Facebook oops!!

All of the above posts serve to convince me that my decision not to sign up for Facebook, or any of the other social networking sites, was the correct one. They are just too complex to use with any certainty that things you want to keep secure won't inadvertantly be widely distributed - and all without any active input from you!!

As far as I am concered, sites like this, where one interacts only with likeminded people, is as far as I want to go. (Anyway, you lot are such a great group of friends; who needs more?!!)

Simply put... be careful where you post photos as they can travel... FAST. Facebook has sent my single male photo to all kinds of linked places. Actually it's rather disturbing how many different profile tools hook into Facebook and tug up my pictures and info. I'm not too thrilled about it myself. But eh... everyone will know my feminine side soon enough.

Social networking sites are fun, but a privacy nightmare. Facebook is like playing with matches in a fireworks factory.

The internet is becoming more frightening everyday when it comes to protecting your personal data. It is a stalker's paradise too. When the sites began linking personal data from several sources in one place, even amateurs can find out everything about you.

I can not believe the personal stuff people post on those sites. If you mention personal names, schools, clubs, etc. all you have to do is read and you could be a somebody's front door the next day. Too scary for me...

FYI... the FBI monitors those sites closely. It is like a dream for them. They can sit at a coffee shop eating donuts now and catch losers they are looking for on those sites.

I know, I know..."if you aren't doing anything wrong..."
To that I guess I always wonder "why then, do you have curtains on your windows at home? lol:love:

LOL
I should have realized that I wasn't the only one with this problem.

First, I'd have had a heart attack if a blunder like that had happened to me. While insist that in my own home anyone should know about it and accept it, outside of that, I am extremely cautious and always have been.

I've never been caught either because of my rather rigorous way of concealing things. But modern facebook like things scare me a lot with regard to that. It is SOOOOOOO easy to make a mistake that could expose everything. I suspect that more and more of this is happening.

One good thing comes out if it though:
One of the biggest problems for us CDs is that it isn't widely accepted but that is surely also due to the fact that most of us keep it secret. Things like facebook will gradually reveal that there are more of us than anyone suspected and kind of 'force the issue'. Just a little thought.

The only solution:
Perhaps the best thing is to get a separate computer for all your 2nd person stuff. That way you can more easily separate things in your mind and won't likely log in with the wrong name. Because there is a physical separation of the two lives.

Simple facts to remember:

1. Any information you put on the internet is basically public domain.

2. Anything that's out there you can never, ever, get back.

Keeping those two facts in mind, I don't use ANY social networking sites (other than this one). But I'm old school I guess. If I didn't need it when I was 18, well, I don't need it now. Hell I don't even have a cell phone!! I know, shock and awe. lol.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kathi Lake

The same kind of thing happened a week or so ago. The movie Salt was coming out, and their Facebook page had kind of a contest where you post your best "disguise" before and after picture. I thought, "Cool! I can do that."

So, I posted it to their page and thought, "Hmmm, I wonder if, by chance, it made it to my main Facebook page?" I go there and sure enough, there is the picture for all my friends to see with a caption like "Doofus here (not my real name, by the way) thinks that he has the best disguise. What do all of his friends think?" The first thing I thought of was this quote.

So, I furiously deleted the picture and waited for my friends, wife (and probably my cat) to ask me, "So, you like disguises, eh?" :)

Nothing came of it. Here's the pic below.

Kathi

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Hmmm....who's that fellow standing next to our beloved Kathi?? BEWARE Kathi -- he might be stalking you!! RUN!!!

What you can do is run different browsers with different personas. Like having Firefox, Opera and Chrome all logged in as different profiles.

You can also run say a browser like Chrome with multiple different profiles. If you set up a desktop shortcut it will log you in as a different person. A different person with a different Facebook profile, email address etc.

I use Opera for all my cherryzips stuff. Just in case someone vanilla uses the machine and browses. I don't want to alarm them. All my browsers start off where I last was. It may take a bit of explaining if they do start Opera.

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Originally Posted by Crysten

Simple facts to remember:

1. Any information you put on the internet is basically public domain.

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Not exactly true- if you put it in a publicly open location, yes.

FB ( and other such sites ) allow you to make things private from the general public. The people who don't do so & put up such things as where they went to school, their current job, past jobs, etc. with their legal name, are opening the door to potential trouble.

He was using Xobni. I use it too and I have considered closing my male profile and reopening a female one for a similar reason. I don't have much contact with people on facebook, but I would have a lot more contact as Michelle.

Always remember, "what goes on the internet, stays on the internet" Facebook makes it quick and easy, lol.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Fab Karen

Not exactly true- if you put it in a publicly open location, yes.

FB ( and other such sites ) allow you to make things private from the general public. The people who don't do so & put up such things as where they went to school, their current job, past jobs, etc. with their legal name, are opening the door to potential trouble.

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It's a patent falsehood that ANYTHING outside secure classified government networks is private. Believe me, I've been in the position to know.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CherryZips

What you can do is run different browsers with different personas. Like having Firefox, Opera and Chrome all logged in as different profiles.

