Does it worry you that fb and co. collect this much information about you?

[EEEEEEP]

We all love convenience! We love how we can find out:
-   Where are the local shops?
-   Places of local events?
-   How to get to places?
-   Where are the cheapest local restaurants?

What is needed for all of THIS? OUR DATA. Data is needed to make these decisions… Data on everything from all of our actions to all locations to all of our events.

Google and Facebook have GIGS of data on you (that’s right, folders and folders of data on information about you).
It may scare you or not that, all of this is tracked and kept by big companies! This has huge implications.

This is a 2018 article. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/mar/28/all-the-data-facebook-google-has-on-you-privacy
((Yes if that map scares you… they keep that much data on you and really do track you that much))
.....
Here is what I found from downloading my own data from Fb!

LIKE why do they even need that info?!

Spoiler

Spoiler

.....
What are your thoughts?

[Aaron]

Did a show that just aired on tv prompt you to post this? I think it was called Secrets of Silicon Valley or something.. they were showing how you can identify personality based on fb likes etc...... if not, what a coincidence this is.

With advertisements on the big social networks - if you've ever wondered why there's an advertisement for a brand new PC if you've been looking at parts or looking at online catalogs etc... I think we just realistically need to accept that this is a norm in the digital world and assume that nothing we do online is "private", regardless of what you visit or do.

If you have a problem with that, disconnect yourself from the digital space and don't leave a footprint.

To find places near you, you have to turn on location services (I mean, realistically we could try and guess based on geolocation from the IP address and/or hometown/current city data on fb... but that for the most part isn't accurate). You essentially give permission for your specific location to be used. That's a choice that you as the consumer/user make.

I mean, I think a lot of us use social media services without thinking of the consequences. Sure they're marketed as a great tool for keeping in touch with friends.. but what are you ACTUALLY doing when you hit OK  on the share my location prompt to tag your friends in a post at an 18th at some venue in your suburb? Facebook for e.g. is a massive database and while your post remains intact on your timeline, so is that location data (even when the post is deleted/removed... it is questionable what happens with that data).

I would imagine all this is in their Terms somewhere.... it's just like any site that requires registration. "I accept the terms" (even though I also haven't read the terms).

So from my perspective.. no it doesn't matter that the information is being collected about me, because for the most part, I can control what I am sharing and have knowledge that I am giving permission for them to do so.

I see one of your pages that has been downloaded is "face recognition"... Again, only possible if you upload a profile picture which is a choice made by you. My profile does not have a facebook profile picture on purpose because I truly want it to be private and only people who know me personally are on it.

Just my thoughts.

[turinturambar]

Does it bother me?  Absolutely it does!  The big companies now have unprecedented access to information on us, and they are not strongly regulated or bound by legal conventions in the same way as a country is.

At the same time, though, I don't think either Google or Facebook are fundamentally evil.  But they are trying to act in their best interests, which may not be our best interests, and so caution is required.

Advertising is a mixed bag as well.  Sometimes it's nice to have more targeted ads, as it's more likely they will be useful.  Other times it's just creepy or manipulative.  And I am fascinated by how much we can learn about ourselves and others from data.

What concerns me most is that once the information is there it's very difficult to get rid of it (though EU is trying to make it easier to get rid of personal information - we'll see how it goes).

And it's not just available to the big companies internally.  With the appropriate warrants it can be available to governments. And that bothers me more, because government overreach is a thing.  Every government official and every police officer wants a little bit more for solving their own personal problems for the good of society, and it slowly slides towards a surveillence state.  So long as there is a good enough reason (terrorism, anyone?), most people will accept reductions in privacy in the expectation that it will help get the bad guys and won't affect them (I'm not sure either is true).  But here's the thing: Internet data stays round for a long time.  No-one knows how our innocent activities today will be viewed in 20 years time. Hindsight judgement can be damning.

Privacy has to be viewed as a fundamental, not as a cause for suspicion ("obviously you've got something to hide"), even though the former Google CEO Eric Schmidt said something like that.

In short: Yes, I'm worried.  No, I haven't deleted my accounts on Google or Facebook, and don't have any expectation of doing so any time soon.

