Gransnet on facebook

I think it's better to know how this works, so you can protect yourself.

Mobile platforms like iOS and Android allow developers to collect people’s contact lists with permission. Twitter has a login feature similar to Facebook Login, and so do Google and LinkedIn.

If you see a pop up that says 'This app wants to access your contact list' then think twice before you say yes, if you are worried about people collecting data.

Thanks Primrose
However, back in 2015, Facebook allowed people to share their friend's data too. This is not the case anymore.
That is indeed a sneaky way of collecting data and very worrying.

It is super sneaky and to be honest, you just don't think through why people want your contact list or friend's data.
It's a pain to remember hundreds of logins, where passwords have to be long, have capitals, have numbers 'for security'.

You just want to be able to log in to your account easily and securely, so these Facebook login options feel like a good idea.

It's certainly made me think about how I will use these type of logins in future.

Sorry, I've given you duff information.

This Guardian article tells you more about the data mining app and how it worked:

www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/mar/17/facebook-cambridge-analytica-kogan-data-algorithm

Apparently, the Cambridge academic who developed the app 'for research purposes' has connections with St Petersburg university. (those pesky Russian connections again)

First time I've heard 50 million being called not many. It's nearly the population of the UK.

"It is well-known that Cambridge Analytica (CA) collects data on voters using sources such as demographics, consumer activity and internet activity, among other public and private sources. It has been reported that the company is using psychological data derived from millions of Facebook users, largely without users’ permission or knowledge. In short, the company operates using political voter surveillance and strategies of psychological manipulation."

The thing is they haven't been asking for permission. No pop-ups to say please can I use your data. That's how they have been breaking the law.

Thanks, Maizie. I thought I'd read they used algorithms.

Articles in the Guardian about Cambridge Analytica go back to before the 2017 election.

dj Maybe the algorithms do the sorting and juggling to get statistical patterns out of the raw data of individual profiles?

Rithms must be rhythms - I don't know why they use a different spelling. Simplification?

And then they use them to nudge people's ideas.

American?

dj - wikipedia "The word 'algorithm' probably has its roots in latinizing the name of Al-Khwarizmi in a first step to algorismus.[12][13]. There is no prior root for algorism- or algorit-, neither in Latin, nor in Greek. The word seems to have evolved as the name for the "new" mathematics coming to Europe, characterized by the use of the then emerging Arabic numerals, and was probably influenced by the Greek word arithmos, i.e. αριθμός, meaning "number" (cf. arithmetics), leading to the "t" in algorithm"
"In late medieval Latin, algorismus, English 'algorism', the corruption of his name, simply meant the "decimal number system""

You learn something new every day. No rhythm to it at all!

I don't want to worry people unduly but someone (whom I would trust and who knows a lot about IT) told me that a certain internet security system is not to be trusted.
It begins with K.

Does anyone know more?

Are you talking about anti-virus software, Jalima or something more integral to web pages and data encryption?

First time I've heard 50 million being called not many. It's nearly the population of the UK.
I suppose it depends if you use USA or UK version of a billion.
Even if you use 1,000 million to equal 1 billion, that is one twentieth of the total users.
And I understood that some was duplicated so the actual number could be less than 50 million.
(I think!)

I have sometimes done a YouGov survey but I do wonder who is collecting too much information about me from surveys and questionnaires. On the other hand perhaps folk like me should take part. Otherwise our views are not represented.

Yes, but the FB users who were targetted were in the USA only (according to the article I linked to earlier) so it's only a percentage of the USA population

Though this thing about it being only USA users puzzles me. Where did Cambridge Analytica get their data from to 'help' the Leave campaign in the UK?

Jalima That is because the K software was designed in Russia. The subject has been aired in the media, The designers are clean, but it seems that a business version of it was hacked by someone for commercial espionage. Individual PCs are OK. Apparently K sales suffered after the attack. Googling it brings up a lot of (mostly American) panic attacks, and some calmer explanations.

The first time Inheard the word algorithm being used was in connection to arithmetic and how it is done using Arabic (now 'modern') numerals. We were all taught arithmetical algorithms at school.

Some people pick up and remember algorithms very easily, e.g. the way they were taught to do long division. Some people do not remember them easily and so think they are not good at arithmetic. It is thought by some that this is one of the main reasons why so many kids have given up on maths by the time they are only half way through primary school.

I heard

This is why I would never discuss anything private or family related on here. And would never join the FB GN group either.

Channel 4 NOW!

Thanks Elegran

Oh, will have to watch on catch-up

"First time I've heard 50 million being called not many. It's nearly the population of the UK.
I suppose it depends if you use USA or UK version of a billion.
Even if you use 1,000 million to equal 1 billion, that is one twentieth of the total users.
And I understood that some was duplicated so the actual number could be less than 50 million.
(I think!)"
A billion is always a thousand million now.
How many people do you know on facebook?
One twentieth is still a large number.
One twentieth of the uk population is still 3.3 million.
That's a third of the population of London, or more than the population of Wales.

www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/mar/20/facebook-is-it-time-we-all-deleted-our-accounts

Has anyone deleted their facebook accounts?

No but I have checked my privacy settings.

Never been on facebook and never will. Why?
About 5 years ago I received an invitation from someone I had been communicating via forums online.

And it came as a complete shock to find that it came with a whole lot of detail about people who I thought were only in my email address book!
It included, though, a picture of one couple which I had never seen before.
It felt like a BIG invasion of privacy.
I said no.
And the person sending cut me off completely.....
I still think I was right.

I suppose all this came from the sharing?