When I first joined Facebook I'd sometimes see people join groups with strange names such as: "I lost my digits!" or "Michael's phone got stolen... I need your numbers" or "Digits for Helen please" or "Like a drunken fool, I lost my phone."
I clicked on a few of these groups to see what they were about and invariably they would be about how someone had just been parted with their mobile/cell phone and needed to input everyone's numbers again. The groups would almost always be open and public.
On the surface you'd expect this to be a brilliant way to recruit your friends' numbers. But... all these groups can be seen by anyone! I have no idea who Rell is, but I know his friends and their numbers. Do a search for "lost phone" on Facebook and you'll see groups like: "Hey there I lost all yal numbers" - am loving the reply that says, "u never had mine but its 972-xxx-xxxx."
In the last year or so, I haven't see these groups pop up any more. I figured people had got the message. But today another friend joined a "lost phone" group.
Check it out for yourself. A few enterprising application developers have also conjured up third-party apps to make it "easy" for people to recruit numbers from friends, but I have two quick, ingenious and private ways for you to get those numbers back!
1. Back them up NOW... write them in a book, back up your sim... whatever.
2. If you and your phone get separated, maybe email your friends and get them to email your numbers to you.
Relax! :) Sounds obvious doesn't it. Not for the countless people who've joined someone's "lost phone" group and broadcast their number for you, me, and anyone else who cares to look.
Sunday, 7 December 2008
Saturday, 6 December 2008
Christmas party season means photo albums galore!
Well, the Christmas party season has begun, and the images have started to pour into the Facebook photo album coffers. People, check them out! Not only for the brilliant gossip material, but for evidence of you looking a little worse for wear. No, that's not a Rorschach Blot - it is probably your bum from the office photocopier.
Had coffee today with a former work colleague. "Went to the office Christmas party," she told me. "You've probably seen the pictures that so-and-so put up?" Apparently, there were a few messy ones.
"No, she's not my Facebook friend."
Well, I didn't have to wait long to see her photos, as she'd tagged a mutual friend and her album was accessible by Friends of Friends!
Had coffee today with a former work colleague. "Went to the office Christmas party," she told me. "You've probably seen the pictures that so-and-so put up?" Apparently, there were a few messy ones.
"No, she's not my Facebook friend."
Well, I didn't have to wait long to see her photos, as she'd tagged a mutual friend and her album was accessible by Friends of Friends!
Tuesday, 25 November 2008
Facebook notification settings reset: implications
Today I received an email which may or may not have been from Facebook. It simply read:
I'm always on my guard when it comes to things like this, and feared it was a phishing scam where someone was trying to steal my details. After all, how could Facebook lose such important settings? Email notifications allow you to let Facebook send you alerts when something happens, so you don't have to constantly log into the site. But such alerts can be annoying -- you can get alerts for every tag, event or group invitation. So I've pretty much turned all of these off. Surely Facebook couldn't lose these settings?
Well, when I logged in to Facebook I got a similar message:
Logging into the notifications page, sure enough, most of my alerts had been reset so that I had to change THIRTY-TWO...(32) email alerts to "off".
Email alerts don't pose privacy problems as such; just annoying alerts (although if you use Facebook at work, such excessive alerts could be picked up by your IT/HR department so they can detect your activity). But the technical glitch does make you think of more serious scenarios, namely the loss of privacy settings. Does Facebook have these backed up? What if all privacy settings were suddenly reset and your profile was exposed to more people than you'd intended -- even though you, as a responsible and privacy-conscious Facebook user, had painstakingly set up your Facebook privacy profile?
I'm interested in hearing what Facebook has to say about it. In the meantime, I'm doing a screen shot or noting down my current privacy settings and double-checking a few things.
Unfortunately, the settings that control which email notifications get sent to you were lost. We're sorry for the inconvenience. To reset your email notification settings, go to: http://www.facebook.com/editaccount.php?notifications
Thanks, The Facebook Team
I'm always on my guard when it comes to things like this, and feared it was a phishing scam where someone was trying to steal my details. After all, how could Facebook lose such important settings? Email notifications allow you to let Facebook send you alerts when something happens, so you don't have to constantly log into the site. But such alerts can be annoying -- you can get alerts for every tag, event or group invitation. So I've pretty much turned all of these off. Surely Facebook couldn't lose these settings?
Well, when I logged in to Facebook I got a similar message:
Logging into the notifications page, sure enough, most of my alerts had been reset so that I had to change THIRTY-TWO...(32) email alerts to "off".Email alerts don't pose privacy problems as such; just annoying alerts (although if you use Facebook at work, such excessive alerts could be picked up by your IT/HR department so they can detect your activity). But the technical glitch does make you think of more serious scenarios, namely the loss of privacy settings. Does Facebook have these backed up? What if all privacy settings were suddenly reset and your profile was exposed to more people than you'd intended -- even though you, as a responsible and privacy-conscious Facebook user, had painstakingly set up your Facebook privacy profile?
