[Nfbf-l] About Facebook

Tue May 1 02:43:01 UTC 2018

Wow, Diana, You are far ahead of me in using FaceBook! I've really never sat down with another totally blind person who knows how to navigate FB to learn all of the ins and outs of social media. The most I do is read messages I receive and whip through news feed. I also accept or reject people who profess to be my friend and occasionally go into Messanger. Do you have some sight? Thanks for sharing all the updated info on FB with me. 

Off to bed for me now! I just finished watching The Voice which is one of my favorite programs. So much incredible talent! 

Kathy

-----Original Message-----
From: Nfbf-l [mailto:nfbf-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Diana Alves de Oliveira via Nfbf-l
Sent: Monday, April 30, 2018 9:14 PM
To: nfbf-l at nfbnet.org
Cc: Diana Alves de Oliveira
Subject: [Nfbf-l] About Facebook

I don’t go into my Facebook account for awhile. Was not surprised when read this article. 

Personal Technology: Review

Facebook’s New Download Tool: Better, But Still Incomplete

In wake of Cambridge Analytica scandal, social-media network has made it easier for users to receive a copy of all posts and likes Facebook Inc. has begun rolling out an updated tool that lets you download information you have uploaded and shared over the years.
You could already do this—and I did—but now there are more categories, such as Search History and Likes and Reactions. Facebook now also shows you posts from other apps (like Instagram), your location history and payment history, among others.
My own download grew from 64.9 MB just a month ago to 122.8 MB. And information that previously appeared is now a bit easier to understand. It still isn’t close to everything Facebook has on you, but it makes for an interesting—and at times potentially alarming—read.
If you use the tool, here’s what you can expect:
Whom You’re Searching for
One of the new categories is your search history. You could already view this on Facebook by going into the Activity Log. (It’s a menu option when you click the arrow in the top-right corner on Facebook’s website.) Now, there’s an even better view of most of this information, the Access Your Information tool, which you can get to by going to facebook.com/your_information.
If you don’t look people up much, perusing your search history could be uneventful. On the other hand, if you have done a bit of Facebook stalking, it could be jarring.
My search history went back to 2014. When I asked Facebook why its new privacy policy said users’ search histories got deleted after six months, the company said for its purposes it deletes a log of the searches (including, for example, whether or not the search was made from an app or the website).
What’s to Like?
Facebook has added a list of all your likes and reactions to its new download tool. But a walk down memory lane it is not. Instead, the list just shows you the date of the like, the person who put the thing you liked on Facebook, and whether you were liking a photo, comment or post.
Facebook says that’s because the download-your-information tool contains data you have provided to Facebook; someone else’s post isn’t yours. Whatever the company’s reasoning, the information you get is pretty pointless.
Your best bet, again, is checking the Activity Log, where you’ll see exactly what you liked, and you can take back your like if you feel different.
Well, there are more advertisers, but it’s not actually fun at all. A month ago, when I last wrote about downloading my Facebook data, there were 11 advertisers that supposedly had my contact information. That number now stands at 201, including around 50 I had never even heard of. The list for my editor jumped from 12 to 431, and on Facebook he’s a light user if there ever was one.
Seeing the list grow by so much is like experiencing the inverse of sticker shock: Our information can have value to a truly appalling range of companies—not to mention a candidate for New Hanover County commissioner, country-music superstar Dierks Bentley and Mexican drug lord El Chapo. (This gave me pause until I realized that’s a TV show.) Facebook says the previous number of advertisers it showed was low due to a temporary bug that it has since fixed.
The language describing this section has also changed: It used to say “Advertisers With Your Contact Information.” Now it says “Advertisers Who Uploaded a Contact List With Your Information.” Right below that are some more clarifying details: “Advertisers who run ads using a contact list they uploaded that includes contact info you shared with them or with one of their data partners.”
Data partners are those big guys Facebook works with, like Acxiom and Epsilon, which collect your information independently and market it to advertisers that want reach you on Facebook.
As my colleague Joanna Stern noted, if you want them to get rid of your information, you have to reach out to the data brokers directly.
The Same, but Different
In this new download tool, Facebook has otherwise improved the way it makes your content and data available to you.
Before, you simply got a giant file to unzip; now you can select from a bunch of categories of information—25 to be exact—and pick what to download. You can just retrieve your photos and videos, if that’s all you want.
It still kind of sounds like a lot, right? It is, and isn’t. Facebook doesn’t offer any information that wasn’t previously unavailable somewhere on its website. And it’s still withholding some very important data, for example, which of the websites I visit use Facebook’s Pixel advertising software—which can track you whether you are a Facebook user or not—and how often I am tracked or targeted as a result. Also out of reach is what specific personal information the company is sharing across its various products, including WhatsApp and Instagram, and how many people have given the company my info by syncing their own contacts.
In other words, all the mysteries that weren’t answered when CEO Mark Zuckerberg spent about 10 hours testifying on Capitol Hill still aren’t answered here.

Diana Oliveira
Secretary - NFBF Miami Dade Chapter
(305)988-2713
dianaoliveira58 at gmail.com

Sent from my iPad
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