WEBVTT - Do Facebook apps violate your privacy? 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:02.880 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. 0:00:03.240 --> 0:00:08.920 It's ready. Are you get in touch with technologies with 0:00:09.080 --> 0:00:18.040 tech Stuff from how stuff works dot com. Hello everybody, 0:00:18.079 --> 0:00:20.440 and welcome to tech stuff. My name is Chris Poulette, 0:00:20.440 --> 0:00:23.200 and I'm an editor here at how stuff works dot Com. 0:00:23.200 --> 0:00:26.880 Sitting across from me as well. Normally sits next to me, 0:00:26.960 --> 0:00:29.520 but today we're sitting across one another. It's senior writer 0:00:29.680 --> 0:00:33.000 Jonathan Strickland. Hey, there, you know this uh, this new 0:00:33.040 --> 0:00:37.519 podcast um situation here where you're actually sitting across from 0:00:37.520 --> 0:00:40.760 me is totally throwing me off. Yeah, it's it's kind 0:00:40.760 --> 0:00:43.200 of creepy. I just wish they hadn't put razor blades 0:00:43.200 --> 0:00:45.520 in the chair. I just wish because it's really uncomfortable. 0:00:45.560 --> 0:00:47.879 I just wish you didn't have dead eyes. Well, you know, 0:00:48.560 --> 0:00:51.120 so let's uh, let's start off this podcast on a 0:00:51.159 --> 0:00:54.880 positive note. All right? Then? Still we started over there? No, no, no, 0:00:54.960 --> 0:00:57.800 we're gonna keep going. We're one take. Darn it, don't 0:00:57.800 --> 0:00:59.760 you remember we do this in one take. I just 0:01:00.000 --> 0:01:03.800 should respect my privacy. Oh well, I'm you know, I'm 0:01:03.920 --> 0:01:08.920 so sorry. You know, I try to respect everyone's private information, 0:01:09.000 --> 0:01:12.440 just like one of our favorite social media network gig sites. 0:01:13.560 --> 0:01:15.679 Oh yeah, why don't we lead in with a little 0:01:15.680 --> 0:01:17.959 listener mail because I've got something for you. Okay, So 0:01:18.000 --> 0:01:26.200 here's some listener mail. This comes from Anne Marie, who says, Hi, Jonathan, 0:01:26.280 --> 0:01:29.400 Hi Chris. I enjoy your podcast and would be interested 0:01:29.440 --> 0:01:32.520 in hearing a podcast about just how much information Facebook 0:01:32.560 --> 0:01:35.640 apps can draw. I think many folks would be interested 0:01:35.720 --> 0:01:38.200 in hearing about just how much information info can be 0:01:38.240 --> 0:01:40.800 pulled by the apps and games, even if you set 0:01:40.840 --> 0:01:44.119 your privacy settings to not send out much info. Thanks 0:01:44.120 --> 0:01:47.760 for the great work and Marie. So today we're gonna 0:01:47.840 --> 0:01:52.200 talk about Facebook applications, your privacy, and how these three 0:01:52.240 --> 0:01:59.800 things come together to essentially devour your privacy. They don't see, 0:01:59.840 --> 0:02:03.160 your privacy pretty much goes out the window. Yes, um, 0:02:03.200 --> 0:02:04.920 and I don't think most people do want to know. 0:02:04.960 --> 0:02:06.960 I think most people don't want to know. First of all, 0:02:07.080 --> 0:02:13.440 let's step in the way back machine. In fact, I 0:02:13.520 --> 0:02:17.880 expect to hear amazing time traveling special effects. So let's 0:02:17.960 --> 0:02:20.280 let's revel in that. I bet there will be some. 0:02:23.120 --> 0:02:26.320 It wasn't that nice boy. That's no pressure to live 0:02:26.360 --> 0:02:29.520 at all, is it? Sorry? Liz. But anyway you'll come 0:02:29.560 --> 0:02:31.359 up with something we've said that. Oh you know, I 0:02:31.400 --> 0:02:32.760 totally forgot to set the time. We're gonna have to 0:02:32.800 --> 0:02:34.600 do it again. No, no, no, We'll just we'll just 0:02:34.680 --> 0:02:37.000 imagine that we did. So let's go back to when 0:02:37.040 --> 0:02:40.720 Facebook first premieres, and of course it's originally for college students. 0:02:40.720 --> 0:02:42.800 Eventually it gets rolled out to high school students, and 0:02:42.800 --> 0:02:45.080 then a little bit later it gets rolled out to 0:02:45.200 --> 0:02:48.320 the rest of us who graduated long ago, and uh, 0:02:48.360 --> 0:02:52.560 and took over. Actually yeah, and so at this point, 0:02:52.840 --> 0:02:56.920 Facebook does not have any third party applications. Uh. It 0:02:57.040 --> 0:03:01.639 had a lot of applications that Facebook develop for themselves, uh, 0:03:01.760 --> 0:03:04.520 in partnership with other people in some cases, or other companies. 