The Facebook Team cannot release any further information

xoxyx

I have a Facebook account and recently received some rather abusive emails from an ex girlfriend of a friend of mine. Apparently, she has sent similar messages to all female friends of this guy.

So - I decided to block her - but, in Facebook, you have to find a person in a search of the site in order to block them. For whatever reason, although her emails were in my inbox as large as life, I couldn't find her in a search.

So, I emailed Facebook saying that I wanted to block this person and I gave her name, and I asked them to get back to me.

Now, I know from having tried to find her in a search, there are over 40 people on Facebook with the same name as her. So, I expected Facebook to revert to me to ask for some further details so they would know which person of this name to block.

However, I instead got an email back from Facebook about two hours later telling me that this person had been blocked.
"Hang on a minute", I thought. How do they know who to block. The only contact that this person and I have ever had is through private emails through Facebook, which, I would have thought, are private (hence the name).

So, I emailed Facebook back and asked them how they identified the person I wanted blocked. I got this message:

"You provided sufficient information for us to locate the person who you wanted to block. Unfortunately, for security reasons, we cannot release further information. We apologize for any inconvenience that this may cause".

I don't think that I did provide sufficient information. I emailed straight back saying so, but have got no reply as of yet.

And, ok, I haven't read the current Facebook charter. Maybe (probably) they do have complete access to our "private" mails, but, in that case, why not say so in their reply to me? What's this security reason excuse about?? And, if they do feel the need to have access to our private mails, can they read them at will? If not, does a flimsy excuse such as replying to a mail without bothering to make further queries qualify as a reason to access private mail suffice?

I hate to think that I've been emailing friends in good faith, thinking that these mails are private, when Facebook has no respect for such privacy.

I'm going to cancel my account. But first, I want a much better explanation from Facebook than security reasons.

What do you think? I'm really annoyed with this, but maybe I'm missing something.

Danbo!

So, did the cops know that internal affairs was setting them up from the beginning?

yourmano

My profile picture appeared on the Net despite being private...

liah

It's just facebook, dude. Even if they did have your information, they'd also have the information of millions of other people, you honestly think they're going to take the time to find you and read all your stuff? Bit arrogant, don't you think?

Take it with a grain of salt. It's not some big evil organization, it's just a website to waste a rainy afternoon on.

CR 7

Face Book > F B > F.B.I.

They couldn't have made it any more obvious.

ZzubZzub

She's blocked. It's all gonna be ok.


They can probably check who sent you messages, not necessarily the contents of them. But I dunno.

AntiRip

No good canceling your account either as you information is still on their servers for later activation if you change your mind

xoxyx

liah wrote: »

It's just facebook, dude. Even if they did have your information, they'd also have the information of millions of other people, you honestly think they're going to take the time to find you and read all your stuff? Bit arrogant, don't you think?

Take it with a grain of salt. It's not some big evil organization, it's just a website to waste a rainy afternoon on.

Um - no. I don't think that they are reading all of my stuff - I accept that I'm not that interesting. My issue is that they acted on a preliminary request of mine without my giving enough information for them to act on. The only way that they could get sufficient information, without my providing it, is by accessing private emails on Facebook.

pikachucheeks

Maybe the girl wanted to block you as well, so they put two and two together?

Voodu Child

You do know that Facebook is a CIA venture?

They read all your messages to make sure you're not a terrorist. And also for the lulz. Probably some CIA guy is whacking off to your photos right now.

Daemos

How close do you and your ex live to each other? They might have been able to see the similar IP addresses and deduced which of the accounts it could have been was hers?

TheZohanS

Moved to Blogs / Wikis / Social Networks

zonEEE

Maybe they could see that you were friends with the person?

liah

z_topaz wrote: »

Um - no. I don't think that they are reading all of my stuff - I accept that I'm not that interesting. My issue is that they acted on a preliminary request of mine without my giving enough information for them to act on. The only way that they could get sufficient information, without my providing it, is by accessing private emails on Facebook.

Okay, but.. you have a problem with Facebook for doing what you asked them to do on their website, because it MAY have (but probably didn't) involved accessing private emails which, if they read, they'd recognize as abusive on the part of the other person and would think nothing of you.

I just don't get the problem. So what if they're accessing private emails on THEIR OWN website? Like, you said yourself, you're not that interesting, so really, why would it matter whether or not they did? You're never going to meet these people, hear from these people, or even know people who know these people. I seriously fail to see the problem other than one you've created.

Never got why people got so uppity about that kind of stuff..

xoxyx

Well - it seems as though, if we can all pull together, we can do nothing.
Do you all really think that this is okay?
Or do you think that, because it is common practice, you should just leave well enough alone?

koHd

There is another way. Knowing the city you live in they probably just assumed the name of the girl you gave was the one for the one that lived in the same city or close by.

