…this is perhaps the most graphic illustration ever of Facebook’s privacy problems. Making use of a public programming interface that Facebook released a few weeks ago, three programmers in San Francisco wrote Openbook, a website that searches Facebook profiles for — well, for anything you want.

For example, here is a list of people broadcasting information about rectal exams on Facebook. It’s unlikely that all of these people know that they are broadcasting so much information to the   permanent public record.

Via Mother Jones.

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According to SAI sources, the following exchange is between a 19-year-old Mark Zuckerberg and a friend shortly after Mark launched The Facebook in his dorm room:

Zuck: Yeah so if you ever need info about anyone at Harvard

Zuck: Just ask.

Zuck: I have over 4,000 emails, pictures, addresses, SNS

[Redacted Friend's Name]: What? How’d you manage that one?

Zuck: People just submitted it.

Zuck: I don’t know why.

Zuck: They “trust me”

Zuck: Dumb f*cks.

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Google’s roving Street View spycam may blur your face, but it’s got your number. The Street View service is under fire in Germany for scanning private WLAN networks, and recording users’ unique Mac (Media Access Control) addresses, as the car trundles along.

Germany’s Federal Commissioner for Data Protection Peter Schaar says he’s “horrified” by the discovery.

Google Street View peering into a window. They may blur the images later, but they presumably capture and store clear images.

From Huffington Post:

In a blog post published Friday, Google admitted to ‘mistakenly’ collecting sensitive private data sent over WiFi networks.

Germany’s data protection authority (DPA) requested Google audit the WiFi data collected by its Street View cars. The audit revealed that contrary to the company’s claims, for at least three years, Google has been collecting payload data (the information users send over a wireless network) from non-password-protected WiFi networks. A programming error from 2006 was at fault.

Excerpted from Google’s post:

…we [previously] said that while Google did collect publicly broadcast SSID information (the WiFi network name) and MAC addresses (the unique number given to a device like a WiFi router) using Street View cars, we did not collect payload data (information sent over the network). But it’s now clear that we have been mistakenly collecting samples of payload data from open (i.e. non-password-protected) WiFi networks, even though we never used that data in any Google products.

However, we will typically have collected only fragments of payload data because: our cars are on the move; someone would need to be using the network as a car passed by; and our in-car WiFi equipment automatically changes channels roughly five times a second. In addition, we did not collect information traveling over secure, password-protected WiFi networks.

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Documents from talks on a secret global copyright deal have leaked online, various sources are reporting. The documents discussed are said to confirm that internet service providers could be compelled to constantly sift through their customers’ data looking for copyright transgressions. The European Union’s data protection chief has said that such requirements could curtail individuals’ civil liberties…ISPs told New Scientist in December that such technology will not only slow downloads, but puts in place technology that could be used for snooping and censorship.

Read more on PC World…

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If you surf the Web while logged into Facebook, the button will display how many of your friends like the webpage you are on. That means it sends your personal identity back to Facebook to get the information.

Every page with a Like button that you visit while being logged into Facebook is being linked to your personal identity, including who your friends are, your interests, your activities, your phone number, credit card, and even to your religion and political party.

Free websites have to make money somehow, and your personal data is highly valuable.

From Voxy.co.nz:

For example, a Facebook user while on IMDb.com indicates that he likes a certain movie by clicking on the Facebook “Like” or “Recommend” button embedded in the site will create a data record.  This data will be available to advertisers using Facebook and visible to anyone on the social network — even if the Facebook user has a “Friends Only” privacy setting on their account….Facebook terms Likes as a form of “social links” — claiming that they are better than a link because they can be related to a specific user.

One way to reduce the amount you are tracked by Facebook as you surf the Web is to always stay logged out of Facebook while browsing websites. One way to do this is to use one browser for browsing (e.g., Firefox) and a separate browser only for sites like Facebook and Google (e.g., Opera). That will give you somewhat more privacy on the Web.