0:03:04.880 --> 0:03:10.280 But that's right. So before May two thousand seven, you 0:03:10.360 --> 0:03:12.960 had basic applications like being able to share photos and 0:03:13.000 --> 0:03:16.359 things like that. But but that was about it, right, 0:03:16.560 --> 0:03:19.440 and so Facebook was the only entity you were dealing 0:03:19.480 --> 0:03:22.040 with in that in that case, and then in May 0:03:22.080 --> 0:03:26.560 two thousand seven, Facebook starts to talk about it's uh 0:03:26.760 --> 0:03:30.560 Application Developer program, where they start to allow third parties 0:03:30.600 --> 0:03:34.239 to develop applications to run on Facebook. Facebook would act 0:03:34.240 --> 0:03:37.200 as the platform and the applications would run on top 0:03:37.240 --> 0:03:40.960 of it. The applications themselves would exist on other servers, 0:03:41.560 --> 0:03:44.520 so it's not Facebook's servers that are running these other apps. 0:03:45.240 --> 0:03:48.400 And these could be practically anything that you can imagine. 0:03:49.160 --> 0:03:51.040 And a lot of the early apps were things like, 0:03:51.120 --> 0:03:56.560 you know, uh, zombies, pirates, Ninja's like you could you 0:03:56.560 --> 0:03:59.480 could play games where you're tagging people to become zombies 0:03:59.560 --> 0:04:04.960 or pirates, ninjas or whatever. Your friend just bit you, Yeah, really, 0:04:05.320 --> 0:04:08.000 do you want to join Werewolf Wars or whatever it was? 0:04:08.120 --> 0:04:12.200 And so, um, well poking was around before because that 0:04:12.240 --> 0:04:15.839 was a Facebook thing, but their super Poke super Poke 0:04:15.920 --> 0:04:18.599 is different, yes, super duper Poke, yes, yes, all the 0:04:18.640 --> 0:04:23.640 different Poke variations. Um so those kind of explode onto 0:04:23.680 --> 0:04:27.280 the scene. And what people may not have realized at 0:04:27.279 --> 0:04:32.680 the beginning was that by opting into these applications, they 0:04:32.680 --> 0:04:36.279 were essentially giving these third parties access to all of 0:04:36.320 --> 0:04:40.000 their information, and according to the terms of service, those 0:04:40.000 --> 0:04:42.719 third parties could pretty much do whatever they wanted with 0:04:42.800 --> 0:04:46.880 that information. And not only was it your information, it 0:04:46.920 --> 0:04:50.760 was linked to your friends pages as well, and in 0:04:50.800 --> 0:04:53.880 some cases at least the developer would be able to 0:04:53.960 --> 0:04:56.880 access your friends pages even if your friends had set 0:04:56.920 --> 0:05:00.200 their profiles to private. So let's say that you have 0:05:00.279 --> 0:05:04.479 set your profile to private, I have Okay, well this 0:05:04.480 --> 0:05:06.880 this is very fitting, all right. So for those of 0:05:06.920 --> 0:05:10.279 you who have set your profiles to private, I imagine 0:05:10.279 --> 0:05:11.840 that one of the reasons for that is so that 0:05:11.880 --> 0:05:15.800 you were not targeted by third parties, by people who 0:05:15.839 --> 0:05:18.039 are just you know, wanting to sell you something or whatever. 0:05:18.120 --> 0:05:22.040 You just want your Facebook experience to be you and 0:05:22.160 --> 0:05:26.039 the friends that you have chosen to contact and and 0:05:26.200 --> 0:05:31.200 connect with through Facebook. You don't want anything beyond that. Uh. 0:05:31.360 --> 0:05:33.120 The problem with these apps is that if any of 0:05:33.160 --> 0:05:35.919 those friends that you have connected with were to install 0:05:36.000 --> 0:05:39.520 one of these apps on their on their Facebook profile, 0:05:40.000 --> 0:05:42.679 that third party developer would now be able to read 0:05:42.800 --> 0:05:45.800 your information as if he or she were one of 0:05:45.839 --> 0:05:49.640 your friends. So this is a problem obviously, it's already 0:05:49.720 --> 0:05:52.800 that's a violation of privacy right there. Now, what kind 