Out of the 40 same names there wouldn't be many living in that area.

But it is an assumption if they did it that way and it still could have been the wrong person.

robbie_998

Admins and Mods (i think) on here at boards can have a go at our pm's anytime they wish !

you'll have a busy time with all mine mr. Admin/Mod

kingtut

Your messages are probably private to everyone else however the facebook moderators / team can probably look at whatever they want. Sure if you said to them so and so sent me an abusive message and I don't like it then they would have to see the message first!

Same applies to any site like that including boards I would imagine. I'm sure super mods are not allowed to look at private messages unless they receive a complaint about one, however I reckon they have the facility too if needs be.

Nothing on the internet is private! Someone somewhere can (and might see it).

Facebook probably checked the messages and them to block the sender.
Case closed in my opinion...

Daemos

robbie_998 wrote: »

Admins and Mods (i think) on here at boards can have a go at our pm's anytime they wish !

Okay, I'm going to dispel this rumour now. Neither mods or admins can see another persons PMs. Admins can only see a PM if it's reported, and mods can't do it at all.

liah

z_topaz wrote: »

Well - it seems as though, if we can all pull together, we can do nothing.
Do you all really think that this is okay?
Or do you think that, because it is common practice, you should just leave well enough alone?

I don't see why it's not okay.

It's a social network on the internet. If you don't want your information seen by others, DO NOT POST IT ON THE INTERNET, full stop.

But personally I'm still failing to see the issue, they just plain don't care what's in your inbox and they're not people you know so why you're getting upset about it is beyond me.

smiley girl

OP Facebook has memory and trails and etc etc... When you emailed them to have this person blocked they can see the activity in your profile. They probably had a look at the name you gave them and saw 'recent activity' involving this person. Don't sweat about it!
Also, I doubt facebook will give you more info, very busy i'd say.:D Also I wouldn't worry about those private emails, if they have read them, I'd say they've seen much worse:eek:

robbie_998

DaPoolRulz wrote: »

Okay, I'm going to dispel this rumour now. Neither mods or admins can see another persons PMs. Admins can only see a PM if it's reported, and mods can't do it at all.

but your only adverts support. You guys get left in the dark on a good few things.

who's to say i dont have a relative who happens to be an admin here or who's to say i dont know a lot more than you want me to

Daemos

robbie_998 wrote: »

but your only adverts support. You guys get left in the dark on a good few things.

who's to say i dont have a relative who happens to be an admin here or who's to say i dont know a lot more than you want me to

I think this is where you're looking for

I'll have a nice in-depth chat with you there if you start a thread about it

xoxyx

liah wrote: »

Okay, but.. you have a problem with Facebook for doing what you asked them to do on their website, because it MAY have (but probably didn't) involved accessing private emails which, if they read, they'd recognize as abusive on the part of the other person and would think nothing of you.

I just don't get the problem. So what if they're accessing private emails on THEIR OWN website? Like, you said yourself, you're not that interesting, so really, why would it matter whether or not they did? You're never going to meet these people, hear from these people, or even know people who know these people. I seriously fail to see the problem other than one you've created.

Never got why people got so uppity about that kind of stuff..

Fair enough. So, if your email provider was accessing your mails and taking certain actions, without your permission, due to their content - would that be okay with you?
I meant that I'm not interesting enough for my emails to be read as the next “who's who” or “what's what” of Dublin society, but that doesn't mean that I am happy for somebody to be allowed access to my mails.
As a privacy issue - you just don't know who will be able to read something personal if you can't protect it in some way.
And, who is to say that I am never going to meet these people, hear from these people or even know people who know these people. Ireland is fairly small.

maddogcollins

http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2009/05/facebooks-e-mail-censorship-is-legally-dubious-experts-say/

Much the same thing..

I personally cant see an issue!After all you are using a site for free, asked them to block a user, which they did..very easy check recent activity to and from your account to see who accessed it. Same way as all these gimmicky links to Friend of the day, stalkers etc do..

robbie_998

DaPoolRulz wrote: »

I think this is where you're looking for

I'll have a nice in-depth chat with you there if you start a thread about it

trust me man.... there is a very good/high chance I know a lot more than you, and im not joking btw

anyway thats going off topic !

facebook probably just used information from your messages rather than actually reading them, they would probably be a bit too busy to go reading them and would probably get the sack for it as it is against some laws depending on the situation !

liah

z_topaz wrote: »

Fair enough. So, if your email provider was accessing your mails and taking certain actions, without your permission, due to their content - would that be okay with you?
I meant that I'm not interesting enough for my emails to be read as the next “who's who” or “what's what” of Dublin society, but that doesn't mean that I am happy for somebody to be allowed access to my mails.
As a privacy issue - you just don't know who will be able to read something personal if you can't protect it in some way.
And, who is to say that I am never going to meet these people, hear from these people or even know people who know these people. Ireland is fairly small.

