RE: THIS is why I'm not on Facebook...

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I completely agree.

I did sign up with my real name, not long after FB started, but I have staunchly refused to give them the vast majority of information they have asked for, and even demanded, on the basis that it is none of their freaking business.

So they have my name, and the high schools I attended, but they do NOT know my phone number, street address, or the city in which I live; nor do they know the nature of my business; or whom among my contacts are friends, relatives, business associates, or acquaintances.

And FB's algorithms aren't all they are cracked up to be: as just one example, I was urged to contact my sister over five years after her death. Talk about intrusive.

My husband refuses to be on FB at all, and if he wants to contact someone, he has me do it for him. He recently had me set up an account for him, at a friend's request, used it for less than a week, and asked me to delete it for him. Smart man.

I'm not worried about the little amount of data they do have on me, since a Google search comes up with far more, simply because I've been online since 1995.

I will say that I now use a paid VPN (which makes tracking my IP address useless), have StartPage set as my search engine, use encrypted email and messaging services, and generally only fill in personal data if it is anonymized.

The funny thing is that I also signed up for FB with a more generic name, but I can no longer recall what email address and/or password I used, so I'm locked out.

Funnier still, in the great FB purge, when they rooted out and eliminated accounts not using "real" names, that account has remained untouched, and still appears in my friends list. Great job, FB.

As I said, their algorithms aren't as good as their reputation might suggest. Happily for all of us.
;-)

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(Edited)

Sorry to hear what happened with your late sister, it really shows a lack of polish on their part. My friend set mine up with completely fake information just so I could get messages from him since he wasn't on Twitter. Good old Startpage! love em! As for FB, in the beginning, no one had any reason not to trust them or any fear that they would become what they are today.

One thing that shocked me a few years ago, was seeing in real-time a notification that a friend was doing something on Facebook I know they would not have wanted their friends to know about. I also remember when Leo Laporte found out that anyone could add him to a group without his knowledge or permission (just think of how that could be abused).

I have not used a VPN yet, but I agree that is very smart on your part. I may decide to take the jump this year as well. It's funny, my overseas friends didn't know who this "John Doe type" character was who was making a friend request! :) Good on you for deciding to retain some of your digital privacy.

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