Facebook vs. Google + : The Safety and Security of Your Personal Data and Information – Part Two

Review

In Part One of this report, I focused primarily on the differences between how Facebook accesses your data in relation to Google +. There is nothing to suggest that Google + cannot adopt the practices of Facebook. Indeed the +1 button is quickly becoming ubiquitous, leaving open the possibility for much more invasive practices should Google decide or find itself at a disadvantage. I do not believe this will occur, because of the differences between Facebook’s and Google’s respective audiences, Google’s “Real Names” policy, and their “Don’t be Evil” motto. I am not going to call Facebook “Evil”; however, I do suggest that Facebook appears to make it easier for those of dubious character to do “evil” things with your data.

Frictionless Sharing

Another feature in use by Facebook – one which my research has shown nothing to exist at Google + by comparison – is known as “Frictionless Sharing”. This is a technology where your activities completely outside of Facebook, are automatically shared to your Facebook timeline. In the past, you would have to “Like” something on a companion site in order for Facebook to record what you did, but if you approve a Facebook partner application like Spotify or Foursquare, your actions are shared on your Timeline without any clicking of a button, or doing anything (including giving permission) and these activities are as open to the public as your Timeline settings allow.

What makes this worse, is that this is a feature that is enabled by default, leaving you to:
• Discover what is being shared
• Decide whether or not to disable the feature
• Figure out how to disable the feature and do so
• Monitor your settings to make sure it is not re-enabled later as part of another Facebook update

Now, you might say, “Fine, whatever, it’s up to me.” True. No problem. But, what about your 90 year old grandmother, who uses Facebook only to stay in touch with you and your siblings? Is she going to be aware that her secret passion for Lil Wayne and Jay-Z records played in Spotify is going to show up on her timeline, through no fault of her own? What will they think down at the church, people? Some people want to keep certain things to themselves, do they not? Grandma should not have to poke around with a flashlight to fix security settings that she did not pre-set to keep her funky side to herself, period.

In my opinion, there is a point with “Frictionless Sharing” where the line between data collection and utter surveillance are blurred. Who wants to be watched? Who was asked, prior to this process going live, to be watched? If this feature were “Opt-In”, then okay, but it is not. You have to decide NOT to use this feature, and that means another trip through the maze of Facebook security settings to figure it out. If you are on Facebook right now, and you were not aware, this feature is running and recording what you do.

Users of Spotify (including myself) were outraged by the discovery and the announcement of this functionality. We were given no choice, and to make it worse, it became a requirement for newer users of Spotify either to connect or to create a Facebook account, or not use Spotify at all. It took me less than an hour to decide that I would rather have ads between my songs, than this level of intrusion, and I cancelled my Spotify premium membership. I will not go back either, for the sheer arrogance displayed by Facebook and Spotify.

Spotify woke up about a week later and decided to give users a way of using Spotify while remaining disconnected from Facebook. Again, however, you must go into the menus and disable the feature, which is already turned on by default. Uh,…yeah..bring on the commercials…. [insert expletive here] The decision to share my activities should rest with ME, not the decision NOT to share. It is unfair to the less technically inclined and it’s tremendously invasive. Do you want to be across the country when Foursquare shares your location with your public timeline, including the car thief down the street from your home who has taken a fancy to the Porsche in your garage? We are not all geeky enough to notice, much less turn these features off when they show up.

More gems:

Did you know that every person that you have ever defriended on Facebook has been recorded, including the time and day?
Did you know that every event that you were invited to has been recorded within Facebook, including whether or not you accepted the invitation?
Did you know that every single poke, every one of them, and by whom, is in the Facebook database?

Bottom Line: If you do not protect your settings, Facebook can build an entire picture of your likes, your activities, your locations, and the same information for all of your Facebook friends. A very detailed picture of your life might be sitting in a database. All of that information, ALL OF IT, is potentially for sale to those who want to sell things to you- or worse.

How to protect yourself?

Make sure you understand the permissions you are granting any new applications.

If you don’t want apps posting your activities to your public profile, it is up to you to notice the permissions that the app is asking for BEFORE you agree. If the application requires functions that you don’t want, or are uncomfortable with, simply do without.

Adjust Facebook Privacy settings.

Frequently visit the apps tab of your privacy settings and make the necessary adjustments. Don’t assume that changes to Facebook over time have not adjusted your settings automatically. If you do not understand what these do, or how to best set them for your privacy comfort level, you might consider whether using Facebook is worth it to you for the features provided.

Look at the permissions you’ve given to various applications; disable permissions within for each to your own comfort level. However, you may find that doing so limits the application’s overall functionality.

One thing you can consider doing in this case is to change the “App activity privacy setting,” maybe to just “friends” or “friends of friends” or even to only a list of users that you trust. If you select “Only me”, then you can turn off sharing altogether.

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