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I'd say this is more for your mental gymnastics benefit than anything. Ultimately, all your traffic flows through the same IP address. Although session data and cookies are separated, they could still do linking. However, this is a good way to keep stuff separate to keep yourself from a stupid mistake. Also consider privacy mode in the browsers or the portable version of a browser on a USB flash drive.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Fab Karen

FB ( and other such sites ) allow you to make things private from the general public. The people who don't do so & put up such things as where they went to school, their current job, past jobs, etc. with their legal name, are opening the door to potential trouble.

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The issue with facebook is that there are plenty of people that set up their privacy and facebook has multiple times, changed their default settings exposing it. The more info shared, the more potential revenue they have.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Crysten

It's a patent falsehood that ANYTHING outside secure classified government networks is private. Believe me, I've been in the position to know.

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Crysten is right. I don't consider this site any more secure than facebook. Forums have vulnerabilities, too. There are ways to make it harder, but if it is connected to the web, it's potentially breachable.

But do you think your front door would stop a determined thief? There are ways to minimize risk and minimize targets and ultimately you just have to not give a crap about the rest. One of your biggest preventatives online is the sheer volume of things and most of it is noise. It's like seeing a zebra in a herd in a field. Sure the zebra stands out by itself against a flat background, but when they are all running and moving, the predators have a hard time telling one from another.

:2c:

There's another way if you're very paranoid:
Use a USB stick or a DVD/CD with a live operating system on it (like knoppix ). There are many of them freely downloadable.

The benefit: Nothing is changed or saved on your computer and when you shut down and pull out the USB stick, everything is back how it was before. That makes it perfect for use on someone else's computer too.

The downside: You can't store information or keep settings and bookmarks etc. But you can load them into memory and then email them to yourself (email accounts have loads of free space these days).

If you use a service like foxmarks/xmarks, it will synch your bookmarks across browsers and devices, fluffy. You can even set up profiles so that your porn err.. knitting patterns ... don't synch to your work computer.

I think Mozilla and Google have their own implementations, too.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Crysten

Hmmm....who's that fellow standing next to Kathi?? BEWARE Kathi -- he might be stalking you!! RUN!!!

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Nah. I've met him. He's a wimp, and an insufferable dweeb. He's so clumsy, he has enough issues with walking - much less stalking.

:)

Kathi

Thanks Nutmeg,
That Xmark seems very good. Using that in combination with a live CD/USB stick is probably the safest solution for anyone who share's their computer with someone who doesn't know about that "other" wardrobe that we all have...

“Oh, the gov. could never do that, it’s impossible anyway”

~Oh it is possible, it exists and they are using it now.~

And you thought Gates was on your side…:eek:
http://www.microsoft.com/industry/go...e/default.aspx

Bruce Schneier (privacy guru) essay on Facebook/Google
http://www.schneier.com/essay-311.html

Here is an extensive list of the digital forensic tools being used by the DOJ (Dept of Justice) to collect forensic evidence from computers (like yours and, well…not mine, lol) Each "tool" has a link to download the details and explanations of how it is used by Law Enforcement.

Pay particular attention to “EnCase 6.5” (their favorite tool). Logicube’s “Forensic Talon” & “OmniClone2xi”, and “BlackBag”.
http://nij.ncjrs.gov/publications/Pu...on=top&PSID=55

and you thought that NARUS sounded scary…

The “hackers” tools are even scarier than this.

Gee, I feel safer already...brolleyes:

Isn't the Internet "fun" ?
:love:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Crysten

It's a patent falsehood that ANYTHING outside secure classified government networks is private. Believe me, I've been in the position to know.

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Private from the average person ( most people are concerned with their relatives, bosses, & so-called friends seeing things ), not computer hackers.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kathi Lake

Nah. I've met him. He's a wimp, and an insufferable dweeb. He's so clumsy, he has enough issues with walking - much less stalking.

:)

Kathi

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Lols Kathi you crack me up. :):):)

The only "real" security inherent in the internet is the fact that there's such a huge amount of information out there - most things get lost in the mix. This is a good thing. Did you know - GOOGLE has saved every single search query ever entered into it's web site? It takes very little work for even a semi-experienced software tech to trace that back to the computer it came from. And of course there's Facebook, who tried to obtain rights to ALL information entered onto it's site. I don't know if it's even possible to ever permanently delete anything you put out there - not a good situation.

I avoid most of the internet because it's full of viruses, totally not secure, and 95% of what's out there is trash anyway. Thank god Victoria's Secret has a good web site!! :)

You can always just close your facebook account:laughing:

I lasted about 5 whole minutes on facebook before closing it all out. After a stay in rehab and beginning my life all over again, sober, i thought checking Facebook out to see what it's like would be fun.
The first 6 or 7 ppl who popped up on the screen were all former H.S. buddies and ppl i used to drink and do drugs with.
Just as well, i think, especially after reading this post. Although if i should ever decide to go full time or nearly so, i wouldn't mind an account with just Cassie's pic and profile and no reasonable way for anyone i know to figure it out. mj (Cassie)

Oops! Guess that's why I haven't connected my facebook "girl" account to anything as of yet :)