Site auto-trawls embarrassing Facebook posts A new site illustrates the privacy perils of users who leave their public updates searchable outside of Facebook. Youropenbook (formerly Facebooksearch) allows interested parties to search for status updates containing potentially embarrassing information such as "playing hooky", "stupid boss" or "control urges" simply by …
I believe that functionality is present in the "comments" link at the bottom of the article.
Presumably, anyone reading this falls into that masochistic category, and will be slightly annoyed at this posting, which will be inadvertently filed into the "FB used by idiots" category.
It it just me who is missing the point of social networking?
I only joined facebook because my sister put up a photo of me when I was a baby. I created an account, looked at the photo, sent her a message telling her to take the photo down and promptly forgot about the site.
Within days I started getting messages from ex-girlfriends, old friends and various other people that I had deliberately not given new phone numbers to over time.
The last people to become friends with me were the closest people to me, the ones I spend the most amount of time with.
I didn't ever feel the need to search for people because it didnt feel right. If I want to speak to a friend I'll phone them or text them. If I don't phone them or text them then chances are I dont want to post a message on their wall for the whole world to see. And I probably cant be arsed with reading their messages either. If I have something to say I will come and say it to you in person. No need to hide
It's about social status. That's why posts are called status updates. It's just another method of self-justification. People feel more important when they can convince themselves that they have a lot of friends.
As a test, disable your facebook account for a couple of days and see how many of your friends ring ou up to ask where you went.
Facebook FOAD.
Why post your opinion to countless anonymous people you don't know on a forum? Why not come and tell us face to face? No need to hide. If you can't phone or text us the chances are we don't want you to post a message on this forum for the whole world to see. We can't be arsed reading your messages.
Is it all about social status? Another method of self-justification? Do you feel more important when you can convince yourself you have a lot of people listening?
etc
There's no difference. Stop kidding yourself you're above it.
Actually the facebook settings are far easier to set up, my 9 year niece manage to do it herself in five minutes, facebook profile completly lock down, she gave up trying to programme a vcr after 10 minutes, a little experiment I did especially for this site an the article .
Fact is people are lazy an will not spend the five minutes it takes to lock down a facebook profile to keep everything private, there fault not facebook.
Yeah may be what I am doing is taking the lazy open source approach, it aint the software it the users, but then again a nine year old girl can do it, so I cannot understand while these supposedly privacy expert, IT experts find it so hard to do, may be they have a alterior to make it seem hard to do.
It's just bloody frustrating when they always add new options that you have to lock down. Especially if the default is "fuck it, make my shit public" and no one tells you your profile has been wide open for several days. Even Fuckerburg was caught out by it when he changed the privacy settings on everyone's pictures. Are his pictures public now though? Are they fuck. He changed his personal settings back to private, after embarrassing himself, and the millions of others he caught out with his websites nasty little stunt.
THAT's why people complain. It's like selling someone a bicycle then constantly breaking in to their house to add an extra wheel or take one off so that they wake up in the morning with a fucking unicycle or something. It's just not on.
...here who actually acknowledges that he uses FB, doesn't post vast screes of personal data (in fact I don't think there's any personal data on it beyond name), doesn't try and "friend" every idiot who tries to link to him, isn't gripped by some dark sociopathic (or in my case masochistic) urge to track down ex-girl friends (they're ex's for a frickin' reason) and generally thinks "meh" and ignores everything going on on FB?
It's just another email system. If you don't want people to know everything about you, don't tell them. It's kinda like life in that respect.
Love the pointless frickin' whinging from people who claim not to use it. Why bitch if it has sod all to do with you?
The other people who "generally think[s] "meh" and ignores everything going on on FB" are the ones who do not have a FaceBook account.
And, for email, FaceBook is now an email system ? If that is the case, then why on Earth do you specifically choose the most sewer-laden system in the world when you go with, heck, even Hotmail would be better at this point ?
Finally, concerning the "bitching", well, we're on the Internet. What did you do here if not bitch as well, but on another tack ?
Get over it.
"why on Earth do you specifically choose the most sewer-laden system in the world"...
Some people only send messages out on facebook. Some people only use facebook to stay in touch. So, if you want to hear from those people, you join facebook or miss out.
Some people use facebook to send out work calls (audtions, interview notices, etc) that they don't send out on other systems, email or otherwise. Join a couple of casting groups on facebook and look at the thousands of pounds/dollars of work they do through it.
What amazes me is the people who DO NOT enable security.
Its the whole "yeah I'm tellin' the whole world about my [medical condition | life | unauthorised work absence]".
For {insert deity} sake .. enable the security and restrict it to FRIENDS ONLY !
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