# How private is facebook really?



## Raain (Jan 3, 2012)

I've heard that facebook is developing an app that will automatically show your facebook friends your location, notify them when you are nearby and send you adverts from local buisnesses. I've also heard about automatic facial recognition which apparently the European court has forced facebook to ban in Europe, I've heard that facebook collects a wealth of data about you and your online activity through facebook social plugin and I've become aware that facebook has the rights to all this data also including your pictures, videos and posts and that even if you delete your profile all this information is still there.

A coworker even got himself sacked after posting information about work on his facebook page which apparently the company was able to find by screening for key words which flagged his post up and they could read everything.

Is facebook a violation of privacy or am I just overeacting?

also how private and secure is our online identity anyway, what about this forum how difficult would it be for someone or even your employer to be able to find your posts and tell who you are?


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## Death Persuades (Feb 17, 2012)

Nothing is private on the internet.


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## Doll (Sep 6, 2012)

Not private at all. I'm enjoying my last days of facebook, because I know as soon as I finish up my training, I'll be told to delete it.


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## Death Persuades (Feb 17, 2012)

Doll said:


> Not private at all. I'm enjoying my last days of facebook, because I know as soon as I finish up my training, I'll be told to delete it.


O_O Super secret spy?


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## Doll (Sep 6, 2012)

josue0098 said:


> O_O Super secret spy?


LOL not quite. Just run of the mill sworn officer / intelligence investigator.


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## Death Persuades (Feb 17, 2012)

Doll said:


> LOL not quite. Just run of the mill sworn officer / intelligence investigator.


:O I better watch what I say now!


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## Doll (Sep 6, 2012)

josue0098 said:


> :O I better watch what I say now!


I'll be watching u.


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## Talon (Feb 15, 2012)

Facebook is the devil.


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## bluekitdon (Dec 19, 2012)

My general rule of thumb is don't put anything in writing unless you wouldn't be completely embarrassed to have it posted on the front page of the local paper.


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## DarkWarrior (Sep 21, 2011)

The only privacy one can hope to find from face book is there are so many individuals shouting at once that people are most likely not going to hear you... unless they are specifically listening to you. It's the same amount of privacy you get being in an overly crowed hub of people like an airport or mall, Except you're also Wearing a T-Shirt telling the world about yourself.


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## donkeybals (Jan 13, 2011)

No, I mean facebook in theory is cool and everything, when it was new. But people were taking it way too seriously, and big corporations get their hands on things and turn a good thing bad. 

I don't know, I never trusted it, with their facial recognition and what not. I prefer niche forums like PerC, I like my privacy and anonymity on the interwebz.


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## SuburbanLurker (Sep 26, 2010)

This private:










And the same goes for everything else related to the internet. If it's not encrypted it's not private.


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## TheProcrastinatingMaster (Jun 4, 2012)

I kind of like Facebook, but the first thing you should realise with the internet is that very little is private. If you're ultra paranoid you could get Tor though.


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## KneeSeekerArrow (Jan 8, 2012)

Facebook is as for privacy as the Catholic church is against pederasty and child molestation.


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## emerald sea (Jun 4, 2011)

there is no Bill of Rights guaranteeing you privacy on Facebook, and the law's treatment of online privacy is in flux now as legislators debate the issue. all your current privacy could be revoked tomorrow...or later today, for that matter, with some new upgrade of the site. i'm not saying that _will_ happen, because Facebook does have a clientele to keep happy in order to stay solvent as a business, but it always _could_ happen. 

privacy is seldom permanent; it is the nature of people (including people in charge of social networking sites) sometimes to reveal that which was intended to be kept secret. i'm not condoning that, just stating what is the reality. this is true regardless of pertinent laws, since laws are often broken. 

the only real way to _ensure_ anything that you alone know isn't publicized by another human is never to let the information ever cross your lips...in verbal, written, or cyber form.


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## pepsivanilla93 (Dec 8, 2012)

This is when I figured how un-private my life had become with the use of facebook. Some related Uncle to my family was taking a group photo of us, then said, "Everyone say FACEBOOK!" It was at that moment that I realized he could tag me in it. I would have given no consent to him using that picture of facebook, but the shear innocence of taking a photo and tagging me in it online, can lead a whole new path towards people 'stalking' me through it, especially police agencies. That's just not the type of vanity I like to live with.


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## Alumina (Jan 22, 2013)

The invention of facebook seems too publicised to be private, however the 'private' option is there to be looked as though it is private.


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