Facebook.

[Notes_Norton]

Facebook, along with google, twitter and the others are voluntary spyware. That's the truth.

 

If it's free, you aren't the customer, you are the product. After saying all that, I'm on but in very limited fashion, family and a few close friends only, and the only parts of my profile filled out are what was required. If my children didn't live so far away, I wouldn't be on at all. But they are of the generation that texts and facebooks instead of good old e-mail and telephones.

 

Here is my Facebook 'poem'

 

ODE TO FACEBOOK

 

Oh Facebook how are you today?

I visit you most every day

 

And everything I do or say

you put into my dossier

 

Where was I born? what was my school?

Enter your job, be very cool

 

You even know my family

and everything that's dear to me

 

My information's gold to you

it sells to stores and spammers too

 

If I click "like" or I repost

your clients will dig me the most

 

I click an ad merely to look?

the ad man pulls to set the hook

 

It'll be in my e-mail today

and web page ads, day after day

 

And It'll waste, my precious time

and you'll receive another dime

 

I wouldn't mind the money you make

if a commission I could take

 

I'd like to get twenty percent

but you don't offer one red cent

 

So Facebook please let's make a deal

just cut me in, no need to steal

 

I'll finish my profile if you do

and we will profit, both me and you

 

© Bob Norton (as if anyone would

want to steal this <wink/grin>)

[dbrian66]

Facebook, along with google, twitter and the others are voluntary spyware. That's the truth.

 

If it's free, you aren't the customer, you are the product. After saying all that, I'm on but in very limited fashion, family and a few close friends only, and the only parts of my profile filled out are what was required. If my children didn't live so far away, I wouldn't be on at all. But they are of the generation that texts and facebooks instead of good old e-mail and telephones.

 

Here is my Facebook 'poem'

 

ODE TO FACEBOOK

 

Oh Facebook how are you today?

I visit you most every day

 

And everything I do or say

you put into my dossier

 

Where was I born? what was my school?

Enter your job, be very cool

 

You even know my family

and everything that's dear to me

 

My information's gold to you

it sells to stores and spammers too

 

If I click "like" or I repost

your clients will dig me the most

 

I click an ad merely to look?

the ad man pulls to set the hook

 

It'll be in my e-mail today

and web page ads, day after day

 

And It'll waste, my precious time

and you'll receive another dime

 

I wouldn't mind the money you make

if a commission I could take

 

I'd like to get twenty percent

but you don't offer one red cent

 

So Facebook please let's make a deal

just cut me in, no need to steal

 

I'll finish my profile if you do

and we will profit, both me and you

 

© Bob Norton (as if anyone would

want to steal this <wink/grin>)

 

Great poem! Made me smile.

[LarryUK]

Facebook, along with google, twitter and the others are voluntary spyware. That's the truth.

 

If it's free, you aren't the customer, you are the product. After saying all that, I'm on but in very limited fashion, family and a few close friends only, and the only parts of my profile filled out are what was required. If my children didn't live so far away, I wouldn't be on at all. But they are of the generation that texts and facebooks instead of good old e-mail and telephones.

I get amazed at the amount of times that I look at something on a site and then every page I goon, I'm met with ads for what I looked at. I don't like it. Is there a way to stop it?

['Scales]

whoever it is that dreams up the marketing approaches are now in the process of 'clustering' social media users so that they assign you to groups based on similar interests - then they will be advertising to you stuff that people with similar interests to you have been clicking on. The age of the individual eh?

[Versatile]

A timely thread to update on the virtual world and it's vagaries.... :blink:

 

IMO the best/most useful features of Facebook are the privacy/security settings

 

Whether to be 'public' or 'friends only' is crucial to one's sanity....

 

For musicians it can be invaluable for communication, publicity, sales etc...

 

Some ladies do seem to share 'rather too much' gossip and personal details online(bless 'em)....

 

All in all I could not manage without Facebook as things are

 

But, like all things in life, if it was taken away...I would adapt, grow and re-emerge stronger and more compassionate....

 

V

 

[Silvercrow]

I get amazed at the amount of times that I look at something on a site and then every page I goon, I'm met with ads for what I looked at. I don't like it. Is there a way to stop it?

 

Hey Bro-

 

Yep! Don't use it; that is, don't set up accounts, don't give ANY information.

