Facebook Shinanigans

What has been going on at Facebook has been suspected for a long time. Only the real extent is now being revealed. Personally I suspected something going on when their Android app started asking for various permissions I didn’t want it to have. So I switched to an independent app (Tinfoil for Facebook), and now use Faceslim, which also uses the Facebook web-mobile interface and so cannot “search” your device.
If you had agreed to all Facebook app had requested, you’d have given them: your location, your contacts, your call logs, your SMS logs (logs = number called, length of call, when call made etc), your browsing history, what other apps you use, use of your camera and microphone. These are the main ones.

What should I do?

The question comes, do I continue to use Facebook or do I delete the account?
Your answer comes down to how you use Facebook and what you use it for. If its purely for social, then deleting Facebook may not be such a big deal. There are other ways to stay in touch, just maybe not as convenient. However, if you use Facebook for business – marketing and lead generation, then the question may need a more considered approach. I know of businesses that do very well with twitter alone.

For the time being I will continue to use Facebook, but I will use it differently. I can see a time when I will delete my account and when I do I will give lots of notice and be very loud about it! I will also have changed the way I do things. When giving something up, it’s more about a lifestyle change than the giving up.

My suggestions if you want to continue using Facebook would be:

to decide how you are going to use Facebook. Is it for business, social, keeping in touch with friends and relatives around the world? Are there other/better ways?
to visit the settings sections and the app sections and make sure all the settings are to your liking. (There’s a link at the end to a How-to)
Delete the apps and info on your devices while not connected to the internet. Then install “safe” apps like Faceslim (Android). On the computer only open Facebook in a separate window.

If you open other “tabs”, Facebook will know and you’ll see adverts reflecting what you looked at. My wife open the Mitsubishi Cars website next to the Facebook page, now all she sees on Facebook are adds for Mitsubishi cars! I go as far as using one browser only for Facebook (Fir

efox), and another for everything (Waterfox). Sometimes I’ll use Chrome, but that’s linked to Google! (And Safari to Apple). If you prefer Chrome, there is another called Chromium, it’s like Chrome but without all the Google bits.

Mozilla, the developers of Firefox have just released a plugin for Firefox that stops Facebook for seeing outside of its “window/tab”.

Here’s the link to the plugin.

Facebook setting how to.

And now you’ve locked down Facebook, well done.
Next is Google, then…..
If you think that Facebook is bad, Google has so much more on you. Have a look here The Guardian Facebook & Google Data

My next post is: Is it possible to go “Google free”? I’ll be starting with the Android phone.