What if I told you that a random stranger has access to…

What if I told you that a random stranger has access to…

The identities of the people you know…

Your likes and interests…

Photos and videos of you…

The secrets you share with your friends…

Whatever you write and read…

Your location…

…and basically almost everything else about you?

Allow me to introduce…

• Sometimes it happens with your consent, other times it happens without you knowing.

• Anyways, let me say this:

So, how does this all happen?

It’s as simple as the click of a button.

A simple question presents itself:

What is privacy?

Now, before we dive in….

• The state or condition of being free from being observed or disturbed by other people.

• The state of being free from public attention.

Privacy

Now to Facebook…

• Facemash: Zuckerberg’s first attempt, in Harvard

• In its first hour: 450 views and 22,000 photo views

• Charges raised: breach of security, violating copyrights, and violating individual privacy

Back to 2003

• …but now Facebook offers you privacy settings. Let’s see what Facebook offers you, and what you give away to it.

So, it started with privacy breaches…

What Facebook does tell you

Over the table

A quick run-through

• That’s all Facebook offers you for privacy settings, but that’s not the only way your privacy may be breached.

… and that’s about it.

A look into the application settings

Facebook app permissions… too much?

It took me 35 minutes of doing this…

• A German girl created an event on Facebook for her birthday, but set the privacy for the event to ‘Public’ instead of ‘Private’ by mistake… the result? 1,500 attendees.

A short anecdote

What Facebook doesn’t tell you

Under the table

• Ever wondered how Facebook makes money?

• $2 bn dollars made in 2011

– 15% Credits gold– 85% Ad revenue

Selling your data to advertisers

• You probably already know this… #Jan25

• Facebook allows governments special access into the Facebook accounts of online activists. Not just what they write or read, but everything on their account.

Giving access to governments

• Want to be able to see someone’s full profile without befriending them? Two options:

1) Subscribe to them (depends on their settings)2) Send them a message

The second method guarantees you access to their full profile for a month.

A quick fact

• Introduced in early 2011

• Making sharing automatic and easier… for the better or for the worse?

• Shares what you do on other websites, and signs you into places (i.e. knows your location).

Frictionless sharing

• What is a cookie?

• The three Facebook cookies

• Works on every webpage with a Facebook ‘Like’ button on it

Facebook’s cookies

• Some of the older ones allowed Facebook to keep the images and posts you make forever, even if you delete them. That was changed afterwards, though.

• Latest update: even after you delete your account, the posts you make on your friends’ walls will stay there until they remove it.

Facebook’s Terms of Service

• “You hereby grant Facebook an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to (a) use, copy, publish, stream, store, retain, publicly perform or display, transmit, scan, reformat, modify, edit, frame, translate, excerpt, adapt, create derivative works and distribute (through multiple tiers), any User Content you (i) Post on or in connection with the Facebook Service or the promotion thereof subject only to your privacy settings or (ii) enable a user to Post, including by offering a Share Link on your website and (b) to use your name, likeness and image for any purpose, including commercial or advertising, each of (a) and (b) on or in connection with the Facebook Service or the promotion thereof.” (Facebook.com)

Facebook’s Terms of Service (cont.)

• Data mining

• Identity theft

Other consequences

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook

• http://socialnewsdaily.com/396/german-teenager-15000-facebook-users-party/

• http://mashable.com/2010/05/20/facebook-caught-sending-user-data-to-advertisers/

• http://www.pcworld.com/article/240592/facebooks_frictionless_sharing_a_privacy_guide.html

• http://www.ecpulse.com/en/topstory/2011/11/22/facebook-tracks-you/

• http://www.allfacebook.com/facebook-makes-money-2010-01

• http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/facebook/8917836/Facebook-faces-EU-curbs-on-selling-users-interests-to-advertisers.html

Sources

• http://www.didyouwonder.com/how-does-facebook-make-money/

• http://www.forbes.com/sites/chunkamui/2011/08/08/facebooks-privacy-issues-are-even-deeper-than-we-knew/

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Facebook

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_tBr7MSoxQ

Sources (cont.)