[TheBigC]

If we examine their actions logically, I believe we have no realistic prerogative with which to express anger or true concern against Facebook. Facebook is an organisation or business. It runs like any other business, offering a service at the cost of a transaction. In this instance, we are being offered a "free" and convenient method of communication in exchange for our data. Moreover, we CHOOSE which data we upload to the internet, thus we have a significant amount of freedom as to what we allow for them to acquire, in terms of our proffered data. Lastly, Facebook is making our world a better place, not only through its substantiation of a global communication network, however, also through its targeted advertisements. These advertisements enable for us to purchase relevant (sometimes) products, improving the economy, as well as aiding in the growth of business. Now, I must establish some level of introspection in acknowledging that there can be a duplicitous aspect of this 'transaction', such as what occurred in the case of Cambridge Analytica, but we must ensure that we consider that WE caused this. WE partook in this transaction when WE signed up.

[PhoenixxFire]

Doesn’t worry me because it is our choice what we put on the internet. I do wish it was easier to see what information they were collecting and enable/disable certain information.

[heids]

It's exactly what I've always expected all successful companies to do.  It's been a thing for decades - all the supermarkets have done it on a lower level for years, for instance.  If you want to make money off people, you have to know their preferences and life situations.

So I'm not in the slightest bit shocked, have always expected it, and figure - hey, what are they gonna do to me?  I'm not important or rich enough for anyone to be out to get me in particular.  What gigantic consequences can there actually be?  Feel free to map my personality, my location, my preferences; you may use it to get more money from me, but what else can you do?

This may be very ignorant.  If so, please enlighten me

[Bri MT]

I used to not have a photo of myself on Facebook,  never share information about location (school name etc.) but then I found that my friends would still tag in photos,  location tag etc. and I decided that I'd rather conform than request that they stop doing that.

There are still this I do to reduce my digital footprint (eg. I usually have location services turned off and Google pesters me to turn on location tracking)

It's an informed decision I made, so I don't feel outraged or scared about the consequences.

Should there be an option to share this information with your friends across the internet conveniently without corporations using it?  Maybe, but I knew that that isn't what I signed up for,  and I'm not sure who would provide that as an option.

[Erutepa]

I think it would be a fair statement to say that most people (atleast those up-to-date with technology social media) are well aware and accepting of how these companies extract our data and use it to, in one way or another, make money. I think the question of whether people are scared is fairly well answered as most people have just kinda learned that this is the way social media is. I belive the more relevant question is whether or not we should be concerned or not and for what reason. People ought not to be so worried about the idea that their internet habbits and activity is being analysed, as it arguably leads to a better more efficicent intenet browsing experience. What I see as a bigger matter of concern in the way in which this data is used is how it can lead to a compartementalised society where you live you life surrouneded only with the information that facebook wants you to see. This would subsequently lead, no doubt, to a world in which most are somewhat ignorant to the rest of the world around them due to a 'tailored life-experience'.
But that's just my opinoin.

[vox nihili]

The idea that everyone who uses these platforms is aware of the amount of data being collected by these companies is pretty far off the mark imo. I think the outrage that people have expressed in response to the latest kerfuffle about all of this is indicative of that fact.

Facebook provides a really important service to people, which isn't really a way I think people look at its role. It provides a social service that many people would function less well without. Certainly, most of us could testify to the fact that we'd feel like we were missing out if we weren't on Facebook and be fearful that our social circles might shrink without it (something that becomes less of a concern as we get older of course!). So the decision for many I think is to put that ahead of the fairly esoteric and poorly understood concerns about collection of data, most of which is probably beyond the average user of Facebook. So whilst people are aware that it happens, I suspect that they don't really understand the full extent of it or how it can impact them.

It certainly gives Facebook an unprecedented level of control over what happens in the world. Hence a lot of the concerns about Facebook's role in influencing the results of elections. If indeed it is the case that our personal data can be used to do this, this is probably a step too far?




Personally, I have one weird Facebook story. Part of my psych rotation saw me placed in a facility that mainly deals with PTSD. I hadn't googled PTSD that week (I worked off slides) and hadn't talked to anyone over Facebook about where we were, and yet Facebook produced ads for me the next week about services available to veterans. Spooky shit!

