Can you tell it's a quiet day?
Anyway, though I am not normally concerned by privacy issues, Facebook is increasingly irritating me.
The Adverts, Sponsored Posts, Things you might like, Groups that your friends have joined and all the rest of it is starting to get right up my nose. It has moved from being an ignorable necessary evil to being a grating annoyance.
To the point that I have installed Phoenix on my phone and "Ad Blocker for Facebook" on my PC. I shall continue to do whatever I can to frustrate them.
I use Facebook because I am part of a large and close family and we like to keep up on each others lives and children. I think we currently have around 200 in our family group. If it were not for that I would dump Facebook in a heartbeat.
Back in the days when I was involved in such things the principle was that the more relevant advertising became the more likely it was to be received as valuable information, not intrusive selling. Facebook appears to have enthusiastically overstepped the mark.
I think it is to be borne in mind that Facebook sees it's customers as the advertisers, it's users are simply a resource they use to satisfy their customers.
Whereas Apple sees it's app suppliers, advertisers, and other interested businesses as resources that they use to satisfy their customer - the hardware purchasers.
Facebook's own position tends to reveal how they feel wounded by Apple's current moves.
www.facebook.com/audiencenetwork/news-and-insights/preparing-audience-network-for-ios14/?locale=en_US&draft=306506763767413
I'd like to think that Google will join in and that the combination will wake up the world's Oompa Loompas as to how they're unknowingly being used.
And also because I'd like to not have to switch to an OS I don't like on handsets I don't want to pay for.
Anyway, no point, just a stress relieving rant.
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Have you tried the browser extension called F.B. Purity?
It just about makes FB tolerable as far as I'm concerned.
FBP claims: "It lets you filter out the annoying stuff you don't want to see, such as Suggested Posts, Suggested Pages, Games, Upcoming Events, lets you filter out posts from the feed by the keywords / phrases that you specify, it also adds cool new functionality like telling you when friends delete you from their friends lists. Lets you force the newsfeed to be sorted by "Most Recent", adds a "Chronological Sort" function for the newsfeed, It lets you hide the Trending Topics box, let you hide emoticons / smileys, and many other useful functions."
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Well, I've installed it and my initial reaction is good. I'll see how I get on with it over a period of time.
Thanks again.
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>> Well, I've installed it and my initial reaction is good. I'll see how I get
>> on with it over a period of time.
>>
>> Thanks again.
Ditto
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As I have no Facebook account, nor any interest in it, I've blocked the various Facebook website addresses at the border of my network using the excellent Pihole, so nothing can ever get to them from any device.
Out of interest, I've just looked at my "dashboard" in the blocking product.
There have been 138 failed attempts to get to Facebook sites across 15 devices in the last 24 hours, with a total of five sites deliberately visited (here, the BBC, Google, Tesco and Pistonheads). Some of the attempts came from my phone, which has been on standby all day, with no apps in the foreground at all.
It's pretty invasive.
However, Facebook is only ninth out of the top ten in my blocked sites list. Total attempts to blocked sites in that 24 hours, all of which are just ads or other unwanted junk, has been 19% of my total network traffic, which is about what I normally see - 4571 queries blocked, from 23579 requests.
So if I'm getting nigh on 150 Facebook "attempts" from a non account holding person with no trace of the product on any device, most of which are entirely idle, I hate to imagine what it's like if it's either unblocked, or worse, you actually have an account as well.
Last edited by: Crankcase on Thu 26 Nov 20 at 15:41
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I find Facebook handy as I can follow useful links to the site for information. I don't use my real name, signed up with a ficticious D0B and linked to a junk email address. Sometimes I like to see what distant family members are up to but I have never made a single post on the site.
Anyone who needs to contact me has other means of doing so, phone or email.
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If somebody ever launches a Facebook alternative I shall be at the head of the queue.
TO be honest it's fairly close to outweighing it's own benefits.
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I am seriously thinking of deactivating my FB account. Not so much the intrusive advertising as such, more do just the amount of nonsense that appears. I am fed up telling “friends” that the stuff they are sharing is fake or malicious.
However I really like to try and support as many local businesses as possible now, one man bands etc, and they all seem to work from their own Facebook page. No one seems to have standalone websites for these sizes of businesses.
