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Facebook checks in

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25 pointswhereareyou13 comments

Advance notice of another enabled-by-default option to disable in privacy settings.

Edit: To clarify, I signed up for facebook in 2004 because it offered simple social planning and sharing. Today, I think FB's photo and event apps are very well executed.

Everything else is just fluff. Fluff that, if not disabled, can spread information about you without your knowledge.

I completely agree with you. It has become a cat and mouse game with facebook where they try to expose all personal information while the user (some users) try to prevent them from doing this through the constant changes in default setttings. The unfortunate thing is that most users don't even realize how much of their information is exposed. They whine and bitch about interface changes not realizing that it is part of constant privacy changes designed to help facebook pawn their information.

I understand they want to make money but they seem to be quite underhanded about how they use (or mis-use) their users' information.

You mean your 'friends' can spread information about you without your knowledge?

"... your 'friends' can spread information about you without your knowledge? ..."

Yes, "Dark Stalking on Facebook" ~ http://pjf.id.au/blog/?position=590 Paul has also commented on the latest changes here ~ http://pjf.id.au/blog/?position=604

When you add new features for your customers, do you default them off?

Whereas I might now and then decide to share my location via services like Foursquare, I will NEVER share it on Facebook.

I just can't trust them. They've proven it over and over.

So I have to be extremely selective with what I share there, and outright lie in some cases.

It's a dysfunctional relationship, and it won't last.

They're in for crash.

To state what's kind of the refrain of Silicon Valley, you are not their target audience.

Silicon Valley needs to get out of its bubble, then. This sort of talk is spreading in places you wouldn't expect. I've seen it in totally non-technical communities all over the internet.

Yup, my not very techie friends, and their friend, seem to be the most bothered.

More likely they are in for a minor user backlash.

FWIW, the "latitude and longitude, but also your altitude, heading, and speed" is the standard set of GPS data.

Also, some of the relevant Javascript is here: http://static.ak.fbcdn.net/rsrc.php/z3RA8/hash/273u6o5s.js

Well everyone knows this is coming, even without the code. It would be news if facebook wasn't pursuing location based features.

I'm not convinced of the value "check-ins" give users, and with Facebook's ever eroding privacy I'm not giving them my coordinates.

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