 

The wife and I don't have "smart phones". Not that we're government agents or anything, but really, we don't want others in our "stuff" unless we invite them.

 

You mentioned being "followed" by ads the agencies think you might like. TRUE!

 

Also consider; if you have a smart phone, and you use it to "scan" that little digital block when you're at the store, shopping (maybe if you scan an item it will give you a discount coupon). Well, what you just did was tell those who collect consumer data 1-Who you are 2- What you buy (the item), 3- where you are shopping, even the department within the store, 4- time of day you are shopping. And perhaps more. ALL this info is worth a TON of money to the marketers.

 

Some say the wife and I are paranoid. No, we just treasure the right to move around freely, do what we do without consumer groups hounding the sheit out of us!

 

Brian

[Searcy]

So.... why are you guys afraid of seeing an ad?

['Scales]

So.... why are you guys afraid of seeing an ad?

 

1. Killer Clowns

2. "Thai Women Seeking Love"... all I can offer them is lust. will they be angry? will they seek revenge?

 

...mainly Killer Clowns

 

YMMV

[Notes_Norton]

I'm really not afraid of seeing ads. On the other hand, having some entity stalk me is a little creepy.

 

Tell people on FB about your vacation plans, or when your next gig is, and a burglar might know just when to get a 5 finger discount on your belongings.

 

If you are curious about something, say how one of those IEDs actually work, your search goes into your dossier. Now you could be marked as a possible political terrorist.

 

Say you are curious, does it really say in the Koran to kill infidels or is that just political rhetoric? Oops, now for sure you might be a terrorist.

 

If you're curious about how someone got away with not paying his taxes, even if you have no intention of cheating on them yourself, that search will go in your dossier and the IRS can access it.

 

It's not the ads I'm concerned about, it's being erroneously profiled because I'm curious about things.

 

Every time you click "like" or play one of those FB games, it goes into your file.

 

Security settings help, but read the TOS, they don't help that much, everything you say or do on FB is for sale to anybody, whether they are advertisers, political activists, the CIA, or thieves.

 

So I minimize what I do on FB, and never completely filled out my profile. I don't play games, click "like" or anything like that.

 

Instead of google, I use DuckDuckGo, IXQuick, or StartPage for most curious searches.

 

Am I private? Am I secure? Not by any stretch of the imagination, but at least I have some minimal control over what might look like one thing when it really is something much more innocent.

 

And the ads can be inappropriate.

 

I searched for a stable cane for my mother-in-law who has Parkinson's Disease and for months I got ads for adult diapers, toilet seat risers, various braces and supports for aging bodies, nursing home insurance, ED products, and the like.

 

Once you leave FB, Twitter, Google and others they have cookies and hard to delete "flash cookies" on your computer that report every site you visit until the cookie expires or you remove it.

 

And if a phisher buys your info he might know enough about you to call you on the phone and actually convince you to give up your debit or credit card number. "Hi, this is Mr. Smith from _______ bank, we noticed you went to Amazon then eBay and then bought a sofa at ______ in ______. [a store in a city 1,000 miles from you]. Did you make that purchase? Not the sofa. OK. Is the card in your possession? For security purposes, what are the 3 numbers on the back. Thank you, we'll take that sofa off your bill, deactivate the card, and send a new one in the mail. Go ahead and destroy that one, your new card will arrive in a few days."

 

Of course they already have your number and expiration date, and in about 10 minutes your card will be maxed out, and if a debit card your bank account will have 2 dollars left in it.

 

Don't laugh. I know a person who was tricked into giving up debit card info, his bank account was cleaned out, and it took 30 days for the bank to settle the claim and give him his money back. They told him to call the bank security department, and gave him an 800 number to call. They can be very convincing on the phone.

 

You can put ad blockers, non-trackers, flash cookie removers, and other things on your browser, but all that will do is limit what they have to sell about you.

 

If you want complete privacy, you don't want to be on the Internet.

 

And we all know not to give any information to anyone on the phone unless you initiate the call and don't do business with spammers.

 

The more they know about you, the easier it is for identity theft, IRS audit, your name on the suspect list, or some store wanting to sell you something. The info sold could be innocent, even helpful at times, or it could be sold to the wrong person.

 

You don't have to be paranoid, just aware so you can protect yourself if the need arises.