0:05:52.800 --> 0:05:56.400 of information are we talking about, Well, anything that you 0:05:56.480 --> 0:06:01.040 might have given Facebook. So any of your you know, 0:06:02.000 --> 0:06:08.279 sexual preferences or relationship status. Um, you're the way you 0:06:08.360 --> 0:06:12.680 vote movies, you like TV today, that's a big one. 0:06:12.760 --> 0:06:15.960 Your birth day, your gender, um, well, none of that 0:06:16.000 --> 0:06:19.240 could be used for any kind of identity theft. Well, 0:06:19.560 --> 0:06:23.600 I mean, not like social security numbers. It could. However, 0:06:23.720 --> 0:06:25.960 it could very easily be used in some cases for 0:06:26.040 --> 0:06:29.160 identity theft. Actually, but I was I was being facetious. 0:06:29.240 --> 0:06:31.480 I I understand, but sometimes we have to spell these 0:06:31.480 --> 0:06:35.120 out because otherwise I get listener mail um and so, yes, 0:06:35.240 --> 0:06:37.640 it could be used for identity theft. But even if 0:06:37.640 --> 0:06:40.240 it's not used for that, it can be used. These 0:06:40.279 --> 0:06:44.120 third party developers could sell your information to vendors who 0:06:44.200 --> 0:06:48.480 are targeting advertising at you. And again, you have no 0:06:48.600 --> 0:06:51.160 say in this because it's all part of the terms 0:06:51.160 --> 0:06:55.720 of service in the applications. And and furthermore, in the 0:06:55.760 --> 0:06:58.919 early days of apps, one of the biggest problems was 0:06:58.960 --> 0:07:03.599 that applications it had absolutely no need to access all 0:07:03.640 --> 0:07:09.080 of that information. By default, we're getting all of that information. Yeah, 0:07:09.200 --> 0:07:11.880 So you'd be like, Hey, I want this cool application 0:07:11.880 --> 0:07:15.480 that lets me give virtual balloons to my friends, and 0:07:15.840 --> 0:07:19.480 suddenly you know, you're you're you install that application, and 0:07:19.520 --> 0:07:22.640 you've just handed over your information, including things like your 0:07:22.640 --> 0:07:26.040 relationship status and your sexual orientation and your job history 0:07:26.080 --> 0:07:28.920 and your education history. Why do they need that if 0:07:28.960 --> 0:07:31.800 all you're doing is handing over a picture of a 0:07:31.840 --> 0:07:35.360 balloon to one of your friends. Yes, yes, that's true. 0:07:35.840 --> 0:07:38.000 Or you know, if you wanted to find out which 0:07:38.080 --> 0:07:41.760 Harry Potter house you belong to. Yes. Oh, don't even 0:07:41.760 --> 0:07:45.160 get me started on quizzes. All right, So anyone who 0:07:45.240 --> 0:07:49.320 has befriended me on Facebook probably knows that I I 0:07:49.440 --> 0:07:54.000 harbor a deep seated hatred for quizzes on Facebook. I 0:07:54.040 --> 0:07:58.640 think that they are the most irritating app to come 0:07:58.680 --> 0:08:01.520 out of Facebook, or out of any third party developer, 0:08:01.520 --> 0:08:03.760 I should say, because again, Facebook is not the one 0:08:03.800 --> 0:08:07.120 developing this, They're just providing the platform. Um. It's one 0:08:07.120 --> 0:08:09.440 of the most irritating things to come out uh in 0:08:09.520 --> 0:08:14.800 the Facebook realm. Ever, Um, I I hate seeing them. 0:08:14.840 --> 0:08:17.440 First of all. I think pretty much every quiz will 0:08:17.440 --> 0:08:19.880 tell you. The result will tell you what you wanted 0:08:19.920 --> 0:08:22.600 to hear in the first place. Yes, so you don't 0:08:22.680 --> 0:08:26.119 learn anything new about yourself by taking one of these quizzes, Okay, 0:08:26.160 --> 0:08:28.880 you're not gonna learn that. Hey, you know what I 0:08:28.960 --> 0:08:34.600 learned today. I'm a slithering No if you're sliw yeah, okay, yeah, 0:08:34.640 --> 0:08:36.319 I mean I'm slithering through and through. I mean we 0:08:36.360 --> 0:08:39.360 all know this. That's I mean that's the you know, 0:08:39.480 --> 0:08:41.560 dark Mark, I'm all about it. You know, it's gonna 0:08:41.600 --> 0:08:45.800 move the next tattoo. So the uh, that's the thing 0:08:45.880 --> 0:08:48.120 is that it wouldn't tell me something I didn't already know. 0:08:48.760 --> 0:08:51.160 You know, I'm gonna