Big Brother Needs Your Help! - Comments Page 1

I don't have or want a facebook account but I am aware that friends have pictures on their page that I am in. I always ask them not to name me, but if they do, is there any safety net for folk like me that don't have a facebook account to make the settings you describe?

It is so simple Bob. I do not have a Facebook account so BB will have to think of something else for me. I am sure he will!!

My suggestion is to just not join FACEBOOK!

Thanks, Bob, for the heads-up. Even bigger thanks for the step-by-step how-to on eliminating tagging to the greatest extent possible.

QUESTION: I am NOT on Facebook, but if someone posts a picture of me, can they tag my photo? And if so, how would I even know, since I'm not on Facebook?

EDITOR'S NOTE: Yes, they can. And you might never know, unless someone told you. One idea: Do a Google Image search like this: John Smith site:facebook.com

Edith's suggestion is right on. Just don't join!!!

And what about the connection between Google+ and Picasa ? I'd think tagging people in Picasa is just as good for BB as it is in Facebook... What's your opinion, Bob?

EDITOR'S NOTE: Yes, the same principle applies. Just on a smaller scale.

I take away the opposite message from this as those who feel superior because they have no FB account. At least I have a way of knowing when someone tags me and a relatively simple way to deal with it. You have running multiple Google image searches regularly and working backward from there as your only option and absolutely no leverage. IMNSHO

I had a facebook account at one time....couple of years ago. But that is when, suddenly, I started getting tons of SPAM. I canceled the FaceBook account and, only now are the numbers of SPAM messages beginning to decrease.
However, I do have 3 children and 9 grandchildren, some of whom DO have FaceBook accounts. So I'm forwarding a link to this article to them.....for their information. I hope they take is seriously.
Thanks Bob.

You should also, whilst on the timeline and tagging page, go to the top entry, "who can add things to my timeline" and click on "review posts friends tag you in before they appear on your timeline." "Enable."

I do appreciate the image search suggestions that are in the above comments.

It's not just FB folks. If you carry a smartphone with you all the info on it is easily downloaded to third parties. Many bosses and spouses track their employees and partners routinely, you do not have to possess a smartphone to install spyware on it. Apple phones are the easiest to do, but Androids can be rigged too.
Most spying is done by corporations, not governments.

Great article Bob. While I do not use facebook, I did by curiosity go there many years ago to see what it was all about. I had to open an account to understand it was not for me, or any person not wanting to be spied on. why anyone in this day and age would still want to use facebook or sites like it knowing how they use your information is beyond me. I tried closing my account, only to not be able to close it completely. they still try to trick me into going there but I will not be fooled.

As one not on Facebook, I followed your suggestion to do a Google images search. As an experiment, I searched for

Bob Rankin site:facebook.com

Even with your fairly uncommon last name, the search yielded HUNDREDS of photos, both male and female, that matched your first and last name, but only TWO that I recognized as you.

I also did the search with my name, which, according to namestatistics.com, is only slightly more common than yours. I had similar results.

Therefore, maybe I'm LESS WORRIED than when I first read your article. Maybe Facebook makes Big Brother's job harder, by giving so many, many "wrong" matches for a given name.

What do you think, Bob?

I'll try tagging the person next to me with my name. The face recognition folks will have to figure out which is the real me by comparing multiple group pictures.

Thanks Bob. I don't have a facebook account and, based on the info you've provided, I'm warning my family and friends.

If you want to be on Facebook, just substitute an Avatar for your pic. & Never post any pics of yourself, family or friends, or tag any of above.
I use the pic of a Rock & Roll radio host from the 70's.

Hey, Godfrey, You said, "I use the pic of a Rock & Roll radio host from the 70's."

That might be ME! You're not using a picture of "Mack at Night" are you???

--Mack at Night, now known as Mac and Cheese

I knew there was a reason I wanted nothing to do with FB from the start. (Actually, the subject of this story is just one more reason.)

Thanks a lot, Bob, for another very useful article.

I followed your suggestions step by step but, when I tried to fix the "Who sees tag suggestions when photos that look like you are uploaded?" I discovered that this service is not available to me.

In my opinion this can be either very good or very bad news. :)

I am wondering if I am the only one getting this message?

While some individuals may simply avoid Facebook, Google, etc, the best solution for users in general may be to make the thoroughness of a data collection system work against itself. For example, if sufficient numbers of users were to deliberately tag wrong or random images, the database would become increasingly unreliable. In fact, since their algorithms are constantly adapting to improve accuracy, doing this may also cause them to permanently "learn" to misinterpret the valid data that they do get.

Of course, not many users would be committed enough to keep doing this themselves, so a program or app should be written and freely distributed by privacy experts (Steve Gibson, are you listening?) to automate the submission of incorrect photo tags as a background process. The same program could also periodically alter certain data about one's browser and computer in order to spoil the "fingerprinting" referred to in a previous article (where I posted a similar suggestion)...
http://askbobrankin.com/are_you_being_fingerprinted_online.html

Lots of response on your Facebook tag column! Do you know if I can tell who has looked for me on Facebook (and not asked to become my friend)? Asked another way: Does a person stay anonymous when they've looked me up but not tried to 'friend' me?