Instagram & Facebook - The privacy raiders united; your photos mined for info
Dec 19, 2012 00:20:03 #
Facebook probably already knows that that is your Aunt Mildred in your family reunion photo that you saved on Instagram.
The "surprising" change in Instagram's policy in the news lately is only the tip of a privacy iceberg. That they will be able to profit from any of the images you stored there as your personal archive by a simple default conditions of use policy is overshadowed by another invasion of personal policy.
But let's be clear; they never intended to sell your photographs per se, (that's just assumed based on the initial wording) - they want to profit by freeing using your photographs, messages, and other data. Instagram users: you are being assimilated; resistance is futile.
Oh sure, you can delete your account, but it will remain on their servers until all the data is mined. Your images may not appear elsewhere, but your data has probably already been integrated with Facebook along with the names of those your photographed.
When Facebook acquired Instagram, Instagram's fate was sealed. It was doomed to become a part of Facebook's invasive culture. Facebook started matching Instagram users with its vast database of Facebook users. But how is that possible? Unfortunately, when your business is selling personal information, it is all too easy. Match IP addresses, passwords, userids, etc. and the probability that user1 is the same person as user2 can grow all the way from 0 to 100%. Now Facebook knows even more about you.
Enter Facebook's amazing facial recognition bots who have been identifying faces and matching them between users to identify friends and contacts they have in common and the frequency (or "intimacy") of those "relationships", and poof! - Your network of contacts is established, "friended" or not. Started several years ago as a helpful feature to reduce the chore of tagging your friends, it is institutionalized and contains more information about folk's faces and who they are than the international immigration and naturalization database. And Facebook's users help by initially identifying people who have never used Facebook that appear in any of the group photos they post. Once identified, Facebook's bots helpfully identify that person anywhere else he or she appears and connects all the dots and relationships.
Well those facial recognition bots have been voraciously chewing through Instagram's over 5 billion uploaded images and matching them to its growing database of over 1 billion people. You don't have to identify that group of 5 friends you saved in Instagram; Facebook probably already knows who they are and how "intimate" a relationship they have to you (even if you never even looked at Facebook).
The information that Facebook collects from its users is beyond the comprehension of most of its users. They do not believe it is possible based on harmless messages. But they are very naive about the technology being used. What Facebook can do with this information and the potential dangers therein are ignored, but that is where the bulk of Facebook's market value lies. The value of the information they have derived and compiled (not simply gathered) about folks when sold to other companies.
I have explained this in detail to several friends with documented examples, but they appear to find it hard to fathom how anyone can deduce the things about them that Facebook's heuristic algorithms, GPS tracking and face recognition software accomplish every second all day long.
That Instagram has a high percentage of teens, helps Facebook collect more data (100 million Instagram users added to Facebook's 1000 million (1 billion) increases the percentage of teens; teens that pose a growing, more open with sharing personal information and more easily influenced demographic.
The accuracy of the compilation of information about you can be shocking (and potentially dangerous if misused....).
But this is just the beginning.
Remaining a private citizen is becoming next to impossible anymore. You don't need to be a user of the Internet. If you are not already identified in someone else's photograph that they posted on Facebook or Instagram, your photo may be taken every time you pass through a traffic light and you are identified by your car's license plate and stoired in a database.
It's alright, thanks to digital photography we know who you are and we know where you've been.
The "surprising" change in Instagram's policy in the news lately is only the tip of a privacy iceberg. That they will be able to profit from any of the images you stored there as your personal archive by a simple default conditions of use policy is overshadowed by another invasion of personal policy.
But let's be clear; they never intended to sell your photographs per se, (that's just assumed based on the initial wording) - they want to profit by freeing using your photographs, messages, and other data. Instagram users: you are being assimilated; resistance is futile.
Oh sure, you can delete your account, but it will remain on their servers until all the data is mined. Your images may not appear elsewhere, but your data has probably already been integrated with Facebook along with the names of those your photographed.
When Facebook acquired Instagram, Instagram's fate was sealed. It was doomed to become a part of Facebook's invasive culture. Facebook started matching Instagram users with its vast database of Facebook users. But how is that possible? Unfortunately, when your business is selling personal information, it is all too easy. Match IP addresses, passwords, userids, etc. and the probability that user1 is the same person as user2 can grow all the way from 0 to 100%. Now Facebook knows even more about you.
Enter Facebook's amazing facial recognition bots who have been identifying faces and matching them between users to identify friends and contacts they have in common and the frequency (or "intimacy") of those "relationships", and poof! - Your network of contacts is established, "friended" or not. Started several years ago as a helpful feature to reduce the chore of tagging your friends, it is institutionalized and contains more information about folk's faces and who they are than the international immigration and naturalization database. And Facebook's users help by initially identifying people who have never used Facebook that appear in any of the group photos they post. Once identified, Facebook's bots helpfully identify that person anywhere else he or she appears and connects all the dots and relationships.
