Privacy AND Facebook, do they work together or against each other. Now that Facebook has revealed the depth of its depravity, in the search for more advertising dollars, and the EU has taken issue with Facebook’s and Google’s very lax standards and created tough new privacy regulations. We have a new world reality.
What you thought was private simply never was, we just didn’t know that. This lack of transparency was all used to make money off of your information and to create deep data mining preference to sell ads targeting you. But it did not stop there, this data was then shared around with others on the Web, without your knowledge or approval.
Enter in our new world. Facebook has encouraged a level of sharing that we have all embraced. We wanted to see news, videos, and recommendations. We wanted to connect with others that were friends, family, those we had past history with, as well as past colleagues. Facebook took that information and used it for its own gain. But, if that was not bad enough, Facebook allowed others we did not know about to take our data, demographics, and preferences and share them with third, fourth, and even fifth parties. Even using our own profiles to access anyone else’s profile connected to ours and take their data too. The end result was the reality of “privacy” we thought we had in our own individual accounts was false.
As draconian as the EU privacy guidelines are for websites to adhere to by May 25, 2018, I applaud them and embrace them. We should all know what is done with our information. We should know that we can now ask to have it removed – easier for those in the EU to demand than US residents. We should know who our data is being shared with for data mining and ad serving.
As for myself, I have removed all but one or two things from my Facebook profile. Facebook does not need to know my political or religious views. Nor should it know my age and for that matter at this point even location.
I personally am actually looking for alternatives to Facebook as this recent privacy issue has revealed the heart and soul of Facebook as a platform, and I do not like what I see. We were all lulled into thinking that Facebook was fun a place to connect, but now I perceive it as a place to steal my privacy and personal data from me all for the single-minded use of making money off of me.
Google, my eyes are being turned onto you next!