http://www.dvorak.org/blog/images/facebook-information-request.jpg

Wanted to post a comment on nbcnews.com but you can only do that if you log in using Facebook. And when you do you get the above prompt. They want your friend list, email address, groups, hometown, current city,  religious and political views, website, personal description, and likes.

Really?



  1. So What? says:

    You do realize that zuckerberg is an NSA plant. Facebook does this for almost every damn thing.

    • sargasso_c says:

      Some of the seed money for Facebook in it’s beginning, was rumoured to have an NSA source. So was Qualcomm. So there is as likely as much government “participation” in IT in the US as there is in China.

      • CrankyGeeksFan says:

        Qualcomm developed CDMA that is used in almost all cellphones today. (HSPA for the GSM phones’ 3G data standards.)

        Who says government can’t “pick” winners?

  2. denacron says:

    My youngest son grew up a couple days ago, he deleted his FB account.

  3. msbpodcast says:

    Good thing I post there using somebody else’s FB profile. 🙂

  4. Scott M. says:

    Deleted my FB years ago for this reason. It was clear that the only reason FB exists is data mining. Did I enter my correct data when I signed up? Not a chance.

    I am reminded of one of the Terminator films. To paraphrase, “If you can read these words, you are part of the resistance.”

  5. The Pirate says:

    It has to be said.
    Fuck NBC.

  6. Admfubar says:

    NBC, we are part of the evil corporate empire, have a nice day!

  7. Uncle Patso says:

    Stuff like this is why I never signed up for MySpace, FaceBook or any of the others, even though it’s damned inconvenient sometimes.

  8. vdeane says:

    The issue with “logging in with Facebook” is that the functionality to just use Facebook as an authenticator doesn’t exist. You’re actually installing an app on your profile.

  9. dusanmal says:

    Absolutely no problem with it: NBC is private company and you are a free person able to make sane choices and contracts as it suits you. They properly disclose what they want in exchange. They can’t prosecute, jail or make laws.
    Government at any level demanding or collecting these private exchanges… that’s a different story regulated by the Constitution and human rights that can’t be signed away.

    • The Pirate says:

      The only sane choice in this situation is fuck NBC. So …

      Fuck NBC.

      Say it with me now …

      There is no place like fuck NBC.
      There is no place like fuck NBC.
      There is no place like fuck NBC.

    • @dusanmal Private company…no prosecutorial powers.

      “Government at any level demanding or collecting these private exchanges… that’s a different story regulated by the Constitution and human rights that can’t be signed away.”

      Some of those rights were signed away a few years ago. Following the shock and awe of the trauma that was September 11, 2001, many Americans were so frightened they would agree to anything…they stood for nothing and they fell for anything in the form of The Patriot Act.

  10. ThadCo says:

    Ummmm, all you need to leave a comment on their site is an email address. You don’t have to login thru FB, you just can if you want…

  11. jeanne says:

    Just as you can have multiple e-mail addresses, you can have several Facebook accounts. “Friend” some of the personalities on Facebook who will friend anyone and Voila!, you have a profile.

  12. Tim says:

    Well, they did absolutely stupify the SciFi channel. Nothing good since The Children of Dune. SyFy. Pffft. At least, they finally stopped pirates. — No one bothers with any NBC titles anymore. Because if the movie sux, just don’t go.

    • Tim says:

      O.k. That was a little harsh. I guess there was Eureka. And perhaps Warehouse 33. But I just can’t wait to wake up at 4:00 am to the realization that I’d fallen asleep watching the once-in-a-blue-moon good’n and having the temporally-monotonous infofuckme programming me for the last five hours to accept that I need to inject saline into my eyebrows to prevent war.

      I guess, long and short of it would be, NBC killed it.

      LEXX!!!!!!!!! {uh, oh… here they come. Obama reminds me of that president got hit with the butt-carrots in the last episodes}

      http://youtube.com/watch?v=7X-pYCwXrlA

    • Tim says:

      –Syfy, in several languages, does not suggest imagination or science fiction so much as the syphilitic.[22]–

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syfy#Branding_history

  13. Greg Allen says:

    It’t time for an Internet equivalent to the “Do Not Call List”

    If I purchase something, one time, from an internet site, they should not be able to keep my credit card number and personal information indefinitely.

    • noname says:

      Impracticable and unlikely.

      1st, the internet is WWW and who is going to police such a list or policy, UN?

      At least, NBC News is not being surreptitious, they are giving their users a choice.

      Many sites need some means of monetizing their web offerings. Reselling personal info is one method and many Americans are indifferent as long as they have “free” access.

      The WWW is the ultimate “Caveat Emptor” environment for commerce and just the way Business likes it!

    • McCullough says:

      As if the “Do Not Call List” ever actually worked.

    • CrankyGeeksFan says:

      Internet is still just TCP/IP.

      It’s not up to the “internet” to monitor sites. That is determined by the laws, regulations and business practices of the web site that is accessed via the internet.

  14. mojo says:

    “There’s people in hell wantin’ ice water.”

  15. Dummy says:

    Wanted to post a comment on nbcnews.com but you can only do that if you log in using Facebook. And when you do you get the above prompt. They want your friend list, email address, groups, hometown, current city, religious and political views, website, personal description, and likes.