answer these and and a lot 0:08:51.160 --> 0:08:53.280 of people I'm guessing are answering these quizzes in such 0:08:53.280 --> 0:08:56.800 a way so that they'll get the result they want sure, 0:08:57.040 --> 0:08:59.160 you know, like they're like, oh, I don't want to 0:08:59.160 --> 0:09:01.320 be Cyclops, want of Wolverine, So I'm going to choose 0:09:01.360 --> 0:09:04.320 this answer because that's more of a Wolverine answer. So, 0:09:04.480 --> 0:09:07.920 because anybody can write these quizzes and so they're often 0:09:08.200 --> 0:09:10.640 very very transparent to begin with. Right now, That's another 0:09:10.720 --> 0:09:13.959 interesting thing is that people can write these quizzes using 0:09:14.000 --> 0:09:16.040 different apps. Now that you have to install the app 0:09:16.080 --> 0:09:18.840 again through Facebook to be able to write these quizzes. 0:09:19.280 --> 0:09:22.079 So first of all, you're giving a third party developer 0:09:22.200 --> 0:09:24.920 access to your information because you want to write a quiz, 0:09:25.559 --> 0:09:28.920 and then they're getting information from everyone who takes that 0:09:29.040 --> 0:09:31.880 quiz because they're the ones who developed the tool for 0:09:31.920 --> 0:09:34.000 the quiz itself. The information is not coming back to 0:09:34.040 --> 0:09:37.439 you when people take your quiz. It's going. And I'm 0:09:37.480 --> 0:09:39.840 not talking about you know, their results. No one, no 0:09:39.920 --> 0:09:42.600 one over at the application cares about what the results are. 0:09:42.679 --> 0:09:46.800 They care about that personal data. So the people who 0:09:46.840 --> 0:09:50.000 make the applications that allow you to create quizzes, they've 0:09:50.040 --> 0:09:54.400 got enormous databases full of information because every so many 0:09:54.440 --> 0:09:57.280 people are creating quizzes and taking quizzes. That's one of 0:09:57.280 --> 0:09:59.199 the things that you see if you do a lot 0:09:59.200 --> 0:10:02.360 of reading about so social networks, as Jonathan and I have, 0:10:02.840 --> 0:10:05.560 is that a lot of people see the value in 0:10:05.960 --> 0:10:09.120 companies like Facebook and Twitter in my space is not 0:10:09.760 --> 0:10:13.560 in the website itself, but in the information about the 0:10:13.600 --> 0:10:16.960 subscribers because they're able to market to those people and 0:10:16.960 --> 0:10:21.640 that the amazing demographic information that they've got at their disposal. Um, 0:10:21.679 --> 0:10:25.760 that's the real value of the company. So basically, any 0:10:25.840 --> 0:10:30.240 of that information that gets distributed to other parties also 0:10:30.360 --> 0:10:33.160 gives them, you know, the same the same or similar 0:10:33.280 --> 0:10:37.000 types of power. Of course, Um, some of that's changing, 0:10:37.600 --> 0:10:39.640 you know. I actually saw right before we came in, 0:10:39.760 --> 0:10:42.559 I saw an article on the Computer World that Tony 0:10:42.600 --> 0:10:46.520 Bradley had written. Um, there's a company in Seattle called 0:10:46.600 --> 0:10:51.000 app Bank, and they are going to help people write 0:10:51.040 --> 0:10:55.240 apps essentially um as in, you know, you can actually 0:10:55.240 --> 0:10:59.199 create your own apps and quizzes using their platform and 0:11:00.000 --> 0:11:02.800 basically they get a cut of whatever money you make 0:11:03.640 --> 0:11:08.720 with your app or quiz. UM. So that's kind of 0:11:08.760 --> 0:11:11.560 interesting because I don't know if that information you know, 0:11:11.640 --> 0:11:13.800 not to put I I don't know what app banks 0:11:13.920 --> 0:11:17.480 motives are. I would assume that they are legitimate, you 0:11:17.480 --> 0:11:21.559 know organization that is, you know, involved in and trying 0:11:21.600 --> 0:11:23.920 to create and cash in on their ability to help 0:11:23.920 --> 0:11:27.199 you make applications because the applications themselves. UM. You know, 0:11:27.240 --> 0:11:30.120 there are quite a few legitimate applications out there for 0:11:30.160 --> 0:11:34.160 Facebook and they are making you know, money for those developers. 