For most of my social interaction now, I use WhatsApp. Have loads of different chats on there with different family groups, friends etc. I very rarely post on FB now.
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I've always been a reluctant FB user and never really got into adding people I happened to meet down the pub or worked with or whatever. My aversion is to the amount of info you are putting out there, wittingly or otherwise, and the fact that you have a mix of people all lumped together - one thing which might be funny to my close mates and I might well be offensive to my sister say.
I unfriended one or two people here at some stage in the past because of that - though I hadn't friended many anyway.
Also the amount of stuff you are unwittingly sending them is unbelievable. I know we've discussed it before. I think I've pretty much locked it down as best I can but it still surprises me sometimes.
However I did become somewhat active on it during Lockdown1 when invited to an Old Boys group set up by a school friend, but "official". That was really good for a couple of months with folks from all eras swapping stories and posting pics. Unfortunately the group had a very intense and disruptive period when BLM inspired ex-pupils to arrive with tales of racism at the school. The group took an immense and very disruptive hit, from which it has never really recovered (and I suppose the fun stuff had a finite life anyway).
I like the idea of FB, just not the way it has worked out. I remain very close to leaving it but I would lose some of the looser connections with old school friends and distant pals from motor racing which are easy to maintain on FB than in real life. I'll have a look at the extension mentioned above too.
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>> might well be offensive to my sister say.
My challenge also. Not so much my sister, who is shocking at the best of times, but to my daughters and other younger family members. And much the same for some of the older family members.
I have, as far as possible, restricted myself to family members. But even then I have probably 20 'friends' who I would not want to see the harsher side of my friends' sense of humour, even if I find it funny.
Consequentally though, my Facebook presence is absent of controversial subjects, pictures or comments. Which at least means I have no cause to worry about it being seen.
The loss to me of leaving would be loss of easy contact with and awareness of a globally dispersed family.
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I am a member of several closed groups: discussion, memories, photographs and good banter.
But the open forum comes with a great deal of s***e. And the more the circle of 'friends' extends the greater that pile.
It can also be intrusive, to what extent I'm not sure but its probably greater than people like to think.
I had a large tree remove professionally on Monday and was chating to one of the team who turned up early and whom I never met before. I cant remember what the conversation was about but it was very random and not connected to my normal interests. 10 minutes later and advert turned up on FB relating to the conversion we just had.
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I only use it bits and bobs, I'm only on a few groups, of which all closed or there's some moderator check. Mainly use to get rid of stuff and pick up the odd bargain.
I can go weeks/ months without logging on.
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They probably knew his line of business and where his phone had been, and that you were standing next to him for a bit (presumably having a chat).
Clever things. And that's exactly the bit I like least - the stuff I don't know about.
Last edited by: smokie on Thu 26 Nov 20 at 17:30
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I'm not sure it matters whether you log on Sooty, it probably has some background task running anyway, monitoring you (see FCs 16:46 post...)
Last edited by: smokie on Thu 26 Nov 20 at 17:32
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I did read the post, I'm not sure I understood it though.
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The bit I was referring to was that FC had a piece of work done by a company, and chatted with a bloke who was doing the work. Next thing, an ad for the company came up on his Facebook.
Somehow Facebook had made the connection.
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It was actually more sinister than that. It had no direct connection to either of us at that time but was relating to the content of the conversation we had about something random.
I wish I could recall what it was but I did approach him and showed him my phone. His response was the same as my thought, "They must be listening to us."
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>> The bit I was referring to was that FC had a piece of work done
>> by a company, and chatted with a bloke who was doing the work. Next thing,
>> an ad for the company came up on his Facebook.
>>
>> Somehow Facebook had made the connection.
>>
Right I see, it might well happen but I wouldn't make the connection.By that I mean I wouldn't remember what I was talking about several weeks ago when I next logged on.
I don't remember any particular advert on there. I've never had the app on my phone or logged in from my phone, that I can remember anyway.
Last edited by: sooty123 on Thu 26 Nov 20 at 19:47
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There have been a couple of times where I have had a conversation about something I've never previously had an interest in which have subsequently turned up in Facebook adverts.
One time for example, I was having a conversation with the Consul General about a gay marriage he was going to perform the next day. That evening I got two alphabet club related adverts.
