Facebook: Like, worse than the Nazis or something
By Dan O'Connor January 15th, 2008
In Stories
So, I started reading Tom Hodgkinson’s screed against Facebook and its many and varied satanic investors/boardmembers/horsemen of the apocalypse, but I lost the will to live half way through and just scrolled down to the bottom of the (incredibly long) article, whence he includes this handy translation of Facebook’s laughably monickered ‘privacy policy’:
Just for fun, try substituting the words ‘Big Brother’ whenever you read the word ‘Facebook’
1 We will advertise at you
“When you use Facebook, you may set up your personal profile, form relationships, send messages, perform searches and queries, form groups, set up events, add applications, and transmit information through various channels. We collect this information so that we can provide you the service and offer personalised features.”
2 You can’t delete anything
“When you update information, we usually keep a backup copy of the prior version for a reasonable period of time to enable reversion to the prior version of that information.”
3 Anyone can glance at your intimate confessions
“… we cannot and do not guarantee that user content you post on the site will not be viewed by unauthorised persons. We are not responsible for circumvention of any privacy settings or security measures contained on the site. You understand and acknowledge that, even after removal, copies of user content may remain viewable in cached and archived pages or if other users have copied or stored your user content.”
4 Our marketing profile of you will be unbeatable
“Facebook may also collect information about you from other sources, such as newspapers, blogs, instant messaging services, and other users of the Facebook service through the operation of the service (eg, photo tags) in order to provide you with more useful information and a more personalised experience.”
5 Opting out doesn’t mean opting out
“Facebook reserves the right to send you notices about your account even if you opt out of all voluntary email notifications.”
6 The CIA may look at the stuff when they feel like it
“By using Facebook, you are consenting to have your personal data transferred to and processed in the United States … We may be required to disclose user information pursuant to lawful requests, such as subpoenas or court orders, or in compliance with applicable laws. We do not reveal information until we have a good faith belief that an information request by law enforcement or private litigants meets applicable legal standards. Additionally, we may share account or other information when we believe it is necessary to comply with law, to protect our interests or property, to prevent fraud or other illegal activity perpetrated through the Facebook service or using the Facebook name, or to prevent imminent bodily harm. This may include sharing information with other companies, lawyers, agents or government agencies.”
All of which is awful, indeed, but not quite enough to make me turn to Myspace…
1 Ben // Jan 15, 2008 at 7:33 pm
Wow, Tom, take it easy. Go down the pub and let your lifelong companions console you.
Oh no, there out with their Facebook friends.
Likewise I didn’t bother to read the whole article (too busy on Faceb…) but I was immediately put off by the suggestion that online socialising stops us meeting people in person. I’ve made more real-life friends - and, like Tom, talked, ate, danced and drunk with them - through connections which were originally online than I ever did at school, or in the pub.
The big, somewhat obvious difference is that it’s hard to meet people in person who share anything but coincidental geographical similarities without a medium like the web.