Well those facial recognition bots have been voraciously chewing through Instagram's over 5 billion uploaded images and matching them to its growing database of over 1 billion people. You don't have to identify that group of 5 friends you saved in Instagram; Facebook probably already knows who they are and how "intimate" a relationship they have to you (even if you never even looked at Facebook).
The information that Facebook collects from its users is beyond the comprehension of most of its users. They do not believe it is possible based on harmless messages. But they are very naive about the technology being used. What Facebook can do with this information and the potential dangers therein are ignored, but that is where the bulk of Facebook's market value lies. The value of the information they have derived and compiled (not simply gathered) about folks when sold to other companies.
I have explained this in detail to several friends with documented examples, but they appear to find it hard to fathom how anyone can deduce the things about them that Facebook's heuristic algorithms, GPS tracking and face recognition software accomplish every second all day long.
That Instagram has a high percentage of teens, helps Facebook collect more data (100 million Instagram users added to Facebook's 1000 million (1 billion) increases the percentage of teens; teens that pose a growing, more open with sharing personal information and more easily influenced demographic.
The accuracy of the compilation of information about you can be shocking (and potentially dangerous if misused....).
But this is just the beginning.
Remaining a private citizen is becoming next to impossible anymore. You don't need to be a user of the Internet. If you are not already identified in someone else's photograph that they posted on Facebook or Instagram, your photo may be taken every time you pass through a traffic light and you are identified by your car's license plate and stoired in a database.
It's alright, thanks to digital photography we know who you are and we know where you've been.
Dec 19, 2012 01:54:32 #
Dec 20, 2012 07:23:30 #
Dec 20, 2012 09:52:23 #
I hope that if they find out something interesting about me, they let me know - then I can shout about it!
Dec 20, 2012 11:12:22 #
Festina Lente wrote:
i Facebook probably already knows that that is yo... (show quote)
Based upon your avitar, you slowly made haste!
Dec 20, 2012 11:23:40 #
Dec 20, 2012 11:28:22 #
Privacy was a goal in the last century. It has obviously failed. Do yourself a favor and watch this...to the end...(it's short)...welcome to 1984....
http://www.youtube.com/embed/F7pYHN9iC9I?rel=0
http://www.youtube.com/embed/F7pYHN9iC9I?rel=0
Dec 20, 2012 11:48:45 #
Festina Lente wrote:
And we are coming to get you for spreading round this secret Facebook information. Signed - the FB Heavies!It's alright, thanks to digital photography we know who you are and we know where you've been.
Dec 20, 2012 12:01:34 #
Dec 20, 2012 12:29:08 #
CResQ wrote:
I heard someone say, if the product is free - you are the product!!!
That, for me, is really the point. If I want something private, I'll simply keep it to myself but the point of a social network (for the user) is to be social. In other words not private.
My issue with FB (and why I do not have an account) is that they are predatory about using people's information.
Dec 20, 2012 13:31:18 #
mikemilton wrote:
That, for me, is really the point. If I want something private, I'll simply keep it to myself but the point of a social network (for the user) is to be social. In other words not private.
My issue with FB (and why I do not have an account) is that they are predatory about using people's information.
CResQ wrote:
I heard someone say, if the product is free - you are the product!!!
That, for me, is really the point. If I want something private, I'll simply keep it to myself but the point of a social network (for the user) is to be social. In other words not private.
My issue with FB (and why I do not have an account) is that they are predatory about using people's information.
Huh?
Is there some way FB cold be social without being predatory? Explain.
Dec 20, 2012 13:42:42 #
bdo wrote:
quote=mikemilton quote=CResQ I heard someone say... (show quote)
Try getting rid of FB. It's worse than throwing away a bommerang. And, by the way, did any one take notice of all the FB and Twtr false bulletins from last week's horror? Only difference between them and the Tv Nets, Fox, CNN, et all was the nets made a feeble attempt, from time to time, to correct themselves! Film at 11, no matter what!
Dec 20, 2012 13:44:43 #
The NSA knows when you've been naughty and the ATF knows when you've been good.....
But only I know when I've been reallllllly goooood...
But only I know when I've been reallllllly goooood...
Dec 20, 2012 14:25:18 #
bdo wrote:
Huh?
Is there some way FB cold be social without being predatory? Explain.
Huh?
Is there some way FB cold be social without being predatory? Explain.
Predatory: seeking to exploit or oppress others. FB actively works to prevent users from controlling their own content and to profit by exploiting it. Often to the users detriment.
Consider that being social does not imply being either exploitive or opressive.
Dec 20, 2012 18:13:35 #
Mudshark wrote:
Great video; and all too real.Privacy was a goal in the last century. It has obviously failed. Do yourself a favor and watch this...to the end...(it's short)...welcome to 1984....
http://www.youtube.com/embed/F7pYHN9iC9I?rel=0
http://www.youtube.com/embed/F7pYHN9iC9I?rel=0
But some folks (see previous posts above for example) think that privacy is about keeping secrets; they fail to realize the damage a stranger can inflict on another's life with enough information. Identity theft is just a small example and rapidly growing crime.
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