I'm interested in hearing what Facebook has to say about it. In the meantime, I'm doing a screen shot or noting down my current privacy settings and double-checking a few things.
Monday, 24 November 2008
Teacher dismissed after Facebook faux pas
A North Carolina teacher complaining on her Facebook profile of working "in the ghetto of Charlotte" was suspended last week and risks being dismissed. The move has prompted teachers in the area to revise their policies on staff's online behaviour. The teacher did not mean for her flippant remark to be viewed by all and sundry, but it was uncovered after a search of teachers in the area.
Juror dismissed after asking friends to help make a decision!
All right, out of all the stupid things we've heard people do this week, this one takes the cake. A juror involved in a British child abduction and sexual assault case asked her Facebook friends to help make her decision!
Do these people not realise you aren't allowed to discuss these things even verbally, let alone on a public website? Geez!
Apparently, the woman said: "I don't know which way to go, so I'm holding a poll." She had not even turned on Facebook privacy settings.
Lady, check out the Facebook settings, sure, but don't risk contempt of court in the first place!
Do these people not realise you aren't allowed to discuss these things even verbally, let alone on a public website? Geez!
Apparently, the woman said: "I don't know which way to go, so I'm holding a poll." She had not even turned on Facebook privacy settings.
Lady, check out the Facebook settings, sure, but don't risk contempt of court in the first place!
Saturday, 22 November 2008
Inviting the whole world
A girl's 16th birthday party was ruined when 60 youths gatecrashed the private event after reading about it on Facebook, The Daily Telegraph reports.
Source: The Daily Telegraph
Events on Facebook are a handy way to coordinate parties and get-togethers. But many events are not made closed, meaning the details are technically readable by all and sundry. If you're a member of a network, your event may even be accessible via the network's home page!
The owner of the south London Baba Foundation community centre - which doubles as a restaurant - said he was horrified when the massive gang appeared outside after reading about the party on Facebook.
Daniel Sisilu said he 'blamed himself' for the trouble last Saturday after putting only one bouncer on the door.
He said he only agreed to the party because he was friend's with the teenage girl's mother.
He said: "I blame myself and I totally regret this. But I've been totally had.
"If you put an invite on Facebook then you are inviting the whole world to come along."
Source: The Daily Telegraph
Events on Facebook are a handy way to coordinate parties and get-togethers. But many events are not made closed, meaning the details are technically readable by all and sundry. If you're a member of a network, your event may even be accessible via the network's home page!
Friday, 21 November 2008
Your friends' applications are sucking your data!
Sounds like a long-winded B-grade horror movie title, doesn't it? Your friends' applications are sucking your data! But these third-party applications are very likely siphoning personal info from your profile, if you haven't adjusted privacy settings.
Confused? It's like this: each time your friends add an application, your info could be shared with developers whose applications you haven't even installed! This even extends to things like the type of relationship you're looking for, religious views, even your Wall!
Granted, not all these are on by default. But it shows how much Facebook developers can (and I hate this term but I'm going to use it) drill down to minute detail. Think of what marketers can do with this data!
To find out what info you're sharing, go to the Application Privacy page (under Privacy), and look at What Other Users Can See via the Facebook Platform. You can see a list of things that you can or can't share:
Tick or untick as appropriate. As you can see, you have no choice but to share your name, network and list of friends.
If you want absolutely nothing shared, then underneath this box, you may see "Do not share any information about me through the Facebook API". But very likely, if you've added any applications, this will be grayed out. Click on "Why can't I see this?" and you'll see this explanation:
Basically, this means you'll need to uninstall all the applications in order to turn off all sharing.
Confused? It's like this: each time your friends add an application, your info could be shared with developers whose applications you haven't even installed! This even extends to things like the type of relationship you're looking for, religious views, even your Wall!
Granted, not all these are on by default. But it shows how much Facebook developers can (and I hate this term but I'm going to use it) drill down to minute detail. Think of what marketers can do with this data!
To find out what info you're sharing, go to the Application Privacy page (under Privacy), and look at What Other Users Can See via the Facebook Platform. You can see a list of things that you can or can't share:
- Events I'm invited to
- My Photos
- Photos of me
- Relationship status
- Online presence
- What type of relationship I'm looking for
- Which gender I'm interested in
- Who I'm in a relationship with
- Religious views
If you want absolutely nothing shared, then underneath this box, you may see "Do not share any information about me through the Facebook API". But very likely, if you've added any applications, this will be grayed out. Click on "Why can't I see this?" and you'll see this explanation:
You are unable to fully opt out of sharing information through Facebook Platform because you are currently using applications built on Platform. To enable this option, you need to remove any applications you have added, and remove your permissions to all external applications that you may have used.
Basically, this means you'll need to uninstall all the applications in order to turn off all sharing.
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