Facebook

[Surfer01]

Every now and then I get an email advising that I have been added to Facebook by some friend or other without my permission. I find this quite annoying as I have no intention of subscribing to Facebook at all and I have no way of finding out what details have been posted.

I don't want to crap on my friends who probably think they are doing me a favour but obviously my email address is being posted as I receive a notification. Is there anything I can do about this?

[davjoh]

When someone who uses facebook searches for a friend, they do so by either name, e.g. "John Doe", or email address "[email protected]". If you search by email address, it gives you the option to invite the person if they haven't joined.

 

The only people who see the information are you (because you get the email) and your friend (because they send the email) - no information about you is put into the viewable areas.

 

FYI, even if you did join (I admit I am a facebook addict :-P) you can restrict your profile so only you and your friends (who you approve) can see your stuff.

 

However, there should be a 'click here and we will go away forever' type link on the notification...

 

HTH

 

David

[buzby]

I hears recently from a DCA agent that he uses Facebook as his preferred information resource to catch up with his customers. He said it usually works if they are 32 or under!

[Surfer01]

My concern here is that Facebook were able to send me an email therefore they have a record of my email which can be obtained if somone hacks the site. You would think that friends would have the decency to ask you if they can add you to their friends list on a website instead of just going ahead and doing it. In my books it is an invasion of privacy and i don't care whether or not no one else can see my details, the fact remians that my details are now associated with this so called organisation. IMHO it is a load of crap and only for a certain type of person!

[davjoh]

...and only for a certain type of person!

 

I take offence to this - you have asked for help and I have briefly explained the way that the website works.

 

Do not take personal snipes at other site users who are trying to answer your questions, it belittles the idea of consumer emplowerment, which is the whole point of this website, and apart from anything else, it's damned rude.

 

I hope you get an answer to your query.

 

Dave

[davjoh]

My concern here is that Facebook were able to send me an email therefore they have a record of my email which can be obtained if somone hacks the site. You would think that friends would have the decency to ask you if they can add you to their friends list on a website instead of just going ahead and doing it. In my books it is an invasion of privacy and i don't care whether or not no one else can see my details, the fact remians that my details are now associated with this so called organisation. IMHO it is a load of crap and only for a certain type of person!

 

If you check the privacy policy it states that Facebook don't disclose your details to third parties.

 

The likelihood of the site being hacked is really very minimal; I can understand your worries with all the stories of unscrupulous people using the site fo find info (see Buzby's post earlier!!!) but this is because people put lots of info up about themselves and don't protect it. Its not that Facebook are lax. I have never heard of any case of Facebook having information security breaches.

 

Even if it were hacked, and Facebook held a record of having emailed you (which is unlikely unless you either then sign up, or ask for no further contact), all that they would hold is your email address.

 

If you arent happy with your friends inviting you, take it up with them - I can't see them taking offence to you asking them not to bother. In the past I have had to ask friends (in one or two cases quite sternly) to stop sending me silly chain emails (I get bored of hearing if I don't email the tellytubbies theme tune to 83 people in the next 19 seconds I will marry a bucket and die young of cirrhosis of the liver). They respected my wishes. Yours should too.

 

If you did want to look at making a complaint to Facebook I don't believe that the law is on your side - email addresses in isolation (the only data they process in your case) are usually not held to be personally identifiable information under the Data Protection Act. Even if it were, the processing is reasonable and proportionate and gives you the opportunity to opt out. The processing isnt for a sales or marketing purpose, so they do not require your consent on this basis. Finally, they are emailing you on behalf of your friend, and so it is likely to be an exempted purpose under Section 36 - use of data by an individual for personal/domestic purposes.

 

HTH

 

David

[Surfer01]

I take offence to this - you have asked for help and I have briefly explained the way that the website works.

 

Do not take personal snipes at other site users who are trying to answer your questions, it belittles the idea of consumer emplowerment, which is the whole point of this website, and apart from anything else, it's damned rude.

 

I hope you get an answer to your query.

 

Dave

 

No snipe or anything similar was intended at all. All I was saying that I don't agree that people should be allowed to post your details without your permission, i.e. they should contact you first and ask if they can add you to their list of friends or by the same token Facebook asks you if you wish to have your details on their servers.

Certain types of people enjoy liaison with old friends but I can't be bothered because if the so called friend didn't keep in contact in the first place that is their issue and obviously they are not a true friend. Those that have kept in contact over mant years can be regarded as true friends and I do not need Facebook for that purpose.

Anyway thansk very much for the update and no offence was meant at all. I guess my English grammar is rather poor.

[Beaker_smiles]

I think you misunderstand the way facebook works. As davjoh said, they have no record of you because you are not signed up. Asking for facebook to e-mail you to see if you mind being added as you are suggesting is exactly what they are doing. If you do not choose to sign up, then they won't have a record. Your details will not appear on the site anywhere.

[cjnewbs]

When I signed up to facebook the last stage was to invite all your freinds, I skipped this stage, because I hate those "Jim has joined Facebook, and has invided you" emails. I belive what happens is your freind provides facebook with their username and password that they use for msn messenger, or other chat program. Facebook then connects to MSN messenger and appears to the MSN servers as MSN messenger, so therefore receives the contact list. This way they are able to e-mail all your freinds.

 

I think when you sign up you can also add e-mails manually.

 

https://register.facebook.com/findfriends.php

[FU-UU]

Personal snipes! I read the thread twice and saw no snipes concerning cag members whatsoever?

 

I take offence to this - you have asked for help and I have briefly explained the way that the website works.

 

Do not take personal snipes at other site users who are trying to answer your questions, it belittles the idea of consumer emplowerment, which is the whole point of this website, and apart from anything else, it's damned rude.

 

I hope you get an answer to your query.

 

Dave

[Holdred]

Can you just not add the address to your blocked senders list and be done with it?

[sequenci]

I know that when I signed up to Facebook it went through my gmail address list and offered to send invites. I think that there were various other e-mail clients that could be trawlled through too. I was given the chocie of allowing this action or not.

[Holdred]

I've just checked an invite I sent to myself for something a while back, and the domain the request will come from is facebookmail.com. Add that to your blocked senders and you won't get anything more from any of your friends signing up.

[mfpa]

It would be much more satisfactory if telling Facebook you wanted to invite your friend generated a new email on your pc which you then sent from your own address.

 

As for the "chain" emails and the endlessly recirculating jokes, I am continually telling people to use the BCC: field instead of circulating my address without my permission.

[woad]

Perhaps what people should be more worried about is *how* facebook, myspace, et al, obtain the email addresses to send out your invites.

 

The process, simply put, is that they read your messenger client address book - whether you are signed in to MSN/etc or not, and harvest the addresses. If you are *not* signed in (into MSN Live, for example), you dont have to sign-in in order for the api to access the data....

 

Any warning bells ringing? The software api (computer program code) that does this is therefore available to literally anyone, who's intentions may be less than social.

 

BTW, I would recommend *not* visiting meetmymessenger site (or meetyourmessenger I'm not going their to doublecheck the site name for the same reasons I recommend not going there!)