Print

Send

Share

This article highlights some points of the privacy policy of Facebook. The idea is only to inform the reader, user or not this social network, and illustrate the functioning of the social Web.

For the preparation of a course on the use of Web 2.0 tools by women and politicians (training 2.0 Being an elected and manage its online reputation on the Internet ) that I will give at the end of January to elect (e) s of local authorities, I am interested in the privacy policy of Facebook (you know, the document you never read when you sign on to an online service ...).

This document is available from the homepage of Facebook and before the opening of his account (unlike some other documents of Facebook ... yet even mentioned in this document), it can not be criticized for this service hide his future member how their personal data will be used by the most famous social networks.

Reading this document, however, reveals a few nuggets that show how personal data is the evidence on which each new subscriber actually loses control. Why? Simply because the very nature of a social web service is to use your personal data to know you better to offer services that meet your needs.

In Facebook's case, this knowledge allows him to help you expand your circle of "friends". However, to achieve its goals of socialization, Facebook is not going to simply monitor your behavior within the service. It will also analyze your behavior on other websites and vice versa to allow external sites to use your profile information.

The real news (for some revelation I think) revealed by the document Privacy Policy of Facebook is certainly this one: when you sign up on Facebook, the service will track your activities within Facebook ... but also on the Web . As a bonus it says at the end of the document: "By using Facebook, you agree that your personal data transferred to and processed in the United States."

If you do not have the patience to read this document yourself but you want to check this, I invite you to read below exact quotes taken from the document Privacy Policy Facebook dated December 9, 2009. Happy reading

• Privacy settings
  • "You manage (the) diffusion (your information) using the privacy settings "(Note: To access the page of" privacy settings ", you must have an account. It is therefore impossible at the time of registration of become acquainted with (...).)
  • "Certain types of information such as your name, your profile photo, your friends list and the pages you're a fan, if you are male or female, your region and networks you belong to are considered public information (including applications) and are therefore not associated with privacy settings. "
• applications and external websites
  • "Facebook is also a service that allows you to share information on applications and external web sites usable with Facebook"
  • "You can learn more about how this information is provided (applications and external Web sites) to the page About the platform "
  • "Before allowing them access to this information, we ask them to accept conditions restricting how they can use this information (the terms of Section 9 of our Bill of Rights and Responsibilities ) "
  • "We may share information about where you use your computer or device you use, as well as your age, applications and websites for use with Facebook in order to enable them to use certain security measures and control dissemination of their contents. "
• application settings: "You can control how your information is used by these external applications and websites through your application settings "(Note: to access the page" application settings ", must have an account. not so at the time of registration to become acquainted with (...).)
• Age limit: "No information from children under 13. "
• Information activities on site: "We keep track of the actions you take on Facebook»
• Information about the browser and the access device, "we may collect, from this device, information on the type of your browser, your current location and your IP address and the pages you visit. "
• Facebook platform and Facebook Connect "When you allow an application or a website for use with Facebook, we receive information from them, such as information on the use you make of it. "
• Information from other websites: "We can receive information about the fact that you have, or not, looked at or responded to some ads appearing on other sites to measure the effectiveness of these ads. "
• Information from other users: "We may collect information about you from other Facebook users (when a friend identifies you on a photo or a video, provides details about your friendship or indicates a relationship with you) . "
• Copies of deleted information "Even after removing information from your profile or have canceled your account, copies of your information may remain viewable in some places, since they were shared with other users, distributed according to your privacy settings or copied or stored by other users. "
• Privacy setting "Everyone": "They can be indexed by search engines and others you may be involved outside of Facebook (as when you visit other websites) and we, or any other person, can import and export without confidentiality restrictions. "
• Accounts of commemoration: "If we learn of the death of a user, we may keep his account as Memorial. "
• Access search engines to publicly available information: "Generally, we limit access of search engines to our site. They are allowed to access the information set to "Everyone" and your list public (but you can disable access to your list of public research in your privacy settings). "
• Deactivation or termination of your account: "When you disable an account, it will no longer be accessed by any user, but it will not be deleted. We keep your profile information (friends, photos, interests, etc..) If you decide to reactivate your account later. "
• Restrictions on removal: "we may retain certain information to prevent identity theft or other misconduct even if a termination was requested. "
• Risks inherent in sharing information: "Although we allow you to set privacy options to restrict access to your data, there is no security system perfect or infallible. "
• Changes: "We reserve the right to change our privacy policy at any time"
• Authorization information collection and treatment in the United States: "By using Facebook, you agree that your personal data transferred to and processed in the United States. "