    Really?

    RE: Yes! Really!Everyone is doing it.” Therefore, it must be OK. After all, I don’t have anything to hide and so I don’t mind GIVING INFORMATION about me, or anyone I know or “like” either.

    …And if you don’t recognize the sarcasm then you’re probably one of those truly stupid lemmings too!

    • Tim says:

      My friend said I should knock on your sewer-pipe out back and then ask ” You got some liberty??” . And then he just burst into millions of little fire-sparkles of light.

  16. Americans are said to have short memories…this is ridiculous! Did everyone who was over 21 years-old suddenly forget about the Patriot Act and what rights were being given to the government?

    This is why the world we live in today is described as “post 9-1-1”. Everything was different…there was privacy. You didn’t have to provide your life story to get a discount coupon, or read an article online or open a utility account for your residence or business. When I return an item to some stores, like Walmart, even when I’ve paid cash for the purchase I’m returning I must provide a driver’s license…why? I wonder…they didn’t ask for my identification when I made the original purchase in cash…or even by check card or credit card.

    • spsffan says:

      Well, asking for ID when returning stuff to a store has more to do with people abusing return policy than any sort of phishing scheme.

      And, you expect to be treated fair by Walmart? Really?

  17. JT Hut says:

    Wouldn’t Facebook simply sell them that information if they wanted it? I guess they’re asking for your permission in order to get it for free.

  18. Glenn E. says:

    The problem with avoiding having a FB profile is that it’s almost impossible. You’d have to contact all your family and friends, and tell them to never put anything in their profiles, about you. And you can be sure that one or more of them will not understand your “paranoia” and be more trusting of social media. So even though you may not have disclosed any accurate info to FB. You can probably be sure that someone who knows you, did. Maybe even an employer.

    I remember some decades ago, filling in an employment form. And it asked things like my hobbies and religion, and if I had any scares or tattoos. And I thought then “what the hell business is any of this to the company”. And one answer I got was, “If there’s a horrible accident, they’ll be able to identify my body with a full description”. And I thought, “Oh sure, they’re actually going to look up what scares I have, for that.” Of course this didn’t answer what my choice of hobbies had to do with it? And I had to wonder which religion was looked favorably upon, by the bosses, in order to get promoted at some point? And are they sell this information to Life Insurers. Because I soon found out, this company was hooked up with one, that turned out bogus.

    Now we have more than just your employment records, to gather info on you. There’s also your medical records. Which probably share more info than they care to admit to. And if you shop anywhere that offers a bit of a price break, if you sign up for their “card”. They’re collecting data on what you eat, and how often. And if you have any credit cards. They’re probably sharing similar data on your purchases. As well as any online entities you shop with. And your state government also likes to sell your info to businesses. I once got an Auto sellers mailing, describing my current car. And I found out my local DMV had clued them in on what kind of car I drive. This was over two decades ago, too. I never saw any “opt out” options at the DMV, about not sharing. In fact the few they did once have, vanished.

    • The Monster's Lawyer says:

      Sorrry Marc, i thought Glenns post was part of the story.
      So Glenn,
      “I don’t mean to be picky, but I believe you mean ‘scars’ not ‘scares’. It is an interesting phlub though. Freudian?”

  19. orchidcup says:

    Soon Facebook registration will be mandatory for your protection.

  20. The Monster's Lawyer says:

    Marc,
    I don’t mean to be picky, but I believe you mean ‘scars’ not ‘scares’. It is an interesting phlub though. Freudian?

  21. Uncle Patso says:

    Greg Allen said, in part:

    “If I purchase something, one time, from an internet site, they should not be able to keep my credit card number and personal information indefinitely.”

    Whatever happened to that “online” credit card that gave you a different number for each transaction? I thought that was a good idea.

    • spsffan says:

      Discover used to offer that. I never bothered, as it just added a step and I’d have to look up my Discover password and so forth, but the idea does have some merit.

  22. Gwad his own self says:

    spam

  23. spsffan says:

    I of course don’t have a facebook account because:

    1. I’m antisocial.
    2. Zuckerberg is an asshole.
    3. I have enough things to waste my time on.
    4. It’s trendy. I hate trendy.
    5. Everyone assumes I should have one. That makes an ASS out of YOU and ME.
    6. From what I can see, facebook never, ever gave one iota of concern to keeping data secure.
    7. I’m over 21.

  24. Hmeyers says:

    Most of you are only concerned about your awareness that your privacy is being violated.

    Even if you were unaware, it is still being violated by things like Flash cookies (every Flash ad is tracking you with no limits), filling in shitty sweepstakes cards at the mall (where the back says by signing you take your name off the “Do Not Call List”) or in older days what do you think the Publisher’s Clearinghouse did with your name?

    You would have to have “not being tracked” as a major hobby to pull off not being tracked today. I could do it if I really cared, but I don’t care enough to break out the tinfoil hat and use proxies and all that machinery to obfuscate myself — I accept I am being tracked.

  25. butterbutt says:

    So the answer is to create a fake FB account just for login at sites that demand this level of access.


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