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> You don't want companies that you're a customer of
> to know your private information, that's fine, don't join them.
The issue is trying to protect people from themselves. By protecting them from themselves, you are also protecting yourself. I posit that the vast majority of Facebook users fall into the following categories:1) They joined to use Facebook as a social networking tool, and they are so used to a multitude of things on the internet being free, that they never bothered to question how Facebook is monetized. They personally don't derive any value from their personal, private information, so they don't have any inkling that Facebook could have any interest in that information. 2) They joined Facebook, and they know that Facebook has their private information, but they don't care. Their attitude is: "What's the worst that could happen?" They will only be convinced that something bad could come out of Facebook's data mining of their information when either: 1) something happens to them or 2) something happens to someone else and is high-profile enough for them to believe that it happen (while not being obscure or enough for them to think, "Well, they deserved it.) 3) They don't necessarily want to be on Facebook, but all (or most) of their friends are and they miss out on things like invitations to events, as well as 'inside' discussions if they aren't on Facebook. They attempt to try and limit the private information that they put onto Facebook, and to limit who can see the information they do put on Facebook, but sometimes they get lost in the maze of config options for privacy settings that are hidden here and there (scattered about, rather than gathered into one place). |