[EEEEEEP]

Personally, I have one weird Facebook story. Part of my psych rotation saw me placed in a facility that mainly deals with PTSD. I hadn't googled PTSD that week (I worked off slides) and hadn't talked to anyone over Facebook about where we were, and yet Facebook produced ads for me the next week about services available to veterans. Spooky shit!

I definitely feel you with that story! It is spooky!

I had whatsapp left on, during a chat with a friend (and I mentioned RAYBANS a few times). Somehow... I got rayban and shoe ads on facebook.

In regards to the other aspect of your q, yeah! (If Mark did have a political bias, he could influence what people see on Facebook)!  While this wasn't political, Facebook was accused of manipulating feeds for experiments.

[Lear]

Papa New Guinea recently decided to ban facebook for a whole month in order to root out fake users or something. I wonder what happen to the world if one day facebook just stopped being there for a month or so. It would be an extremely interesting study to do. Would there be mass hysteria?
 I feel like facebook has almost become a common necessity for people to function these days. It is almost as if one cannot have a friend circle or be 'in touch' with others without facebook. I see this in my self too as I barely use text messaging or calling over using facebook's messenger. It is scary how much society has become invested in the product of one company. Facebook has much more power than an average person would assume.

[heids]

What's the big problem with them having that much information about us?   (I always expected that various companies, collectively, can and would collect basically everything not done in private browsing mode, so I can't see all the fuss because it just seemed obvious to me)

[Lear]

What's the big problem with them having that much information about us?   (I always expected that various companies, collectively, can and would collect basically everything not done in private browsing mode, so I can't see all the fuss because it just seemed obvious to me)

This is a very common view of the general population and it is entirely justified. This is the same thought process I go through when I hear about companies collecting data
I mean why should we care that they have information on us? It’s not like they can do anything to us other than try to sell us goods. It’s not like I’m gullible enough to click of those silly ads anyway.

The real issue is not the fact that Facebook elected trump or Facebook knows where we go. In my opinion it is the susceptibility of humans. Remember Facebook is both a information taker and a giver. Using our habits they can literally show us what we want to see. It has the power to systematically shift our perceptions and this is frankly terrifying. It has profiles of a billion people and already runs human manipulation experiments and is heavily invested in AI technology. Sure this information may now only be used to trick us into impulsively buying stuff or shifting our opinion on a topic. But at what point does this stop? At what point does the manipulation of humans become unethical?

In my view the crux of the issue is not what companies can do with our data right now. But what they can do with it in the future. Obviously this isn’t limited to Facebook. Companies such as google and Microsoft also collect a lot of information.

[sweetiepi]

Personally don't see the issue with the data collected by websites. You agree to the data being collected by agreeing to a website or an app's terms of use/service (who actually reads those anyways ) and by having a digital footprint.

I saw somewhere that on an Android phone without location services on actually tracks your location (less precisely) more often than a phone that has its location services on, but I don't have a clue on how reliable that information is. Google also uses these use these locations as analytics to tell you if a place is busy or not like below (from googling the State Library of Victoria), so I don't have too much of an issues there either.


Sidenote: I had a dream about TimTams a few weeks ago and then it came up as a post on Facebook. If they can read my dreams, that's a tad weird.

[vox nihili]

Personally don't see the issue with the data collected by websites. You agree to the data being collected by agreeing to a website or an app's terms of use/service (who actually reads those anyways ) and by having a digital footprint.

I saw somewhere that on an Android phone without location services on actually tracks your location (less precisely) more often than a phone that has its location services on, but I don't have a clue on how reliable that information is. Google also uses these use these locations as analytics to tell you if a place is busy or not like below (from googling the State Library of Victoria), so I don't have too much of an issues there either.
(Image removed from quote.)

Sidenote: I had a dream about TimTams a few weeks ago and then it came up as a post on Facebook. If they can read my dreams, that's a tad weird.

Pretty sure this is actually how Google maps gives you traffic overlays on the map too. It just tracks how quickly people are moving based on location services!!