Facebook --- a necessary evil?

[Shannon]

Given the numerous posts on the community related to Facebook's vices, I'm sure the most of the members aren't fans. (No offence to any advocates of Facebook)

I ceased using Facebook some years ago, though not because of privacy concerns. What put me off was that all my 'friends' would wish me on my birthday even if I'd barely interacted with them otherwise --- courtesy of Facebook's birthday reminders.

The price of not using Facebook is loosing track of what your family / friends are up to if they're active users. Whenever I express surprise after hearing things, the usual reply is 'I read / posted it on Facebook' --- after which I'll usually nod politely, rather than talk about why I prefer not to use it.

@rslade, since we were recently discussing WhatsApp, here's another annoying thing about groups: should 1 member wish another, everyone else on the group echoes it. I've seen many cases where one person posted birthday wishes & others followed --- after which the person being wished said it wasn't even his / her birthday! 

Back to Facebook, many sites let you register / login with a Facebook account, a Google account or else a dedicated account. Account recovery is usually with recovery codes, phone numbers, or email addresses. So you never have to depend on Facebook.

That changes with GitHub. Recovery for 2-factor authentication is possible with recovery codes, a fallback SMS number or the use of another provider to store a recovery token --- but the only provider they offer is Facebook!  

[rslade]

> Shannon (Contributor III) mentioned:

>    The price of not using Facebook is loosing
> track of what your family / friends are up to if they're active users. Whenever
> I express surprise after hearing things, the usual reply is 'I read / posted it
> on Facebook' --- after which I'll usually nod politely, rather than talk about
> why I prefer not to use it.

Yeah, I get that a lot, too.

When I first created an account (back when they had just released it to the general public, rather than only certain universities) I quickly backed off, feeling that Facebook would divide the Internet: there would become Facebook users, and non-Facebook users, and it would be almost impossible to communicate across that gap.  That seems to have happened.

>   @rslade, since we were recently discussing
> WhatsApp, here's another annoying thing about groups: should 1 member wish
> another, everyone else on the group echoes it. I've seen many cases where one
> person posted birthday wishes & others followed --- after which the person being
> wished said it wasn't even his / her birthday!

Fake News!  Yes, but, to be fair, the "me too" postings have ever been with us.  I was recently reminded of them in an old joke from Usenet days ...

    Back to Facebook, many sites
> let you register / login with a Facebook account, a Google account or else a
> dedicated account.

Yeah.  I always go with a dedicated account.

> Account recovery is usually with recovery codes, phone
> numbers, or email addresses. So you never have to depend on Facebook.

Which is a good thing  🙂

>   That
> changes with GitHub. Recovery for 2-factor authentication is possible
> with recovery codes, a fallback SMS number or the use of another provider to
> store a recovery token --- but the only provider they offer is Facebook!

Boo!  Hiss!

[Flyslinger2]

For me it is.  Mrs. Fly and I lead a large group of children at our church and FB is the quickest, cleanest and most efficient way of sharing events and news to the group. Yes, it is a private group and if my wife or I don't approve your request you don't get in.  Occasionally I will have friends of mine search to see if that group is publicly exposed and so far we have been pleased with the lack of exposure. Doesn't mean that won't change in the future.  Then we will kill it.

Why FB?  Because it is "pre-fabricated" with what we need to run a large group. Basically we get unlimited storage and for a group of this size and the number of events that take place we can eat up some space with all of our data.  Group chat if we need to discuss something real quick.

I use FB sparingly mostly to link articles to security related issues that some of my non-techie friends read and appreciate.

[CraginS]

Evil?  YES

Necessary?  NO

'nuff said.

[dreastans]

I don't think it's "necessary" by any means. But that being said many people rely upon it for their social groups or to get updates on friends and family members. It's hardly a secure format, but it keeps people in touch where there are many members spread out across the globe. For the most part, it's hassle-free in that you don't need to design your own page/ group space for your members (not that this fact makes Facebook any more of a good thing).

[rslade]

> dreastans (Newcomer II) posted a new reply in Tech Talk on 12-31-2018 12:25 PM

> For the most part, it's
> hassle-free in that you don't need to design your own page/ group space for your
> members

Convenience. It's always "convenience" that leads to security disasters ...

====================== (quote inserted randomly by Pegasus Mailer)
rslade@vcn.bc.ca slade@victoria.tc.ca rslade@computercrime.org
Woe be to him that reads but one book. - George Herbert, 1651
victoria.tc.ca/techrev/rms.htm http://twitter.com/rslade
http://blogs.securiteam.com/index.php/archives/author/p1/
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[Caute_cautim]

You can always create a fictitious name, and false information, if you wish for a Facebook account.  This appears to be a good approach, which morally goes against our ethical and objective upbringing - but given the circumstances and the actions of Facebook and Google to make money out of our information.   This appears to be a sensible approach.   As long as you keep your wits about you.

Regards

Caute_cautim