The Internet and the Death of Privacy

[T4Texas]

Originally Posted by Medusa

I'd like to hear folk's thoughts about the "Who visited my profile" feature here.

I personally like the feature because I want to know who is visiting my profile. I also feel if you put yourself out in the public domain, then you are going to have to expect issues with privacy and make some kind of plan as to keeping it locked down.
I do not subscribe to facebook because they seem to have an abundance of privacy issues. I closed my MYSpace account and google myself from time to time to see how accurate the info out there is. I also keep a P.O. Box and rarely have mail sent to my house because my goal is to disappear into the woodwork as far as people finding me goes.

[grenade]

Originally Posted by Medusa

I'd like to hear folk's thoughts about the "Who visited my profile" feature here.

We have that feature as a fun way to see who's looking. It was meant as a "calling card" to say "Hey, Ebon stopped by your profile today!"

We have talked a couple of times about turning the feature completely off when frustrated with complaints like "I feel unsafe that so-and-so looked at my profile".

What do you think? Would you rather know who visited your profile or would you rather wonder about it?

My thought has always been that whatever is in your profile on this site is fairly "public" info, that there isn't really a reasonable expectation of privacy.

Curious what others think!

If you feel unsafe from a profile visit, you should probably log off and call 911.

Just kidding.


Although it may irritate me when I see a certain person logs onto my page daily, I choose to be here. I can't complain when I choose to be here. If it goes beyond irritation, I will log out. (Not really 'cause I have an internet addiction, but in theory, you get the jist.)

[Corkey]

A good rule of thumb, if you don't want others to judge your words, be careful with them. There is no privacy on the internet, so it would be kind of silly to think that just because you hide a profile, it doesn't mean people can't find you, see your words or figure out where you've been posting.
You being general you here.

[SoNotHer]

That's really good advice, Corkey. I have this discussion with my students.

After weeks of emails from an ex who mimicked or expanded on posts I left on Facebook, I took down my FB account. I've always been pretty careful about what I posted. But even so, my ex ,who was inclined to find reasons to sustain and an almost constant state of suspicion and jealousy, was tracking what I wrote and where. And though I applied every privacy control I could and though my life is not her business, she made it so.

So you are always being watched and no doubt judged on the internet. And you don't really necessarily know by whom and for what purpose.

Originally Posted by Corkey

A good rule of thumb, if you don't want others to judge your words, be careful with them. There is no privacy on the internet, so it would be kind of silly to think that just because you hide a profile, it doesn't mean people can't find you, see your words or figure out where you've been posting.
You being general you here.

[AtLast]

Originally Posted by Medusa

I'd like to hear folk's thoughts about the "Who visited my profile" feature here.

We have that feature as a fun way to see who's looking. It was meant as a "calling card" to say "Hey, Ebon stopped by your profile today!"

We have talked a couple of times about turning the feature completely off when frustrated with complaints like "I feel unsafe that so-and-so looked at my profile".

What do you think? Would you rather know who visited your profile or would you rather wonder about it?

My thought has always been that whatever is in your profile on this site is fairly "public" info, that there isn't really a reasonable expectation of privacy.

Curious what others think!

I agree with you tthat my profile here is anything but private. No, there is no reasonable expectation of privacy concerning our profiles here and I think it is up to us as individuals to keep that in mind when setting up our profile.

I don't have a problem with the "Who Visited" feature because of the fact that I think it is silly to have any expectation of privacy about our profiles. In fact, it could be a means for members to demonstrate stalking if they were to run into a serious situation and needed to report abuse- especially outside of the site in legal settings. And hopefully, something like that never arises for anyone here!

I do, however wish there was a feature that went beyond the ignore function that would enable our being able to stop members we don't want to visit our profiles at any time for any reason. Something akin to how FB allows members to block people from seeing any posts etc., even if you share friends. But, I have no idea if that is possible on vbulletin or if it was, would it be cost prohibitive.

I think Corky has some good advice about the fact that we all should exercise caution online with our information. But, the fact is that in the cyber-world, if someone wants to get info about anyone, they can probably find a way to do so. I think this is something we all need to realize and take appropriate action.

[Linus]

And to add further to the erosion of privacy we see this:

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/cali...traffic-stops/

..<snip>

The appellate court overturned that ruling, however, on the grounds that the search of the cellphone was part of the inventory check needed to process an impounded car.

Furthermore, the judge ruled that the examination of the cell phone was legal because police were allowed to survey the impounded car for their own safety, and to preserve evidence.

This decision was released solely to create a precedent for future cases, as Nattoli died on September 4th. So the most important outcome of the case is the appellate court’s decision, written by Franklin Elia, which read in part:

“The deputies had unqualified authority under Gant to search the passenger compartment of the vehicle and any container found therein, including Reid’s cell phone. It is up to the US Supreme Court to impose any greater limits on officers’ authority to search incident to arrest.”

We may well see this case head to the Supreme Court, as it appears anytime you are pulled over in the state of California, your entire cell phone is now fair game.

