Goodbye facebook, I won`t be back........

[Inertia]

I watched a TV programme a while back in which employers explained that they always checked FB and Twitter before interviews to see what interviewees had been up to,

The programme featured a fake job interview for an ambitious young man who saw himself making a killing in the City. He talked the talk - he was a good team player, always gave 150% and so on ... They spoke to him after the 'interview' and he thought it had all gone really well. Then he was called back in. The interviewer was no longer smiling and she asked him to sit down. He felt nervous ...

Interviewer, turning her laptop round towards him: "Would you care to explain why there is a photo of you on FB with your penis sandwiched between two slices of bread?" The lad was really shocked that the 'employer' had done this and said that it was an invasion of his privacy. She pointed out that public posts on FB are not 'private' and clients generally do not like to see their bankers' genitals in sarnies - it demonstrates a rather unprofessional attitude!

I attended a lecture a year or so ago by someone warning us about this and that it was already common practice in the tech industry and woudl probably go more mainstream. He also warned that having NO profile was no help as the lack of information on you could hurt you.

His advice was to have a public profile and to post stuff you would be happy with a potential employer seeing, consider it an ad page, for you, post you volunteering etc. Then have a more secret page if you need where you can post what you like. Im not sure I would go that far but i dont post anything I wouldnt be happy with anyone seeing and I absoluety wouldnt add anyone from work.

 

[Globalti]

I'm linking this discussion to @SamR so that he can read it!

 

[tyred]

I only use it to see what events are coming up in certain things I am involved in as that's where it's advertised unfortunately. Otherwise I would happily delete my facebook account.

I never post anything. I do seem to have acquired a few friends, 1 in particular posts endless drivel I don't want to know. I once did make a reply to one of the drivel posts making what I thought was a harmless if slightly sarcastic joke and the girl in question messaged me with an absolutely vile email complaining that she was being serious didn't like people trying to make fun of her important facebook updates - is it important to post that she had been in the shower and come walking naked into her bedroom before realising she hadn't pulled the curtains

 

[Fnaar]

What I put on Facebook is only cycling, music and photos and the odd family memory. I have private groups for close family, and occasional interest groups (Miss Goodbody is not on FB) Friends are (mostly) people who I know in real life. Never had to unfriend anyone, but I added then took off some work colleagues (I don't mix work and private life; 2 of them are my friends outside work, so they stayed). I have a few music/cycling peeps I've never met, but so far no issues. I even have one CC'er on there.
I don't get hammered and fall about in public, so no pics of that, and tags are set so that only I see posts I'm tagged in (OK, others might be tagged, but ... I don't do anything THAT stupid). I enjoy it. It isn't a threat. it's quite fun. And I've hooked up with people I knew years ago and found that yes, I actually DID like you, and it's great to hook up again!

 

[Deleted member 35268]

I deleted my account too, about five weeks ago. It's strangely liberating.

I haven't missed it one little bit.

You should see what they've been saying about you.

 

[Pathfoot]

A also heard a Police officer talking about tracing a suspect in a crime and he said: "He doesn't use social media so he's proving very difficult to find".

Ah, a douible-bind for those peeps who've just announced they've cancelled their Facebook presence. The rozzers will have marked them down as likely planning to commit some hokey-cokey crime, and put taps on their phones now.

 

[SamR]

I'm linking this discussion to @SamR so that he can read it!

I don't have Facebook. I'm on more than enough social networks thankyou very much. Only time I'd consider even touching it with a bargepole is for the Messenger feature which, I have to say, does look very useful.

 

[Moon bunny]

Far worse in my view are the sites like 192, whitepages and so on that will give your address, phone number, co-inhabitants and such to any old stalker who has a few quid to spare. And are a RPITA to get yourself removed from. Electoral roll season is here, if you have not already sent it off make sure you tick the box on the form to have your name removed from the shortened version which is bought by these organisations.

 

[Drago]

Bored, so changed my FB identity again. If nothing else anyone spying on me will need a new RIPA.

 

[Tin Pot]

I heard a senior IT security specialist interviewed on R4. The interviewer asked him what advice he would give to anybody thinking of signing up with social media like Facebook. His advice? "Don't. Just Don't. We have no idea how all this information about us is going to be used and abused in the future and once it's out there, you've lost control of it."

A also heard a Police officer talking about tracing a suspect in a crime and he said: "He doesn't use social media so he's proving very difficult to find".

As a senior IT Security specialist myself, this is a common attitude among the older generation where securing things was only achieved by saying no.

I have serious concerns about the future fascist society, whenever it comes about, having far more information about my family than they would've in 1939. DNA libraries are my biggest concern.

However, the reality is that security, and privacy, needs to move with society, not against it. The fact is a significant portion of the population now publish globally everything they do, think or say and the people they associate with. Things will either go such that living publicly becomes common place - arguably the village society we used to live in, where everyone knew everyone - or we will retreat back and become more guarded and private. I suspect a combination of the two for some time.

In the mean time, whilst we have concerns on the downside - let us not ignore the upsides. In my opinion, as long as you are sensible, (no penis sandwiches) the benefits of social media currently outweigh the risk of state abuse. And let us not forget that the EU has backed our concerns with legislation.

 

[Tin Pot]

Bored, so changed my FB identity again. If nothing else anyone spying on me will need a new RIPA.

I'm using the Entity-Identity-Authenticator relationship model here, so pardon if it sounds like gobbledygook.

Surely the RIPA authority is granted against an entity (you), not a particular identity (your fb account) associated with that entity? I've not been paying attention to RIPA for a while, not really my line.

 

[classic33]

Bored, so changed my FB identity again. If nothing else anyone spying on me will need a new RIPA.

You're Roy Walker now?

 

[classic33]

There's at least nine of me on fb, informed by various relatives, when seen. Annoyed that they didn't get a response from "me".

Then pointing out to them I'm not on fb.

 

[jonny jeez]

.Was talking to work colleagues on it

that was your first mistake...

 

[jonny jeez]

Pleased for you, but can't help note the irony that you've published these thoughts globally, and they will be archived until the decline of civilisation.

yup, I was thinking the exact same thing.. Cyclechat is the facebook of cyclists.