Facebook isn't an Irish company. The majority of people working for them would be in the Western United States. Pretty sure you'll be okay.

And no, if staff of my email provider found it necessary to peruse my information in order to take action (such as blocking someone who's sending me abuse) I would not mind one bit! They're just doing their jobs! And they wouldn't have the time to read the rest of my emails, so why on earth would I worry about it?

Just because the website's staff have this kind of information does NOT mean that your average joe is going to be able to get to it. They're not.

maddogcollins

If your that suspicious of facebook, i hate to think what your like about the cashier at the bank!!!(or are you an under the matress person)

robbie_998

maddogcollins wrote: »

(or are you an under the matress person)

I think inside the closet would fit in better :P

any OP dont worry about it, its not a big deal,

why not email them and ask them if they read pm's if necessary and what kind of circumstances would require such action.

all you asked for was a ban on a person from you, never said anything about pm's.

or then again he might of just banned everybody with that name from you.

Blowfish

DaPoolRulz wrote: »

Okay, I'm going to dispel this rumour now. Neither mods or admins can see another persons PMs. Admins can only see a PM if it's reported, and mods can't do it at all.

Actually it depends on the Admin, some can see them.

PM's are stored in plaintext in the vbulletin db, so anyone who has read access to that the DB will be able to see them. For boards, this would most likely be restricted to the dev team and the 'founder' admins.

Gordon

robbie_998 wrote: »

but your only adverts support. You guys get left in the dark on a good few things.

who's to say i dont have a relative who happens to be an admin here or who's to say i dont know a lot more than you want me to

Unless your relative is Con or Ross, you're incorrect.

Beruthiel

robbie_998 wrote: »

Admins and Mods (i think) on here at boards can have a go at our pm's anytime they wish !

I'll thank you not to lie in such a fashion.
Neither Mods or Admins can read someone's PMs.

who's to say i dont have a relative who happens to be an admin here

Really?
Care to tell me which Admin that would be?

robbie_998

Gordon wrote: »

Unless your relative is Con or Ross, you're incorrect.

Beruthiel wrote: »

I'll thank you not to lie in such a fashion.
Neither Mods or Admins can read someone's PMs.

Im not lien

Beruthiel wrote: »

Really?
Care to tell me which Admin that would be?

I think I'll keep that under wrap

Maybe here isint the place to discuss it, very off-topic around here quite suddenly

all i will say is i only joined the site cos this particular admin persuaded me to and now i quite like it here

Tom Dunne

robbie_998 wrote: »

Im not lien

Robbie, with all due respect if you are not lying, you are grossly misinformed.

Let me go on record here by saying it loud and clear:

Neither Admins nor Moderators can read other people's PMs

If you report a PM, of course we can read that particular PM, but we can not just wander in and read your PMs.

robbie_998

Tom Dunne wrote: »

Robbie, with all due respect if you are not lying, you are grossly misinformed.

Let me go on record here by saying it loud and clear:

Neither Admins nor Moderators can read other people's PMs

If you report a PM, of course we can read that particular PM, but we can not just wander in and read your PMs.

i could sit here for hours arguing about it with you, but im not gonna... not gonna be childish around here.

I just had a thought about it and Mods cant read the PM's but the kinda higher up Admins can.

your right about the reported pm's, when a pm is reported its sent to the Mod forum and a thread is made about it and in some cases depending on the pm the Higher Admin may feel the need to investigate other PM's by that person and the reported one, but that dosent happen very often

Beruthiel

robbie_998 wrote: »

I just had a thought about it and Mods cant read the PM's but the kinda higher up Admins can.

I'm an Admin. I cannot read anyone's PMs.
Quit trying to talk about things you clearly don't know about.

Maybe here isint the place to discuss it, very off-topic around here quite suddenly

Drop me a PM with this 'Admins' name then and we will clear this up.

fifth

This thread is getting derailed guys

I'd say Facebook have some similar clause in that if you report a PM or user which is being abusive, they surely have to verify this by checking said PM's..

robbie_998

Beruthiel wrote: »

I'm an Admin. I cannot read anyone's PMs.
Quit trying to talk about things you clearly don't know about.



Drop me a PM with this 'Admins' name then and we will clear this up.

I know what im talking about

Discretion is being taking here and names shall not be given

anyway no more talk about it !

Kinetic^

robbie_998 wrote: »

I know what im talking about

It's quite clear that you do not.

Eoin

To answer the OP - they know your email address and username, they know the name of the girl, and they know that she sent you a message. That's more than enough information to find out the person who sent it, without necessarily reading the contents of the message.

To write it in pseudo-code, it could be something like this:

select senderID from messages where recipientname = 'your username' and sendername= 'name of the girl'

Of course anyone with database access can read the contents of the messages, but it's most likely a bit of a pain so the odds are that they have tools they can give to support staff to cross check information, without actually revealing sensitive information.

