Be Careful If You Have Facebook

[rekcaSxT]

We all know FB suggests friends for us to add on the right of the page right? I was just on FB and saw a familiar face. It was the face of a fellow hobbyist who I know well and trust, but it was really weird. We no mutual friends on FB, and I have a separate hobby email that I ONLY use in this world. The email address I use for FB is totally different.

THEN I look over and see the profile for a provider I have seen before.

I am concerned I don't know how FB knows this stuff without spying on me. And if FB somehow connects the dots and we know they will freely share info with the govt this could be bad.

I personally love FB as a way to keep up with real world friends and family, but in THIS world there are grudges and SOME of us don't like to play fair. Please be careful out there. You might set your profile to be completely private to non friends.

I will contact the people whose profiles I saw in a private manner so they are aware.

[thehobbydude]

You need to set up your profile so it doesn't show up in any search. I also hide my friends and family from everyone so that no one can see who's on my friends list, regardless if you're a friend or not.

[Guest020612]

Thanks for this post, I had a similar incident occur and my FB is not public. I contacted them to find out how it happened and they (FB) told me that they auto-scan your contacts on any mobile device, including the iPads. You must unsync them manually each time you go in. So even if you don't have your emails connected, it draws names, numbers, etc.

According to FB this is perfectly legal under eTrust but I don't think so. Also, keep in mind they scan the faces and background of pictures for friends to suggest. This is another way your worlds can collide. Also, if you send any of this information through the messaging system to those you "really" know, it caputures as well.

I no longer have or use FB on any mobile device or browser.

[Booth]

Only use FB on a dedicated browser. Use a separate browser for absolutely everything else. Otherwise, FB will know about EVERY SINGLE website you visit, including this one.

[rekcaSxT]

Thanks for the info everyone. Between this computer and my smartphone, my emails, eccie, FB have all been cross contaminated I guess. This sucks. I am going high security with FB.

Two things I have going for me on FB is, 1. my default photo right now is not actually a picture of me. 2. FB shows my last name as something else that it really is, so if someone saw my profile they 1. wouldnt recognize the picture and 2. wouldn't have my real last name.

[discretionaryincome]

I found out that one of my ex-girlfriends friends was providing because Facebook connected my contacts from a hobby email address when I responded to an ad. Major security risk from facebook. Not really sure how to fix it either

[kingorpawn]

Originally Posted by Booth

Only use FB on a dedicated browser. Use a separate browser for absolutely everything else. Otherwise, FB will know about EVERY SINGLE website you visit, including this one.

This is correct. Facebook uses the 'Like' buttons on websites to track your browsing habits and they log it.

[Hush of Texas]

I thought this was weird too! Cant tell you how many times i have looked over and seen a familar name (sometimes people i have not even met, but know the name!) Pretty creepy and not a good thing! I think everyone should put their profile on private! You can also change the way your name appears... that way if even someone does see a friend suggestion, they wont see your real name!

[rrrabbit]

Incidentally, you should also be careful if you have compu poo STDs.

[Guest012212]

Same here... I open facebook (which I use to communicate with a FEW friends and family) and see a suggested friend. The face looks familiar, but I don't recognize the name.

I go to here FB page, look at her info, a few more photos and WHAM... That's one of my providers.

I'm amazed that FB could connect us like that.

[Whispers]

Does anyone know exactly WHAT the conditions are that allows facebook to farm the info here on ECCIe and start presenting it to the world under facebook when you are there?

Everyone makes different generic suggestions.....

With all the geeks around here someone has to know EXACTLY what conditions need to exist that allows that connection to be made.

I use Facebook and ECCIE on the same computer and never see this problem.

But I use different email addresses on Facebook than I do here... maybe that is why?...

[WyldemanATX]

It does not matter what email you use.. FB fishes your history... Best thing to do is install C Cleaner on your PC and run it everyday. Also delete your history everyday as well.

[BFE]

and, remember to use separate browsers.

[GneissGuy]

Even if YOU don't make any mistakes, your friends can. Suppose I have Whispers RealWorld e-mail and name in my address book. If I sign up for Facebook, and want to add my mom as a Facebook friend, FB will try to get me to let it look mom up in my yahoo address book. If I allow it to do so, I, Whispers, and my mom are now linked in facebook. If I have Whispers and TyphoidMary in my yahoo address book, they're both linked to my facebook account.

It's a bit like the incidents where some airheaded provider or hobbyist accidentally sends an e-mail to their entire address book and doesn't hide the addresses. Then throw in those who put RW names on HW addresses and mix RW and HW in the same address book.

If you want to be safe, you have to not let anyone in HobbyWorld have your RealWorld info. Even if Facebook isn't the privacy risk, there are other threats out there trying to track everything you do and sell the info.

You also need separate computers, e-mails, etc. for HW and RW. If separate computers aren't practical, you might use something like VMWare or Microsoft Virtual PC to create a virtual machine for hobbying. A dual boot PC would be better than a virtual machine.

Failing that, use different browsers or close your browser and clear all private information between hobby and real world. Even then, it's hard to really delete all your private information. For instance, there are "flash cookies" that stay around, even if you delete your cookies, and a few other dirty tricks that keep you from protecting your privacy. By the way, get the "Better Privacy" plugin for Firefox and it will help you clear out flash cookies.

If you're using the same computer, there's always the risk you accidentally use the wrong window, etc.

Even if you have separate computers, virtual machines, or browsers, there's still a theoretical risk that different sites will cooperate based on IP addresses. Browsing a web site always gives away your IP address. Many e-mail clients and systems rat out your IP address to anyone you send an e-mail to. Unless you have separate broadband connections, there are theoretical risks there, too.

Most of us aren't going to go to the trouble to do a lot of these things. You have to gauge the risks and decide how far to take your security efforts. Face it, if were were really careful, we wouldn't be hobbying, would we?

[Whispers]

Originally Posted by GneissGuy

Most of us aren't going to go to the trouble to do a lot of these things. You have to gauge the risks and decide how far to take your security efforts. Face it, if were were really careful, we wouldn't be hobbying, would we?

I agree... There are a lot of other risks present

but.....

Ya gotta admit that there is no piece of software more popular or website people are more obsessed with than Facebook.....

And the risk for it drawing hobby connections and shoving them out is realworld people is rather unsettling.

personally....

I have a very small facebook presence and log into it only a couple of times a month....

But I know people that LIVE on it.... 24/7... always logged in... home, work, phones.....

always "checking in.....

Big Brother?

We were worried about being spied on?

We have millions of idiots simply TELLING the world where they are and what they are doing everywhere they go