privacy | I Crashed The Web

A man was surfing Facebook and noticed an ad on his screen (you know, where the annoying “Lose 10 lb in one week on the Angelina Jolie diet” ads are?) that said “Hot singles are waiting for you!!” This would have been normal, except for the fact that the woman pictured in the ad was of this guy’s wife!

How did this happen? Was the woman working for the dating service? Had she, herself, signed up for the dating service? Nope – it all had to do with Facebook Applications’ Privacy Settings, which are set (by default) to allow YOU to be featured in THEIR ads! That’s right — Facebook has the right to use your photo in ads unless you opt out.

Yet more proof that by default, Facebook owns everything you have ever posted….and more reason to always update your Privacy settings!

If you don’t want to appear in one of Facebook’s ads (I know that I don’t want my belly featured in one of those BEFORE weight loss ads!!), here’s what you have to do:

On the top of your Facebook page, scroll over Settings. Click on Privacy Settings.
Click on News Feed and Wall.
Then click on the tab reading Facebook Ads.
In the Appearance in Facebook Ads box, select No One.

I just checked and sure enough, my settings were set up so that I had to opt out. I wonder if I’ve already appeared in ads for some of my friends? I guess I’ll never know!

I can’t believe this is true… According to this article, applicants applying for a job with the city of Bozeman (that’s in Montana for you non-geography folks) are asked to provide their provide social media log-in information (Facebook, YouTube, etc. usernames AND passwords!) in order to be considered for the job.

A concerned job applicant contacted the local CBS affiliate about this practice. According to the individual, the job application requires people to list all “personal or business websites, web pages or memberships on any Internet-based chat rooms, social clubs or forums, to include, but not limited to: Facebook, Google, Yahoo, YouTube.com, MySpace, etc.” and leaves space where applicants are instructed to leave their usernames and passwords for their corresponding sites.

According to city attorney Greg Sullivan, the practices are in place because “[Bozeman has] positions ranging from fire and police, which require people of high integrity for those positions, all the way down to the lifeguards and the folks that work in city hall here. So we do those types of investigations to make sure the people that we hire have the highest moral character and are a good fit for the City,” Sullivan said.”

Um, hello?! Is anyone else bothered by this? No WAY would I write my FB password on a piece of paper and hand to someone I didn’t even know. I mean honestly, with all the phishing attacks that have been going on, why would I be so stupid as to give a random stranger access to my personal accounts (and therefore personal information, messages with friends, access to friends’ profiles, etc.). I share specific information with friends (including photos, info about where I live, etc.) and would not want one of my friends sharing their password (and therefore access to my information) with some random person either. Honestly, who knows who will have access to my application – from the person who types my information into some sort of database to even an HR person.

The local CBS website also has a poll if you’re interested, where you can vote whether or not you are in favor of this practice. I voted! As of now, 99% of those surveyed think it’s an invasion of privacy. What do you think?

Note: Thanks to @jewelsann for linking to this article on Twitter.