Just not a clear enough leap for me to be convinced it is anything other than a coincidence though.
Last edited by: No FM2R on Thu 26 Nov 20 at 19:55
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to work the way FC implied means that he, or the guy who was talking to had a mic on to facebook. In theory its possible, but you would need to have facebook open, and mic access at all times set, which is not a valid option.
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>>you would need to have Facebook open, and mic access at all times set
Facebook by default runs in the background and has access to the microphone (Messenger calls).
Keeping it on all the time though is a bit of a stretch though, I agree. Firstly it would have been spotted by now and secondly it'd knacker the battery.
I expect what it does do though is notice our common location and show one person adverts connected to the other person's recent searches.
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I got my eyes opened to this when I worked in the Hospice.
I was opening a new charity shop and our comms team set up adverts on Facebook - they could target folk in the area, or target people who passed through a certain postcode, who passed the local train station, exclude people driving through etc etc
Was scary to see it in action.
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It is exactly that background stuff which psses me off so much.
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It could be worse. I recall Zeddo being asked for a review of a sex shop he was at, when all he did was stop at a red traffic light outside it (so he says).
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My extended family are on FB. So far, I think I have it installed 3 times and deleted it 3 times. Similar with Whatsapp. It's when it all gets so silly that I lose patience. The umpteen people - that I don't know - who want to 'friend' me - or whatever it's called - is ridiculuous.
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>> It could be worse. I recall Zeddo being asked for a review of a sex
>> shop he was at, when all he did was stop at a red traffic light
>> outside it (so he says).
It was google reviews and a gay club. Fulham somewhere.
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Another example:
A few years ago whilst I was working we used the old Magistrates Courts in the Guildhall to do courtroom practice. Fine old fashioned wooden paneled rooms now utilised for Youth and Coroners work.
It a massive building, As I passed a series of doors I spotted one with an 'Investors in People' plaque on it. Underneath was a sticker stating 'No Entry. Use Other Door'.
The irony tickled me so I posted it on FB.
Almost a year later we were engaged in the same activity. I received a FB message. 'You have Memories' Sure enough there is the picture I posted with my comment.
Thing was that my Location Services were switched off. So perhaps although not logged in the Wi-Fi picked me up. Then FB's background systems are marrying up my location and historical postings.
You'd think they would be able to utilise that kind of technology in case of a global pandemic :/
Last edited by: Fullchat on Thu 26 Nov 20 at 20:32
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I only have FB on my PC, I'd never bother with it on the phone.
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FB Messenger (optional extra I understand) used to (and probably still does) track your location, though I've no idea whether it can do it if you have GPS turned off (I'm sure I've another app somewhere which gives a fairly good approximation of your location using masts). I know this as there was an app floating round the internet whereby anyone could track your location without you knowing, somehow through messenger. On my phone I just have minimal FB, no Messenger.
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>>On my phone I just have minimal FB, no Messenger.
Look into "Phoenix - Facebook & Messenger", I have it on my Android. Excellent App with none of the Facebook downsides, that I can see.
nb: quotation marks appropriately used, that is its exact name.
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Hmm I probably ought to install it in place of FB but I would really rather do without completely!!
I'll stick it on my spare phone for a look... thx
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Thank you "James Loveless", FBP has completely changed my Facebook experience and removed almost everything that was irritating me.
I do have teh secondary issue of stopping Facebook getting to anything else I do.
I think this may be part of the solution....
addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/facebook-container/
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>>Thank you "James Loveless", +1
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Been using Fluff Buster Purity for two or three years now and have found that, if configured properly, it diminishes Facebook's intrusions dramatically. The trouble is that quite a few people, as with most things involving a bit of work, can't be bothered.....
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>>Been using Fluff Buster Purity ...
I assume that's the same thing as FBP?
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Aye - presume using "Facebook" in their title would get them sued bigtime.
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>>I assume that's the same thing as FBP?>>
Yes, that's what its creator terms it or, to be strictly accurate, Fluff Busting Purity..:-)
www.fbpurity.com/
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And so it begins.....
This will be a slow burner that will not go away.
www.bbc.com/news/technology-55279047
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Privacy & Facebook - James Loveless