Really? It's ok to go into a locked phone now? local files on that phone are not necessarily meant to be shared. The Court System is showing it's age still at not understanding technology and that someone's privacy on a phone should be the same as a landline.

[SoNotHer]

Not good, Linus. Not good at all.

Originally Posted by Linus

And to add further to the erosion of privacy we see this:

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/cali...traffic-stops/


Really? It's ok to go into a locked phone now? local files on that phone are not necessarily meant to be shared. The Court System is showing it's age still at not understanding technology and that someone's privacy on a phone should be the same as a landline.

[Kelt]

Originally Posted by Linus

And to add further to the erosion of privacy we see this:

Really? It's ok to go into a locked phone now? local files on that phone are not necessarily meant to be shared. The Court System is showing it's age still at not understanding technology and that someone's privacy on a phone should be the same as a landline.

Thanks for sharing this story. What a friggin land mine.

[JAGG]

Originally Posted by Medusa

I'd like to hear folk's thoughts about the "Who visited my profile" feature here.

We have that feature as a fun way to see who's looking. It was meant as a "calling card" to say "Hey, Ebon stopped by your profile today!"

We have talked a couple of times about turning the feature completely off when frustrated with complaints like "I feel unsafe that so-and-so looked at my profile".

What do you think? Would you rather know who visited your profile or would you rather wonder about it?

My thought has always been that whatever is in your profile on this site is fairly "public" info, that there isn't really a reasonable expectation of privacy.

Curious what others think!

Oh heck no I don't have a problem with it all. Anyone and their sister can check it out a million times a day if they like. The more visitors the more popular I seem. May peak someones interest enough to get to know me better. hahaha Hasn't worked yet, but HEY could happen.

[JAGG]

Originally Posted by Diva

Evidently, I'm an attorney in Fayetteville who is also an interior designer...and I guess I perform meditative music on Pandora, too.



(Thankfully, I do not use my full legal name in my life!)

hahahahah The secret life of Diva. Who knew? If you get a speeding ticket in Fayetteville you know who to call now!

Apparently I died in like 1868 . Which as it turns out was a great thing if you ask me. The best thing that ever happened to me. I had what seems to be a miserable nightmare of a life. I was married to some guy think his name was tom and I had like 5 kids too . Holy shit! Then I showed up again in 1898, I guess I just never learn, because I made the same damn mistakes again, married some guy and had a nightmare life with 3 kids and at 71 yrs old I admitted my maiden name was Hooker to some newspaper.Finally kicked the bucket in 1908. Holy crap am I'm glad that is over with. hahahahahahahahahahahahaha I'm never looking back . No wonder I'm not one to live in the past. hahahaha Singing>>>> Blue skys shing on me, nothing but blue eyes do I see. Things are much better now, in case you were wondering.

[SecretAgentMa'am]

I'm completely baffled by the whole concept of people feeling "unsafe" because they know someone looked at their public profile. If you're worried about a stalker, would you prefer that they be able to closely monitor your profile in complete anonymity? I suppose some people just can't stand not having some drama going on all the time.

I recently deleted my Facebook account because I was no longer willing to deal with their privacy issues. I read a few articles about the new profile pages they're rolling out soon, and I decided to jump ship before that happened. If anyone isn't aware, Facebook is about to start encouraging users to enter their medical histories (and will be using your status updates to update your profile information as well), which FB will then sell, mostly to insurance companies. If someone is making a lot of money running a website that you're using for free, it's because you're the product, not the consumer. I've switched over to Google+, which certainly isn't perfect but is light years better than FB.

If you Google my legal name, all you'll find is some really bad Forever Knight fanfiction I wrote when I was a teenager. I haven't used my legal name for anything but work, school, banking, and the DMV for at least 15 years. If you know the name I use online, you can find a bit of information about me, but nothing damning.

[AtLast]

Originally Posted by SecretAgentMa'am

I'm completely baffled by the whole concept of people feeling "unsafe" because they know someone looked at their public profile. If you're worried about a stalker, would you prefer that they be able to closely monitor your profile in complete anonymity? I suppose some people just can't stand not having some drama going on all the time.

I recently deleted my Facebook account because I was no longer willing to deal with their privacy issues. I read a few articles about the new profile pages they're rolling out soon, and I decided to jump ship before that happened. If anyone isn't aware, Facebook is about to start encouraging users to enter their medical histories (and will be using your status updates to update your profile information as well), which FB will then sell, mostly to insurance companies. If someone is making a lot of money running a website that you're using for free, it's because you're the product, not the consumer. I've switched over to Google+, which certainly isn't perfect but is light years better than FB.

If you Google my legal name, all you'll find is some really bad Forever Knight fanfiction I wrote when I was a teenager. I haven't used my legal name for anything but work, school, banking, and the DMV for at least 15 years. If you know the name I use online, you can find a bit of information about me, but nothing damning.

True about being able to see who might be "stalking." And profiles here don't have to have much of anything on them, anyway.