0:11:34.200 --> 0:11:36.120 So you know, I don't I don't think at bank 0:11:36.880 --> 0:11:40.400 UH is trying to do anything nefarious, but that doesn't 0:11:40.400 --> 0:11:43.760 stop anybody from signing up for, you know, for their 0:11:43.800 --> 0:11:48.559 services and trying to get information that way, so you know, 0:11:48.600 --> 0:11:51.520 they're gonna have to be very careful. I think I 0:11:51.559 --> 0:11:54.880 think it's important for any person using Facebook to understand 0:11:54.920 --> 0:11:58.920 that when you install an app on your Facebook, UM, 0:11:58.960 --> 0:12:03.400 you are essentially giving that vendor access to your profile 0:12:03.480 --> 0:12:07.360 as if you were befriending that person. UM, keep that 0:12:07.400 --> 0:12:09.720 in mind. So if you post stuff on your Facebook 0:12:10.080 --> 0:12:12.240 that you know, you don't mind if your friends see it, 0:12:12.240 --> 0:12:14.440 but you don't really want anyone else to see it, 0:12:15.200 --> 0:12:17.960 remember that before you start installing apps, because you are 0:12:18.040 --> 0:12:22.280 essentially giving that that entity the same rights as your 0:12:22.320 --> 0:12:26.200 friends and UM and again like the whole, if you 0:12:26.240 --> 0:12:30.839 set your your says to private and someone else, uh 0:12:30.920 --> 0:12:33.360 installs this app and that allows the vendor to look 0:12:33.360 --> 0:12:35.440 in at you, that would probably upset you. I mean 0:12:35.440 --> 0:12:39.280 it would upset me. And it's true, it totally can happen. Um. 0:12:39.320 --> 0:12:41.720 This has caused lots of issues for Facebook. There was 0:12:41.760 --> 0:12:46.600 one point where Facebook said Facebook executives were saying that, uh, 0:12:46.640 --> 0:12:49.520 they were going to change the app development process so 0:12:49.559 --> 0:12:54.000 that apps would only be able to access the information 0:12:54.040 --> 0:12:57.320 they absolutely needed to have in order to function the 0:12:57.360 --> 0:12:59.800 way they were supposed to function. You know why that is? 0:13:00.080 --> 0:13:03.560 It's because groups like the American Civil Liberties Union, the 0:13:03.600 --> 0:13:06.400 a c l U and uh, you know, the Canadian 0:13:06.440 --> 0:13:09.480 Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic have been putting pressure 0:13:09.520 --> 0:13:13.840 on Facebook to change their policies. It's called Facebook A 0:13:14.200 --> 0:13:16.480 I knew you were going to do that. You love 0:13:16.600 --> 0:13:19.000 you love listener mail from Canada. I've got I've got 0:13:19.000 --> 0:13:20.599 more to say about Canada in a little bit, but 0:13:20.640 --> 0:13:24.040 go ahead, okay, Uh yeah, I mean apparently Facebook was 0:13:24.080 --> 0:13:28.839 retaining information from accounts that had been closed, and uh 0:13:28.920 --> 0:13:32.719 that's you know, against the law, and in Canada, right, 0:13:32.840 --> 0:13:35.320 there was there was one point where I saw I 0:13:35.360 --> 0:13:38.920 saw a claim from a Facebook executive that was made 0:13:38.960 --> 0:13:41.920 to someone who writes it for Senet. I apologize because 0:13:41.920 --> 0:13:44.439 I this is from memory. It's just from an article 0:13:44.480 --> 0:13:47.760 I've read ages ago. But I remember that the executive 0:13:47.800 --> 0:13:51.840 said that they Facebook was certain that once that the 0:13:51.920 --> 0:13:55.120 data that the vendors had wasn't being used for any 0:13:55.240 --> 0:13:59.840 uh any well, you know, underhanded purposes, and the reporters 0:14:00.000 --> 0:14:03.080 once was. There's no way Facebook would know that because 0:14:03.080 --> 0:14:05.880 once the information leaves your servers, you don't know what 0:14:06.000 --> 0:14:08.640 how it's being used. I mean, you you can maybe 0:14:08.679 --> 0:14:12.840 hopefully weed out the obvious bad apples from the bunch, 0:14:13.440 --> 0:14:17.400 but there's no guarantee that any particular vendor is behaving 0:14:17.840 --> 0:14:22.520 the way it should based upon the general policies. Of course, 0:14:22.560 --> 0:14:26.280 that's not limited to you know, social media. That's you know, 0:14:26.520 --> 0:14:29.400 well sure sure, But the point being that, you know, 0:14:29.440 --> 0:14:32.240 Facebook really couldn't make this guarantee that the data was 0:14:33.200 --> 0:14:37.440 but that good. But they don't know. Now, let's let's 0:14:37.440 --> 0:14:41.920 talk quickly about Beacon, since that just beacon, Beacon Beacon. 