There are 98 comments.

1. Inactive
   Jules PA

   @JulesPA

   Post author

   7:25 PM EST ⋅ Jan 3, 2016

   MLH:

   Mike LaRoche:

   RightAngles:

   Mike LaRoche:

   RightAngles:

   Claire Berlinski, Ed.:

   Front Seat Cat: how would Facebook know my business associates except through my emails?

   There are many ways they can know, especially if you’ve linked your Facebook account to, for example, your LinkedIn account. But people shouldn’t be surprised. Facebook is “free.”

   There’s no such thing as a free lunch.

   I never link my Facebook to ANYTHING. But when I think of how many of my Facebook friends have done it, I realize I’m still exposed through them. I’m probably going to delete my Facebook again soon.

   You’re on Facebook?

   Not for long! I deleted my page last year, and then I made a new one with no friends and no personal info, just to keep an eye on my daughter. But the next thing I knew, people from high school were adding me and now I’m back to feeling exposed again. I won’t miss it at all. If I never see another Bernie Sanders meme or photo of what someone had for lunch, it’ll be too soon.

   I’ve been there for over 8 years. No high school friends on my page, and only three liberals. Everyone else is conservative.

   Magic Mike! Or: Magic, Mike. How’d you do that!

   Set your privacy settings very strict…no one can look up your name, or your email, don’t put your phone in. Ignore all friend requests, unless they happen as part of a face to face conversation, or they are a relative you can stand. :)

2. Inactive
   Jules PA

   @JulesPA

   Post author

   7:28 PM EST ⋅ Jan 3, 2016

   RightAngles: How many of my Facebook friends willingly give access to my information?

   you can set your privacy/security so that doesn’t happen.

3. Contributor
   Hank Rhody

   @HankRhody

   7:40 PM EST ⋅ Jan 3, 2016

   RightAngles:

   Hank Rhody:

   RightAngles: An internet search engine should be impartial or everyone should know it isn’t.

   I can get behind that. Same principle with newspapers.

   The linked article though was talking about a different company financed with Google money. Having acquired that money I see no reason to prevent them from spending it on what they want.

   I think everyone should be able to spend their money however they want. But our election laws should catch up with this nefarious practice, or people should be made aware of what Google is doing and of their close ties to Al Gore. I can guarantee you if the close ties were with the Koch brothers, every idiot low-info voter would know about it in five minutes.

   By all means, make people aware of it. But if you’re talking about election laws, we’re in Citizens United territory.

   (Oh, and for the record, I use DuckDuckGo. And a couple other things to avoid people tracking me.)

4. Member
   RightAngles

   @RightAngles

   7:42 PM EST ⋅ Jan 3, 2016

   Jules PA:

   RightAngles: How many of my Facebook friends willingly give access to my information?

   you can set your privacy/security so that doesn’t happen.

   OH good. I already do have it set that way. I guess I’m just paranoid because they’re so intrusive. I deactivated my account a while back, and I signed back in a couple of weeks ago to view pics of my niece’s new twins. Then when I tried to deactivate again, it wouldn’t let me! The only option now is to deactivate for a week at the most, and you’d have to undo it every week. It’s absurd.

5. Member
   The Reticulator

   @TheReticulator

   7:58 PM EST ⋅ Jan 3, 2016

   Bartholomew Xerxes Ogilvie, Jr.: However, Google’s corporate clients might have such leverage. I wonder how comfortable those companies are with Google’s overt political activism?

   You think they want the Obama/Clinton IRS to know how comfortable they are with it?

6. Member
   Claire Berlinski, Ed.

   @Claire

   2:04 AM EST ⋅ Jan 4, 2016

   The Reticulator: Since protectionism is in favor these days among populists left and right, maybe free internet services could be outlawed. Put it in the statute books next to the anti-dumping provisions.

   Or you could decide you’d prefer to spend a bit of money and know what you’re getting in exchange. You could, for example, join a social media site that doesn’t mine your personal data for purposes that would horrify you if you knew about them. One that’s entirely upfront about its political leanings. Like this one, for example. I hear it’s great.

7. Member
   John Seymour

   @

   3:52 AM EST ⋅ Jan 4, 2016

   kylez:“are you born transgender?” is absurd for the simple reason that a “transgender” (transsexual) is a person trying to be the sex they were not born as. i can’t imagine many millions of Americans are confused about that.

   You don’t think there are millions of progressives?  How do you explain the last 8 years?

8. Member
   kylez

   @kylez

   

   1:37 PM EST ⋅ Jan 4, 2016

   John Seymour:

   kylez:“are you born transgender?” is absurd for the simple reason that a “transgender” (transsexual) is a person trying to be the sex they were not born as. i can’t imagine many millions of Americans are confused about that.

   You don’t think there are millions of progressives? How do you explain the last 8 years?

   i can’t believe millions of Americans regardless of their politics would have typed that stupid question into Google.