I would be happy for my grandparents/employer so on to read, so it doesn't concern me.

[Rob_B]

But what can your friends/family put about you?...

anyway, it's our own fault, we can always not sign up or close our accounts, but we don't, as it's nice to nosey at other people sometimes

[Saracen]

Probably not too different from other social networking sites. My stance on social networking site is to never put information you would not give a complete stranger down the pub. Granted, by default, they can work out some of the people I know but that's a fair price for the service itself I guess.

Surely it's very different from telling a bloke down the pub. If you do that., the likelihood is only the bloke down the pub will know, with perhaps one of two people overhearing, and he might (or might not) mention it to anyone else. If he does, it's likely to be a few people. He's not likely to put it in a database that can be shared in ways neither he nor you appreciate, and he's not likely to be running a large corporation that data-mines it.

My attitude is simple - with any service of this type, I assume there are privacy implications. Every time I've the the terms and conditions for this type of service, there have always been provisions allowing them to change the basis of their operation, to export personal data outside the EU where our own data protection legislation doesn't apply, and to sell the company and the data it has collected.

In other words, if you sign up, accept you have little control over how any information you provide will be used, now or in the future.

If you're happy with that and want the service, fine. Just do it 'eyes open'.

But I will never sign up for this type of service for exactly that reason. If you find someone on such a service appearing to me (though I've no idea why anyone would bother) it'll be a fake, not me. I reject such services on the basis of what they might lead to, not necessarily how they do things now. After all, even a Venus Flytrap or Sundew looks attractive to it's prey .... right before it gets eaten. That's my choice, and all I would advise anyone else is to understand what they're agreeing to before they agree to it, and if they still want to do it, that's their choice.