0:14:42.160 --> 0:14:47.080 So Beacon was this, uh, this this concept that Facebook 0:14:47.120 --> 0:14:53.280 came up with that was almost universally um decried. They 0:14:53.520 --> 0:14:57.080 people just hated the idea of Beacon anyone who was 0:14:57.280 --> 0:15:01.800 like really looking into the privacy issues anyway. So there's 0:15:02.320 --> 0:15:05.160 what Beacon did was it was a kind of an 0:15:05.160 --> 0:15:09.000 application that would was automatically part of Facebook. You didn't 0:15:09.040 --> 0:15:11.400 opt into this, In fact, you had to opt out 0:15:11.480 --> 0:15:14.360 of it. And Facebook doesn't necessarily make things easy to 0:15:14.360 --> 0:15:18.640 opt out of. You have to really know where to look. Yeah, 0:15:18.760 --> 0:15:20.640 you have to really know where to look in order 0:15:20.640 --> 0:15:23.560 to change certain privacy settings and do things like opt 0:15:23.600 --> 0:15:27.200 out of applications like Beacon. And the idea behind Beacon 0:15:27.320 --> 0:15:31.600 was that it would link your activities through various sights 0:15:31.680 --> 0:15:35.640 to your Facebook accounts, so that you could presumably keep 0:15:35.680 --> 0:15:37.920 your friends up to speed with what it was you 0:15:37.960 --> 0:15:40.560 were interested in. And the idea behind here is kind of, 0:15:40.600 --> 0:15:42.280 you know, as kind of nice as the idea is 0:15:42.280 --> 0:15:44.080 that you know you can if you're interested in a 0:15:44.160 --> 0:15:47.640 in a book series, for example, you would automatically let 0:15:47.680 --> 0:15:50.720 people know that, hey, you just purchase the latest you 0:15:50.760 --> 0:15:53.800 know in this in this series of books, so people 0:15:53.800 --> 0:15:55.920 could say, hey, you know, maybe I should read that 0:15:56.000 --> 0:15:58.800 because he's a cool guy. I like his taste, and 0:15:58.880 --> 0:16:01.520 he's reading this. Now. Let's say it sort of serves 0:16:01.560 --> 0:16:05.080 two purposes. I mean, one, you've got the social networking 0:16:05.280 --> 0:16:08.080 aspect of it, where you're sharing cool stuff with your friends. Hey, 0:16:08.120 --> 0:16:11.560 I just checked out this cool new cd uh. And 0:16:11.640 --> 0:16:14.880 you have the company on the other end, who goes, hey, 0:16:15.000 --> 0:16:17.080 and you can buy it from my store right now 0:16:17.920 --> 0:16:22.320 for just only that. But again more targeting advertising because 0:16:22.360 --> 0:16:25.960 they start seeing what individual people like to purchase and 0:16:26.000 --> 0:16:29.880 then they can target ads specifically at you based on that, 0:16:30.080 --> 0:16:32.080 and and it makes sense you'd go, Okay, well, they 0:16:32.120 --> 0:16:34.960 probably won't mind this as much because we're adding sort 0:16:35.000 --> 0:16:38.120 of a social flavor to it and maybe it'll get 0:16:38.120 --> 0:16:40.040 people to be cool. And it's kind of like I 0:16:40.040 --> 0:16:41.960 think it was kind of presuming that this way, it 0:16:41.960 --> 0:16:44.480 takes out the middleman, Like, you know, you would probably 0:16:44.520 --> 0:16:46.840 want people to know that you are shooting this series, 0:16:46.920 --> 0:16:49.440 so we're just gonna take that that extra step of 0:16:49.480 --> 0:16:51.600 you having to type it out and we're just gonna 0:16:51.600 --> 0:16:54.360 make that automatic, which could possibly go wrong with this. 0:16:54.480 --> 0:16:58.560 So here's some Here's some issues that Facebook thought about 0:16:58.680 --> 0:17:01.240 before they implemented this, or if they did think about it, 0:17:01.240 --> 0:17:03.880 they didn't think about it hard enough. One is that 0:17:03.960 --> 0:17:06.320 let's say that you're searching for something that you don't 0:17:06.320 --> 0:17:08.560 necessarily want the world to know that you're looking for. 0:17:09.720 --> 0:17:14.879 Let's say that you're uh buying a book