 

Insights and incites by Notes

[Notes_Norton]

Great poem! Made me smile.

Thanks. Smiles are good.

 

Notes

[zigzag]

I understand the paranoia associated with government/corporate capturing of personal information and their accumulation of data. And I understand the extremely remote possibility that my stumbling onto some esoteric jihadist website could end up in Kafkaesque incarceration where I would not escape a supreme judicial injustice. But we live in the 21st century, and it has become a part of what the world has made us. What it means to me is the slight inconvenience of navigating around, and ignoring, an inescapable cascade of advertising blurbs. Welcome to the modern form of capitalism. I'll get over it. The web is, on the whole, a good thing.

 

Now identity theft is another matter, and an area where I try to be extremely careful. I even maintain a few ritual habits as primitive as using the post office to pay bills, and I hardly ever use a bank card.

[Notes_Norton]

I understand the paranoia associated with government/corporate capturing of personal information and their accumulation of data. And I understand the extremely remote possibility that my stumbling onto some esoteric jihadist website could end up in Kafkaesque incarceration where I would not escape a supreme judicial injustice. But we live in the 21st century, and it has become a part of what the world has made us. What it means to me is the slight inconvenience of navigating around, and ignoring, an inescapable cascade of advertising blurbs. Welcome to the modern form of capitalism. I'll get over it. The web is, on the whole, a good thing.

 

Now identity theft is another matter, and an area where I try to be extremely careful. I even maintain a few ritual habits as primitive as using the post office to pay bills, and I hardly ever use a bank card.

Knowing potential problems and doing reasonable things to prevent them from happening is not paranoia, but good sense.

 

The more they know about you, the easier it is for the wrong person to steal your identity. And the number of innocent people who have been arrested and served prison terms in the USA and in the 21st century is huge.

 

It doesn't hurt to be careful.

 

To be paranoid would be to ditch the Internet altogether, and obviously, none of us have done that.

 

Insights and incites by Notes

[zigzag]

Perhaps paranoia is a bit strong, but as they say, just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you. Obviously, the government is not likely to care if you're not a threat, but corporate tracking is now a fact of life on the internet, which you have eloquently pointed out. Identity theft is, unfortunately, a real threat. Almost 10 million people in the US have their identity stolen each year. But, half of identity theft occurs offline.

[jdgm]

I heard recently that Bono has £12million in Fbk shares......so.....

 

Unless you've got shares like Bono

Notes I'm afraid you're a no-no

But wait! For you there is some consolation news -

Zuckerberg cannot, will never, PLAY THE BLUES.

 

 

 

 

Disclaimer - the above is not intended to etc etc etc anyone living, dead or otherwise....shortcomings in the scansion, content and quality are down to a complete lack of talent and poetic sensitivity.

[charlie brown]

I enjoy SOME of "Facebook," but I have to admit, I tend to stay off the "main" page, as much as I can.

It's either too infuriating, too depressing, or just too "silly" for me. But...that's just Me!

 

If you love "Common Sense," does that make you a Conservative Liberal, or a Liberal Conservative?!

 

CB

[Searcy]

Just hide everything from the "Feel The Burn" and "Trump 2016" pages and 90% of the politics goes away.

[daveinspain]

I'm really not afraid of seeing ads. On the other hand, having some entity stalk me is a little creepy.

 

Tell people on FB about your vacation plans, or when your next gig is, and a burglar might know just when to get a 5 finger discount on your belongings.

 

If you are curious about something, say how one of those IEDs actually work, your search goes into your dossier. Now you could be marked as a possible political terrorist.

 

Say you are curious, does it really say in the Koran to kill infidels or is that just political rhetoric? Oops, now for sure you might be a terrorist.

 

If you're curious about how someone got away with not paying his taxes, even if you have no intention of cheating on them yourself, that search will go in your dossier and the IRS can access it.

 

It's not the ads I'm concerned about, it's being erroneously profiled because I'm curious about things.

 

Every time you click "like" or play one of those FB games, it goes into your file.

 

Security settings help, but read the TOS, they don't help that much, everything you say or do on FB is for sale to anybody, whether they are advertisers, political activists, the CIA, or thieves.

 

So I minimize what I do on FB, and never completely filled out my profile. I don't play games, click "like" or anything like that.

