Facebook know too much about me

sharkbite1983

OK, so a few years ago I was on holiday in Majorca, met a girl from Belgium, blah blah blah holiday romance, sent a few emails when I got home, that was the end of that.

Today on facebook, she popped up in the "people you might know" section, none of my friends know her, and Ive never used facebook to search through my hotmail for friends, but it clearly somehow knows she's in there.

Especially when I think about it, I met her after my Junior Cert, about 13 years ago.

I watched a programme the other night called Erasing David, it was about the amount of info corporations & govt have on us, it was scarey!!

AlmightyCushion

Facebook only knows as much info as you give it. It can't magically pick information out of thin air so it must have found out the two of ye knew each other some how. I imagine you linked your email account to it and forgot all about it.

MrVestek

I dunno...

I have two facebook accounts... one work safe and one non-work safe.

I posted some tame pics of my gf from a recent birthday party on my work safe account. Both accounts are not linked together and she's not my 'friend' on my work safe account and yet it suggested her as someone I may know.

That freaked me out a little tbh.

AlmightyCushion

Achilles wrote: »

I dunno...

I have two facebook accounts... one work safe and one non-work safe.

I posted some tame pics of my gf from a recent birthday party on my work safe account. Both accounts are not linked together and she's not my 'friend' on my work safe account and yet it suggested her as someone I may know.

That freaked me out a little tbh.

Was she tagged in those photos if so then I imagine that's why.

colly10

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

Was she tagged in those photos if so then I imagine that's why.

Don't think you can fully tag someone who isn't a friend. You can enter the name as text but that name would probably be associated with many pages on FB

MrVestek

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

Was she tagged in those photos if so then I imagine that's why.

Nope.

Gingersnaps

If she was checking out your FB page the system would suggest you might know her. You could always block her.

AlmightyCushion

Gingersnaps wrote: »

If she was checking out your FB page the system would suggest you might know her. You could always block her.

Or if he was checking hers.

RoyalMarine

i thought facebook used an auto recognition biometric on pictures?

that could explain why it auto suggested your gf as someone you might know.

as for the OP, maybe she linked her facebook to her email contacts and both of ye are getting suggestions due to that.

Voodu Child

sharkbite1983 wrote: »

and Ive never used facebook to search through my hotmail for friends, but it clearly somehow knows she's in there.

You could be in her contacts list. If she let Facebook scan her contacts they'll have your email address. And you probably used the same email address to sign up to Facebook.

MrVestek

RoyalMarine wrote: »

i thought facebook used an auto recognition biometric on pictures?

that could explain why it auto suggested your gf as someone you might know.

as for the OP, maybe she linked her facebook to her email contacts and both of ye are getting suggestions due to that.

That's a bit scary tbh.

K-9

Achilles wrote: »

That's a bit scary tbh.

It is a bit, but handy all the same:

Facebook Photos, now with facial recognition auto-tagging

Supposed to be only for the US now. Very rarely use FB now, use Twitter more.

JonathanAnon

sharkbite1983 wrote: »

OK, so a few years ago I was on holiday in Majorca, met a girl from Belgium, blah blah blah holiday romance, sent a few emails when I got home, that was the end of that.Today on facebook, she popped up in the "people you might know" section,

could have been worse Sharkey.. It could have had a picture of a baby in the "chidren you might be the father of" section of the page..

I've had a few surprises like that as well.. People that are not "friends of friends", who wouldnt have searched for you, and wouldnt know your email address.. And I've asked the same question "how did facebook link the two?"...

I think the most sinister thing is that once you post something on the internet it's there for good, with other companies scanning the pages.. so if you made a mistake or put up a stupid posting, you can just delete it and be done with it.

RoyalMarine

Achilles wrote: »

That's a bit scary tbh.

aye it is very scary, but think of it in a good way. facial recognition is getting better, and maybe one day they will be able to scan faces, put them into age groups and then scan the image for sexual material, thus helping to seriously stop child pornography.

AlmightyCushion

Achilles wrote: »

That's a bit scary tbh.

Meh, Apples iPhoto does something similar. As far as I know, you can disable it for your account, so it won't suggest you as being in those photos.

Dude111

Achilles wrote:

That's a bit scary tbh.

Yes it is!

FB is really not a good place to be!!