I have been thinking about the fact that I have different names on all kinds of stuff and that all of my "creds" and professional licenses except for one, are under names that unless someone has known me for a zillion years or is related to me would have no idea of. For a long time, this bugged me because of the whole thing of having changed names in relationship to "other," or as "pen" now, I think it is a good thing. Who would have guessed? At one time, I wanted to change everything to one name. Forget it!

I keep thinking about FB- I like it a lot and it has enabled me to stay in touch well with many, but so many people that are tech-savvy (I'm not) have pointed out many things that concern me. We have to take the bad with the good with social network websites, but it helps to have some knowledge (even as a tech-moron) for decidion making about using them. After learning about some of the spyware that my niece is now aquainted with and her going through what is possible to find out about people online, I developed a whole new sense about this stuff and with her help, am making changes. Helps that most of my working career was working for myself after the early years and I established my own "benefits."

[*Anya*]

Originally Posted by JAGG

Oh heck no I don't have a problem with it all. Anyone and their sister can check it out a million times a day if they like. The more visitors the more popular I seem. May peak someones interest enough to get to know me better. hahaha Hasn't worked yet, but HEY could happen.

Medusa, does not bother me @ all! I find it interesting when one or more of the same people "visit" me daily but have never sent a friend request!

What's up with that, I wonder, but don't wonder for too long!

I rarely, rarely use FB and have minimal personal info on it. I have kept it primarily for family but have thought of all the privacy changes and do nit like them at all.

I think I posted one time that I Googled my real name and found one person in Chicago (deceased, if I recall) and a few in Germany-surname Deutsch, of course.

That made me feel better.

PS: Guten Morgen all!!

[JAGG]

Originally Posted by Cajun_dee

The other day I read a book on Kindle, afterwards it asked if I liked the book or not, I clicked yes.

Couple of days later I log onto Facebook and there it is.. *Dee like (whateverbookitwas)* on Kindle *


GOOD Gods! What if that had been a book I didn't want the world to know I was reading? Luckily it was a safe one!

Facebook knows ALL..

Roflol! Hey Cajun can you give us some examples? We need some clarity on that. Ha

[SecretAgentMa'am]

Originally Posted by Cajun_dee

The other day I read a book on Kindle, afterwards it asked if I liked the book or not, I clicked yes.

Couple of days later I log onto Facebook and there it is.. *Dee like (whateverbookitwas)* on Kindle *


GOOD Gods! What if that had been a book I didn't want the world to know I was reading? Luckily it was a safe one!

Facebook knows ALL..

Only if you enter your Facebook info into your Kindle. Your Kindle will only post to Facebook if you tell it to.

[Dominique]

I deleted fake book today. I almost never looked at it anymore. I cleaned up the cookies and ran a defrag. Not sure if that helped anything or not.....it made me feel like I was getting facebook cooties off of my laptop. I'll clean up my desk top later.

[1QuirkyKiwi]

People can look all they want at my profile, I've nothing to hide and nothing to see, either, lol!

[girl_dee]

Originally Posted by JAGG

Roflol! Hey Cajun can you give us some examples? We need some clarity on that. Ha

Sure, Let's see, hmmm I think it was, "How to Appreciate the Perfect Mother" by Lizzie Borden..

Surely I would never read smut or anything.

Originally Posted by SecretAgentMa'am

Only if you enter your Facebook info into your Kindle. Your Kindle will only post to Facebook if you tell it to.

Yup, I "undid" that feature! Next I should check into "Kindle for Dummies"

[Linus]

I wanted to comment on the FB thing. In Canada FB is actually different in it's behaviour than what it's like in the US. And that is largely due to some laws that are in place to protect an individual's privacy (most notably is Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA)). An individual's private "stuff" (whatever that may be) has to be protected by both gov't and corp from being violated by a third party. That's something that doesn't exist in the US.

In fact, the culture seems to accept that an individual's "stuff" has to be protected by an individual. And that may have been an ok viewpoint 30+ years ago, today with the internet not so much. It's a lot harder to know who is giving what to whom. Both FB and Google+ have clauses in the EULA (that's that thing you agreed to when you signed up and that they change when they notify you of those changes, if they notify you) about the fact that once you sign up you agree to allow them the right to use your info as they see fit.

It's interesting how politicians go on about stuff and trying to control the internet and yet, they have no desire or intent on creating this because... well, ain't Americans (is what I've seen historically). It stops the free market from working. That isn't true. The free market is happily working well in Canada. It just makes the free market more responsible about what happens and levels the playing field a bit more for both the seller and consumer.

[AtLast]

Thanks Linus for the info about the US and Canadian differences.

I am at the point with FB that I want to close my account not so much to privacy issues, but how whatever it is running in terms of scripts has just been messing with my PC.

I just don't have the tech knowledge to deal with this and to be honest, I don't want to spend time dealing with it unless there is a simple solution that I can understand and use with simplicity. I'm just not of the computer age and although I see the vast positive influences of today's technology, find that I am more apt to close an account on a social networking site that drives me crazy.

I have really enjoyed FB in terms of it being great for me to keep in touch with people- especially our community. I don't want to let this go, but might have to. I wish I had more patience with this stuff.