JeffCo Woman Sues Facebook Over Privacy

Opened my newspaper this morning and read a story about this woman living in Jefferson County who is suing Facebook over privacy concerns [http://goo.gl/Unf6o]. She claims that “…the online social network collected private information about her, including her Internet browsing history, and may have provided the information to a third party…”. May have? I’m willing to bet they did just that.

Facebook is a free service that allows its users to create an account and share information, photos, videos and more. Agreed, Facebook has made it difficult to keep a user’s settings intact with the myriad changes they make. However, in the end, it is the user who is responsible for keeping up with any changes made to their account, whether they like it or not. Don’t misunderstand. I’m no fan of Facebook nor am I putting all the blame on the user. Facebook makes having an account that one thinks is relatively secure, private and the way the user wants it to be, hard as hell to keep that way with continued changes to its TOS, account profiles, security settings, etc.

Both the user and Facebook are to blame.

The user should keep up with any changes going on at Facebook or any other website they are a member of. Keeping one’s head in a hole only leads to disaster. In turn, Facebook should allow its users to ‘opt-in’ to changes made instead of having to figure out a way to undo them later. That’s my personal opinion.

In any event, I’m sure there will be more lawsuits on this touchy subject and Facebook will, in the meantime, continue business as usual. Good luck with those lawsuits folks.

Are you concerned about your privacy on the web? How much do you think websites really know about you? You may be surprised.

On a side note: If you’re concerned about ANY website tracking you, depending on what browser you use, you can always ‘Google’ for the correct way to clean out your browser’s history, cookies, etc. It’s simple and easy to do. For your peace of mind.

Mike Meyers' Passport – CompTIA A+ Certification Book

Just wanted to say that this book is an excellent way to get ready for the exams. Very detailed and breaks things down into components that are easily understandable. His witty take on things is a plus as well. Back to studying now.

Is Facebook Going Through The Change?

I mean really, so many changes in such a short time kind of makes a user wonder: What the hell is going on?! Why all these sudden changes? We’re told that users requested them to improve their user experience. I must not of gotten the memo on that. Apparently, many others didn’t either. Read this USA Today article to get a hint how others feel.

A lot of folks are upset with these latest changes and I have to agree with them. Again Facebook has decided to ‘opt’ us into the latest changes instead of allowing us to opt-in ourselves. If we want to. With this latest change, admittedly an opt-in probably wouldn’t work. Too much hassle in keeping up separate UI’s (user interfaces) to keep the masses appeased. However, this latest change may be the straw that broke the camel’s back.

I for one have decided to delete my account. No loss to anyone else really. I had a small group of ‘Friends’ and ‘Family’ that I shared updates with. I’ve still got them as well as many others over on Twitter (which I enjoy way better than Facebook anyway). I also know where my ‘Friends’ and ‘Family’ live, work and hang out so I can meet up with them ‘IRL’ (in real life) when possible. So, no real loss there. I didn’t have a use for the Lists Facebook created for me nor the Subscriptions. Things were fine like they were. Alas, it was not meant to be. No matter. Facebook to me isn’t a required service.

So what IS the real reason for all the changes? They worried about little ‘ol Google and their G+ service? Or is it Twitter? Guess Facebook would have to answer that and they’re likely not going to anytime soon. Unless another ‘Change’ occurs. And from what I’m hearing, there’s more coming.

Before I forget, I won’t be disabling the share on Facebook link in my AddThis plugin. My personal decision is mine alone. I think you can make up yours well enough on your own.

Update: A guy I know (and think of as a friend) posted his thoughts about FB’s changes on his blog. Give it a read and see what you think. ‘Just don’t share’ – Easier said than done