Facebook Headquarters, Menlo Park, California.
Picture credit: Wikipedia
Next on the LIST: FACEBOOK.
About three years ago, against my better judgement and at the powerful urging of those who shall remain anonymous, I signed up for an account at Facebook.
What soon followed, I would not have wished on my worst enemy.
I had huge misgivings going in and had avoided it for years, never trusting it, or the people running it.
Once I signed up, it was only a matter of time before my fears became a reality.
My negative thinking gave way to actual complete loss of any control.
In the beginning, the situation was to be a merry go round of rejections and inabilities to sign in, then it got worse.
I was shut out because I did not have a cell phone number to give them.
The sign in required a cell phone number and you were told to then text back the code that they gave you, to sign in.
It was a nightmare, as there were no actual Human beings to speak with to try to fix the problem.
Hello, we live in the Ocala Forest in Florida and gave our cell phone back after two years of paying for a service, with little or no reception.
Verizon was extremely slow in coming our way, so we finally gave our phone back to them.
Then after weeks of this terror, it was finally, somehow, resolved.
So, I was now ready to go exploring on Facebook, I thought.
Gleefully unaware of my contentious acts, I then went to places where there were People, and Organizations, I wanted to meet and/or get to know and sent them a “Friend Request.”
It was quite quickly made very clear to me, that I was not allowed to “Friend” anyone I did not personally know.
Excuse me, but I was under the misguided impression that joining this disaster, was to meet new people and make new “Friends”
Not so, according to the FB Police.
My punishment for this high crime was to be shut out for a month for being “bad!”
Then after everything seemed to settle down and get comfortable, and I promised to NEVER EVER “Friend” anyone that I did not personally know, FB changed some of their “policies.”
Now it seemed that our pictures and personal information would be viewable to anyone, anywhere, who wanted to see them.
So, I took down anything that I did not want strangers in some distant land to see of my children and relatives.
Next, a scary story one day on our news was about a local woman who had her FB pictures stolen from her FB site by a creep in another country and they were now being used on porn sites.
By this time, there were quite a few people and Organizations on my Friends list who never, or rarely ever, came to my FB page, or spoke to me, or posted on it.
They were just people who had, over a two-year period, sent me a request and I had said yes to them, if they seemed harmless.
Not knowing what might lurk in the hearts, or minds of these unknowns, left me with no choice, but to completely purge my “Friends List” down to only a few actual relatives and personal friends.
It was ugly.
At this moment my FB Friends List stands at 30.
But I feel quite confident about every single person on it and that none of them is going to sell my name, or use my pictures for porn.
As FB has grown over the past ten years, from an insignificant local Harvard web site, to a Mega Global Multi Billion Dollar Corporation, one thing has become quite apparent, the object of their very existence is of course, profit or income.
How they acquire their income and what happens to you, your information and your privacy, in the pursuit of it, is not, it is clear, one of their priorities.
So, be forewarned, protect what you have there, or you may become the next victim of Global Hackers and unknown others.
Facebook Fear could become a reality, if you do not.
Places to learn more:
Facebook NewsFeed Manipulation Prompts FTC Complaint, Investigation Possible
Housewife’s anger after picture is stolen from Facebook and posted on porn site
Seven Annoying Attacks That Facebook
Flawless Pandemonium 