on cancer treatments. Okay, 0:17:15.080 --> 0:17:18.920 that's very serious issue. And now suddenly if it goes 0:17:18.960 --> 0:17:21.280 to your Facebook that so and so just bought, you know, 0:17:21.400 --> 0:17:24.440 living with Cancer book. Now all these people who may 0:17:24.480 --> 0:17:27.160 not have known whether you know, whether it's you who 0:17:27.160 --> 0:17:29.520 are suffering through this or you're buying it for someone 0:17:29.560 --> 0:17:32.080 else that you share about. You don't want all your 0:17:32.080 --> 0:17:33.840 Facebook friends to something like, oh my god, are you 0:17:33.840 --> 0:17:36.440 okay if you're not ready to talk about that kind 0:17:36.440 --> 0:17:39.160 of thing, especially if it's not you know, your own 0:17:39.280 --> 0:17:42.359 condition and it's someone else's. You don't want every the 0:17:42.400 --> 0:17:44.520 whole world to know that you just bought this book. 0:17:45.119 --> 0:17:47.440 So there's that there's that kind of privacy issue, And 0:17:47.440 --> 0:17:49.359 of course there's also you know, if you were buying 0:17:49.400 --> 0:17:54.320 something a little more lascivious. Let's say the heaving bosom 0:17:54.440 --> 0:17:58.399 for instance. Now in hardback, if you wanted to go 0:17:58.480 --> 0:18:03.439 and purchase the heaving bosom, uh, you know, then next thing, 0:18:03.480 --> 0:18:05.760 you know, everyone knows you bought this, and you're going 0:18:05.800 --> 0:18:09.640 to withstand tons and tons of teasing for the rest 0:18:09.640 --> 0:18:14.040 of your natural life. Please stop. Look, it was for 0:18:14.080 --> 0:18:18.560 a relative anyway, Or let's say you were purchasing it 0:18:18.800 --> 0:18:23.159 for someone a gift, a surprise for that person. But 0:18:23.200 --> 0:18:26.560 it's not a surprise anymore because it was published on Facebook. 0:18:27.040 --> 0:18:29.240 And that's a good point. So that's a very good 0:18:29.240 --> 0:18:31.840 reason right there. Yeah, there are plenty of reasons that 0:18:31.880 --> 0:18:33.960 have nothing to do with oh, well, you know it's 0:18:33.960 --> 0:18:36.040 all the people who are worried about their you know, 0:18:36.440 --> 0:18:39.200 they're porn getting out there on Facebook. No, it has 0:18:39.240 --> 0:18:41.080 nothing to do with that. I mean for some people, sure, 0:18:41.119 --> 0:18:43.520 I'm sure it has something to do with that. But 0:18:43.560 --> 0:18:46.920 it goes well beyond just those kind of like he he, 0:18:47.080 --> 0:18:50.879 he's a naughty boy kind of of comments. You know, 0:18:50.880 --> 0:18:54.719 there are a lot of legitimate reasons why a perfectly 0:18:54.920 --> 0:18:57.520 innocent purchase you would not want that to be broadcast 0:18:57.560 --> 0:19:00.920 across the world Wide Web, and Facebook is pretty broad. 0:19:00.960 --> 0:19:04.400 I mean there's millions, hundreds of millions of users. So 0:19:05.800 --> 0:19:09.320 Beacon got a lot of complaints starting off the right. 0:19:09.320 --> 0:19:12.360 Off the bat actually ended up there ended up being 0:19:12.359 --> 0:19:17.600 a class action lawsuit leveled against Facebook, uh by by 0:19:17.600 --> 0:19:20.240 a group of users who all claimed that Beacon was 0:19:20.359 --> 0:19:24.639 violating their privacy and that, for instance, the main crux 0:19:24.680 --> 0:19:28.119 here was an issue with Blockbuster. Okay, so that was 0:19:28.200 --> 0:19:31.240 one of the vendors that was partnered with Beacon. If 0:19:31.280 --> 0:19:33.760 you were to rent a movie from Blockbuster, it would 0:19:34.520 --> 0:19:36.919 send that out on your Facebook feed, and suddenly everyone 0:19:36.960 --> 0:19:40.200 knows that you just rented you know, Big Trouble Little China, 0:19:41.480 --> 0:19:44.960 best movie ever made, by the way, Um, I haven't 0:19:44.960 --> 0:19:48.120 seen it. Yeah, no, it's it's Big Trouble Little China. 0:19:48.720 --> 0:19:52.800 Godfather too. Um so you haven't seen cud Father to 0:19:53.560 --> 0:19:56.960 Oh my god. Alright, wait, I gotta take a moment. 