Payday loans are private, unlike Facebook
Payday loans are a private transaction for consumers who desire discretion during their emergency cash situations. Lots of people use them and appreciate the respect paid to their privacy, as credit checks are not typically required. But what happens when consumers who use an even more popular service like the online social marketing phenomenon Facebook? Is their privacy being respected?
Clearly, this is not the case. Adam Ostrow of Mashable reports at http://mashable.com/2009/02/17/facebook-terms-of-service-poll/ that CNET user opinion polls on Facebook’s recent changes to their Terms of Service (ToS) show that users are not satisfied with their privacy being invaded (56 percent). Only six percent are OK with the invasion, while a whopping 38 percent “don’t know.”
How can you not know? Form an opinion! Do some research! Don’t bow down to the trendy-friendy machine.
How would the ToS change?
Among other changes (see http://mashable.com/2009/02/16/facebook-tos-privacy/), the main problem is Facebook’s defense of holding on to a user’s data indefinitely. Facebook wants “irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license to use, copy, publish, stream, store, retain, publicly perform or display, transmit, scan, reformat, modify, edit, frame, translate, excerpt, adapt, create derivative works and distribute [your content].”
The group “People Against the new terms of service,” which is currently more than 60,000 Facebook users strong, has rallied against this abuse of information. The Electronic Privacy Information Center is prepared to file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission.
This is not merely consent to receive third-party advertising. Facebook can do just about anything they want with your information, if you consider the above statement and its full implications. “I don’t know” simply isn’t good enough. If you cling to that answer, you need supervision if you’re going to be allowed outside (or back in cyberspace). Moreover, a loan until payday would not be advisable for you. You’d need to develop a modicum of critical thinking ability first.
CEO Zuckerberg speaks; “Sorry?”
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg later stated on the Facebook blog that the heat in the kitchen was so intense that the old ToS will be brought back “while we resolve the issues that people have raised.” Smart move, but it does appear that the invading policy will merely be on hold for a future version of the social network. With different language. Because Zuckerberg wants to “reflect the principles and values of the people using the service.” He is committed to the change. Perhaps he should just be committed.
I say get out while you can, until Facebook can guarantee that information will not be used in the way people fear. When you apply through a pay day loan company, your information is not treated in a such a cavalier fashion. Is it kept safe and secure. Advertising messages are only sent with your consent. Payday loans, in this way, are much safer than using Facebook. Don’t even look for them through Facebook. Go to Personal Money Store, 24/7.
Related articles
- Facebook backs down on privacy terms (news.cnet.com)
- Facebook: Your Content is Ours To Sell (Maybe) (mediabullseye.com)
- Facebook still showing growing pains (bbc.co.uk)
There’s a term for what Facebook is trying to get the legal rights to do, and it is called identity theft. It is a crime, and the public seems to be on to it. If this were a person doing this, they would get irrevocable, permanent rights to a jail cell. Unbelievable.