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Build online health profiles
You can enter your health conditions, medications, allergies, and lab results into your Google Health profile and you can name the profile anything you want. You can even create multiple profiles for family members or others you care for.

Import medical records from hospitals and pharmacies
Choose from a list of Google Health partners to see if your hospital or pharmacy can send copies of your medical records or prescriptions to your Google Health profile. This way, you can save an accurate history of your medical conditions, medications, and test results all in one place.

What this means is that Google will have the ability to link your health records to all of the other data they have about you including:

• Web pages you visit (Google Analytics, Google toolbar, Google AdSense, DoubleClick Ads, future AdMob ads, etc.)
• Search engine queries (IP address, Web history, Google Chrome)
• Your physical location at all times (Google Latitude, Google Mobile Maps, Android phones including Nexus One, your IP address when accessing your Google Account, Google Maps direction searches)
• The theoretical capability to track your exact physical gestures with your phone (see how cell phone accelerometers make this possible)
• Your documents, spreadsheets, and other files (Google Docs, “Gdrive”, Google Desktop)
• Your email (Gmail, Google Apps)
• Your personal and business connections (Gmail, Google Talk, Google Buzz)
• Your credit card numbers and purchases (Google Checkout)
• Your phone numbers, calls, and voice mails (Google Voice)
• Your photos (Picasa)
• Your face recorded with facial recognition technology (Picasa)
• and much more…

If you don’t think Google is that creepy, see how Google already developed eavesdropping technology capable of listening to you through your computer’s microphone, and about how Google is even interested in your DNA.  Google has an abysmal privacy record:

• Google Ranked Worst on Privacy (the only company ranked “hostile to privacy” in the report)
• 10 Countries criticize Google over privacy (April 20, 2010)

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Off record chat w/ Facebook employee. Me: How does Zuck feel about privacy? Response: [laughter] He doesn’t believe in it.

Via Wired:

“Zuckerberg’s apparent disregard for your privacy is probably not reason enough to delete your Facebook account. But we wouldn’t recommend posting anything there that you wouldn’t want marketers, legal authorities, governments (or your mother) to see, especially as Facebook continues to push more and more of users’ information public and even into the hands of other companies, leaving the onus on users to figure out its Rubik’s Cube-esque privacy controls.”

And:

Zuckerberg defended the change — largely intended to keep up with the publicness of Twitter, saying that people’s notions of privacy were changing.

Though the average user has no idea how Facebook is using their data or what it means.

Where will your data end up?

Then last week at its f8 conference, Facebook announced it was sending user profile information in bulk to companies like Yelp, Pandora and Microsoft.

Full article at Wired.

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With Facebook’s release of the “Like button” and similar tools, they now have the capability to track you on every webpage you visit that has Facebook scripts installed. If you are logged into your Facebook account while surfing the Web Facebook has the capability to associate the webpages you’ve visited with your personal identity, including personal network of friends, and possibly even telephone and credit card numbers.

“[Facebook] may have created the biggest disruption to web traffic analytics in years: demographically verified visitor stats tied to people’s real identities.”

(via Read Write Web)

What will Facebook do with that data? Is there anything protecting users from Facebook’s selling that data or using it for potentially unwholesome purposes?

“Centralization is a dangerous thing and Facebook is a young company that’s proven willing to break its contract with users in the past”

Read more at ReadWriteWeb.

(Note that very similar issues exist with Google’s capacity to track users and to associate your every action on the Internet with your specific personal identity.)

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“The idea is simple: software is embedded into an employee’s mobile that is connected to a server that analyzes their movements via the phone’s accelerometer. At first, workers will have to input just what action they are performing into their mobiles so that their movements can be interpreted. The system becomes more accurate as time goes on, recognizing each individual’s movements. So, if your boss has asked you to hoover up the nasal hair he clipped before nipping off to lunch with his secretary, he can make sure that you’re performing the task he’s set you, rather than sitting in front of his computer and checking up on your Facebook page–or his.”

Full story on FastCompany

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