Gordon

robbie_998 wrote: »

your right about the reported pm's, when a pm is reported its sent to the Mod forum and a thread is made about it and in some cases depending on the pm the Higher Admin may feel the need to investigate other PM's by that person and the reported one, but that dosent happen very often

You're quite wrong there, sadly you have been lied to, reported PMs don't work like that.

robbie_998

Gordon wrote: »

You're quite wrong there, sadly you have been lied to, reported PMs don't work like that.

yeah i probably just got mixed up with reported posts there.

anyway.. i reported a mod/admin for going off topic on this thread... get back to the main OP please ???

BrianD

Something that I can't understand from the OP. Why could he not identify the sender of the messages? When I receive a message from someone, I can click on their username to access their profile. You can then remove them from your friends. When you de-friend them you just report or block them.

To be honest, I would view the e-mail service that FB offer to be something similar to a corporate network. All your messages are goint to be stored and while nobody generally reads them, the administrators have access to them.

craiginireland

OP What would happen if for example someone did something really awful on a facebook pm and it involved someone you cared about. Would you you still be pissed if facebook said no, we're not helping you with this?

xoxyx

strongr wrote: »

Maybe they could see that you were friends with the person?

I wasn't friends with her.

maddogcollins wrote: »

I personally cant see an issue! After all you are using a site for free, asked them to block a user, which they did..very easy check recent activity to and from your account to see who accessed it. Same way as all these gimmicky links to Friend of the day, stalkers etc do..

Yes, Facebook does provide a service which is free to me, however, they make their money through their popularity with users such as myself. The fact that the service I avail of is free does not, in my opinion, allow them free rein.

Boards.ie is free to me too, however:

DaPoolRulz wrote: »

Neither [boards.ie] mods or admins can see another persons PMs. Admins can only see a PM if it's reported, and mods can't do it at all.

To re-enforce that point:

Beruthiel wrote: »

Neither Mods or Admins can read someone's PMs.

Now:

BrianD wrote: »

Something that I can't understand from the OP. Why could he not identify the sender of the messages? When I receive a message from someone, I can click on their username to access their profile. You can then remove them from your friends. When you de-friend them you just report or block them.

I could go to the page of the person who sent the PMs. However, I was never friends with this person so the option to remove them as a friend is moot. I wanted to block this girl, not remove her as a friend. I couldn't do this myself and that's why I contacted the FB team.

craiginireland wrote: »

OP What would happen if for example someone did something really awful on a facebook pm and it involved someone you cared about. Would you you still be pissed if facebook said no, we're not helping you with this?

No. If somebody sent me a PM that contained something really awful about someone I cared about, I would report that PM to Facebook. The point at issue in this situation is that, although I didn't feel the need to report this person as aggressive I didn't want to get any more messages from her. I should have been able to block her myself, but couldn't - that's why I asked the Facebook team how I could block her. I asked for information on how I could block her - I never asked for them to identify and block her for me.

maddogcollins wrote: »

If your that suspicious of facebook, i hate to think what your like about the cashier at the bank!!!(or are you an under the matress person

I'm not a paranoid person. I would never keep my savings under the mattress - I'd never earn interest on the 5c that I have in surplus money if I didn't put it in a bank! I don’t have a problem with FB accessing my mails – I know that there’s nothing particularly interesting in there and I don’t think that anybody will waste their time reading through them. What annoys me in all of this is that I just asked how I could block somebody and then FB blocked that person for me, and then said that they couldn't tell me how they knew the right person to block. It would have been very easy to say that they knew her from recent activity or something like that. Unnecessary, pointless cloak of secrecy IMHO.

BrianD

I could go to the page of the person who sent the PMs. However, I was never friends with this person so the option to remove them as a friend is moot. I wanted to block this girl, not remove her as a friend. I couldn't do this myself and that's why I contacted the FB team.

There is something not quite right about this thread.

Why would you want to block e-mails from this person and still remain their friend? I really don't understand it. You really need to make your mind up about this person. Is there more than one person involved? I get the impression that there may be.

Is someone sends you a message on Facebook whether they are a friend or not. You simply click on their profile and then block them. You won't be able to see their profile details but you have a block link under their profile pic. If you are already friends and want to remain friends, just delete their messages without reading them.

In a way I'm not surprised Facebook knew who to block on your behalf, it probably didn;t take much to put two and two together.

Gone West

DaPoolRulz wrote: »

Okay, I'm going to dispel this rumour now. Neither mods or admins can see another persons PMs. Admins can only see a PM if it's reported, and mods can't do it at all.

Actually thats incorrect. A number of people can read your PMs if they wished.
But they don't have the time or inclination to read anybodys stuff, unless there was suspicion of something illegal going on, and even at that they would consider it very carefully before doing so.