 

Instead of google, I use DuckDuckGo, IXQuick, or StartPage for most curious searches.

 

Am I private? Am I secure? Not by any stretch of the imagination, but at least I have some minimal control over what might look like one thing when it really is something much more innocent.

 

And the ads can be inappropriate.

 

I searched for a stable cane for my mother-in-law who has Parkinson's Disease and for months I got ads for adult diapers, toilet seat risers, various braces and supports for aging bodies, nursing home insurance, ED products, and the like.

 

Once you leave FB, Twitter, Google and others they have cookies and hard to delete "flash cookies" on your computer that report every site you visit until the cookie expires or you remove it.

 

And if a phisher buys your info he might know enough about you to call you on the phone and actually convince you to give up your debit or credit card number. "Hi, this is Mr. Smith from _______ bank, we noticed you went to Amazon then eBay and then bought a sofa at ______ in ______. [a store in a city 1,000 miles from you]. Did you make that purchase? Not the sofa. OK. Is the card in your possession? For security purposes, what are the 3 numbers on the back. Thank you, we'll take that sofa off your bill, deactivate the card, and send a new one in the mail. Go ahead and destroy that one, your new card will arrive in a few days."

 

Of course they already have your number and expiration date, and in about 10 minutes your card will be maxed out, and if a debit card your bank account will have 2 dollars left in it.

 

Don't laugh. I know a person who was tricked into giving up debit card info, his bank account was cleaned out, and it took 30 days for the bank to settle the claim and give him his money back. They told him to call the bank security department, and gave him an 800 number to call. They can be very convincing on the phone.

 

You can put ad blockers, non-trackers, flash cookie removers, and other things on your browser, but all that will do is limit what they have to sell about you.

 

If you want complete privacy, you don't want to be on the Internet.

 

And we all know not to give any information to anyone on the phone unless you initiate the call and don't do business with spammers.

 

The more they know about you, the easier it is for identity theft, IRS audit, your name on the suspect list, or some store wanting to sell you something. The info sold could be innocent, even helpful at times, or it could be sold to the wrong person.

 

You don't have to be paranoid, just aware so you can protect yourself if the need arises.

 

Insights and incites by Notes

 

 

Great information… I printed this and gave it a dear friend who just got a smart phone. He will be 80 next month. He doesn't really use the internet that much but does have a FB account so I will ask him to read what you have said here… I might even post it on my FB page…

 

And if you could translate it to Spanish that would be very cool…

[Riffster]

All of those things Norton said already happened before Facebook and even the Internet.

 

The government could track what you checked out of the library, burglars got in houses since there's been houses and if you have a credit card all of you information was sold and shared, that's how you used to get junk mail.

 

Did you know that if you have a drivers license the DMV has sold your info? Unless you specifically opted out. That's how you would get junk mail in a new address after you notified the DMV you moved.

 

Lots of companies you bought stuff from and provided information to would sell your info along with every piece of data you gave them.

 

Did you ever fill a warranty card and submitted it? Yes, sucker!

 

I can appreciate the paranoia but Facebook is hardly the problem.

 

My Scottrade information may have been compromised. Should I stop investing my money and put it under my mattress?

[stein]

Or a quarter. Just translating for the English speakers!

 

I thought it was metric there.

 

.25?

[Digger]

[Retired]

Years ago, my son signed me up to Facebook and he was running it. I guess I had lots of commits and knew nothing about it. When I was told, I checked it out and he somehow took a photo of a massive bodybuilder and a photo of my head and put them together. I have to admit it looked real and friends and cousins were commiting like, Wow Cousin, you look better then most of those guys in those muscle magazines. Stink pot son. You can't believe half of what Facebook says. Now I'm told I have to stay on it for our grandson who is 11 months old. They post stuff about him. So I added people who I worked with at the railroad too.

[LarryUK]

Years ago, my son signed me up to Facebook and he was running it. I guess I had lots of commits and knew nothing about it. When I was told, I checked it out and he somehow took a photo of a massive bodybuilder and a photo of my head and put them together. I have to admit it looked real and friends and cousins were commiting like, Wow Cousin, you look better then most of those guys in those muscle magazines.

I've edited photos and it's surprising how many people think they're real. Especially when I show them on my phone.