0:19:57.960 --> 0:20:00.239 I don't know that I can continue just off the bat. Right, 0:20:00.280 --> 0:20:03.760 So anyway, with broadcast this, well that's technically against the law. 0:20:05.640 --> 0:20:11.720 Companies like Blockbuster are legally obligated to keep that information private. Yeah, 0:20:11.760 --> 0:20:16.240 it's it's in this specific instance, right, It's not all media. 0:20:16.359 --> 0:20:19.720 It's in in this broke a specific law, right, a 0:20:19.760 --> 0:20:23.200 specific law that states that that vendors that rent out 0:20:23.200 --> 0:20:28.040 in films cannot publish what people are renting, what specific 0:20:28.080 --> 0:20:30.719 people are renting. Now you might be able to say, like, 0:20:30.920 --> 0:20:33.160 this is the most popular rental this month, but that's 0:20:33.160 --> 0:20:37.040 different because it's anonymous. You're not saying Bob Smith rented 0:20:37.080 --> 0:20:42.280 this this month. So anyway, that that class action lawsuit 0:20:42.320 --> 0:20:45.920 eventually lead to Facebook saying, WHOA, sorry, we totally did 0:20:45.920 --> 0:20:49.160 not think this through before we pushed beacon out the door, 0:20:49.680 --> 0:20:54.080 and they quietly discontinued it, and then in September of 0:20:54.080 --> 0:20:59.680 two thousand nine they officially killed it. Uh. Now, Facebook Connect, 0:21:00.000 --> 0:21:03.040 which is a new service on Facebook, does a lot 0:21:03.080 --> 0:21:06.080 of the same things, but it's all opt in. You 0:21:06.119 --> 0:21:09.880 can choose what you you share with Facebook Connect, as 0:21:09.880 --> 0:21:13.400 opposed to it being you know, the default. So that's 0:21:13.440 --> 0:21:15.280 that's a good step. But I mean, it does a 0:21:15.320 --> 0:21:17.240 lot of the same things. So if you're using Facebook Connect, 0:21:17.280 --> 0:21:20.080 just be aware that it's essentially the same thing. It's 0:21:20.119 --> 0:21:22.000 just now they're they're doing it with your permission as 0:21:22.000 --> 0:21:24.680 opposed to just assuming you're okay with it, right, right, 0:21:25.240 --> 0:21:29.280 You know there there actually have been, um, some applications 0:21:29.320 --> 0:21:35.680 that have asked for very sensitive information like credit card numbers, 0:21:35.720 --> 0:21:39.080 et cetera, and um, you gotta wonder what they're going 0:21:39.119 --> 0:21:42.160 to do with that. Um you really shouldn't wonder. Just 0:21:42.320 --> 0:21:45.359 don't use those Yeah, that's I've actually seen an article 0:21:45.440 --> 0:21:48.480 by by somebody who didn't realize that it had nothing 0:21:48.520 --> 0:21:50.920 to do with you know, um, they were giving away 0:21:50.960 --> 0:21:56.600 their very personal information. Yeah no, no, you really shouldn't 0:21:56.600 --> 0:21:59.640 be giving them that kind of stuff. Giving adding those 0:21:59.680 --> 0:22:02.119 kind of aplications gives them the vendors way too much 0:22:02.160 --> 0:22:05.240 power over your information, whether they're planning on doing anything 0:22:05.359 --> 0:22:08.840 with it or not. That's beside the point. Now, some 0:22:08.840 --> 0:22:11.960 some applications are actually phishing scams. They're trying to get 0:22:11.960 --> 0:22:14.600 your personal information so that they can neither commit identity 0:22:14.640 --> 0:22:19.320 theft or they can do a credit card fraud or whatever. Um, 0:22:19.400 --> 0:22:22.400 So you know, looking to see what kind of information 0:22:22.440 --> 0:22:25.600 they're asking for and thinking about it before you just agree. 0:22:26.000 --> 0:22:29.320 That's that's key, you know. I mean, even if Facebook 0:22:29.359 --> 0:22:33.080 really buckles down and tries to prevent as much uh 0:22:33.119 --> 0:22:36.000 hanky panky as possible, stuff is gonna get through. Because 0:22:36.040 --> 0:22:39.199 we're talking about thousands of applications being added all the 0:22:39.240 --> 0:22:42.600 time and Facebook can't police all of them. If they did, 0:22:42.640 --> 0:22:47.040 then it would suddenly be a huge nightmare for Facebook. 0:22:47.080 --> 0:22:49.240 I mean you you know they they I'm sure they 0:22:49.280 --> 0:22:53.000 don't even have the manpower to do that. So, unlike 0:22:53.000 --> 0:22:57.240 Apple's App Store, where they review each app thoroughly before 0:22:57.240 --> 0:23:00.520