Thomas_S_Hunterson

RoyalMarine wrote: »

aye it is very scary, but think of it in a good way. facial recognition is getting better, and maybe one day they will be able to scan faces, put them into age groups and then scan the image for sexual material, thus helping to seriously stop child pornography.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qh2sWSVRrmo

Six of One

I had a similiar scary facebook moment! I have my facebook account settings as private as you can get as I work with a client group that I do not want to be able to see any info on me if they search for me. One day, it's over a year ago now, a foreign name popped up in the friend suggestions. When I clicked on the girl to see who she was she turned out to be a Latvian girl with only one facebook friend- that friend was a client. He in turn only had three friends, none of whom I knew.
I still to this day have no idea how that happened! The only thing I can think of is that that client and I would have both checked our facebook accounts from the same network, can facebook tell?

kippy

The Facebook is a all powerful and getting more powerful by the day.

Like most things, if youve nothing to hide your probably fine, but its the stories here that make you realise that you think you've nothing to hide until something to hide pops up.

Daegerty

kippy wrote: »

The Facebook is a all powerful and getting more powerful by the day.

Like most things, if youve nothing to hide your probably fine, but its the stories here that make you realise that you think you've nothing to hide until something to hide pops up.

Everyone has something to hide.

kippy

Daegerty wrote: »

Everyone has something to hide.

Kinda what I was alluding to.

sharkbite1983

yeah, she must of used her FB to search friends & it knew my mail.
That makes sense, thanks.

But since then, its got stranger.... I was a 3rd year apprentice about 9 years ago, didn't have a even PC or email address at the time.

I wired a guys house in Terenure, had I had no other contact with him since.
You'll never guess who just appeared in my "people you may know".

Seriously freaky, unless he was searching for me. My 1st name is Jim & my surname is awkward & hard to spell, so I doubt it.
Come to think of it, he probably wouldnt even know my surname.

Explain that one!!!

aidan_walsh

Again, if you were still in his contacts list at all and he uploaded it to Facebook it would be able to match the two of you based on that.

sharkbite1983

But I wouldnt of been in his contacts list, I didnt have FB, email, nothing!
I was computer illiterate untill about 2 or 3 years ago.
OHHHHH you mean his phone contacts? Yeah that could make sense if he synced his phone & FB.
Wow facebook is freaking me out. Maybe its time to delete my account.

cookie1977

The data protection commissioner is starting to investigate them in relation to privacy issues. Should be interesting as to what the uncover
http://irishtechnews.net/irishtechnews.net/Tech_News/Entries/2011/9/28_Facebook_to_be_investigated_by_the_DPC.html

skylight1987

i am kinda new to facebook , have i got this right, if lets say an ex boyfrind looks up my profile it will automatically come into my "people you might know", so i will know all who look up my profile and visa versa .see i thought it was only friends of friends that were recommened.i have everything set to "friends only" does that make a difference.

Digitaljunkie

I don't trust FB, thank god i haven't put any personal info on my pages. To be honest i'm very close to shutting my account down, have a few friends abroad so its my only reason for using it at the mo. Had a look on google+ and it is just as bad where it is been spidered by the search engine it self. Social media is never going to be private I think most people that use FB on a daily basis are naturally nosey :eek: and if they put personal info on it they're naturally stupid :eek:

Dude111

You should!! (The sooner the better!)

humaxf1

Digitaljunkie wrote: »

I don't trust FB, thank god i haven't put any personal info on my pages. To be honest i'm very close to shutting my account down, have a few friends abroad so its my only reason for using it at the mo. Had a look on google+ and it is just as bad where it is been spidered by the search engine it self. Social media is never going to be private I think most people that use FB on a daily basis are naturally nosey :eek: and if they put personal info on it they're naturally stupid :eek:

Totally agree DG... Facebook is a leech which sucks and sucks and does a bit more sucking.

As a mate of mine puts it, it's the "ipod" generation who are "with it". I grew up with CB radio, writing letters, no mobile phones, no Internet and no f00kin bebo, myspace, facebook or twitter being forced upon me...and I survived. Who wants to look at drunken night photos of people "posing" with their tongues sticking out while making a V with their fingers...get a life!

I can't recall just now, but some country banned references to any social networking services on radio...spot on I say.

If you have a facebook account, at least have the sense to put it on major LOCK DOWN to avoid any "sit-ye-ations" as Mr. McGuiness would say

Digitaljunkie

humaxf1 wrote: »

Totally agree DG... Facebook is a leech which sucks and sucks and does a bit more sucking.

As a mate of mine puts it, it's the "ipod" generation who are "with it". I grew up with CB radio, writing letters, no mobile phones, no Internet and no f00kin bebo, myspace, facebook or twitter being forced upon me...and I survived.

Spot on, I had those action man walkie talkies in the mid 80's when connecting with people was passing around a note in school...:eek:

Wonder what the next big social media thing will be after FB ?