# Yes, Facebook is evil. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 18, 2011, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-facebook-is-evil/606613 "2011-12-18T03:33:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dauerbach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c2a13f/32.png) [@dauerbach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dauerbach)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-facebook-is-evil/606613/1 "2011-12-18T03:33:32Z")
I tried to log into an old facebook page that I hadn’t visited in about 2 years. However, I had forgotten my password. No big deal. When I visited my hotmail account 10 minutes later there were two emails from Facebook telling me I had not logged on in awhile. I would have guessed, incorrectly, that they only collected information once you had logged in. Also, if they are capturing email accounts for unsuccessful logins, it boggles my mind to think what they are capturing when I actually visit the site. The volume of data they collect must be staggering. I wonder what kind of information they can capture from data stored in my browser. And for that matter, I wonder how often my browser information is download to Google (I use Chrome). ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-facebook-is-evil/606613/2 "2011-12-18T03:59:33Z")
> [@dauerbach](#): > > I would have guessed, incorrectly, that they only collected information once you had logged in. Also, if they are capturing email accounts for unsuccessful logins, it boggles my mind to think what they are capturing when I actually visit the site. Notifying the account of record of unsuccessful login attempts is good security. They may be evil, but this certainly isn’t evidence for it. This is, in fact, a good job on their part. Unless I’m misunderstanding what you think they are doing. ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-facebook-is-evil/606613/3 "2011-12-18T04:37:20Z")
Facebook killed my mother and raped my father, but your example is evil too. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-facebook-is-evil/606613/4 "2011-12-18T04:37:50Z")
When you collect everything (and the world knows you collect everything), data mining becomes meaningless. ---
**Author:** ![Palooka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/palooka/32/2902_2.png) [@Palooka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palooka)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-facebook-is-evil/606613/5 "2011-12-18T04:48:54Z")
I don’t even [del]own a television[/del] use Facebook! ---
**Author:** ![dauerbach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c2a13f/32.png) [@dauerbach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dauerbach)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-facebook-is-evil/606613/6 "2011-12-18T05:11:13Z")
The message I got was not of an unsuccessful login attempt. It just annoyed me that they saw me try to login, checked and saw I had not for a long time, and then sent me emails inviting me back. ---
**Author:** ![Nanoda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-facebook-is-evil/606613/7 "2011-12-18T06:24:08Z")
There are “Facebook Credits” for sale alongside other gift cards in a rack by the checkout at my local Safeway. That’s more evil IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-facebook-is-evil/606613/8 "2011-12-18T06:35:37Z")
> [@dauerbach](#): > > The message I got was not of an unsuccessful login attempt. It just annoyed me that they saw me try to login, checked and saw I had not for a long time, and then sent me emails inviting me back. I have an inert account and I get those messages anyway, even if I haven’t tried to log in. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-facebook-is-evil/606613/9 "2011-12-18T18:43:28Z")
I haven’t logged into Facebook in six or seven months. Are you saying that they’re still collecting information about my Internet and email use without being logged in? I keep [facebook.com](http://facebook.com) on FireFox’s NoScript’s forbid list, if that makes a difference. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-facebook-is-evil/606613/10 "2011-12-18T18:49:00Z")
Facebook raped me, but its penis was small, so I just pretended it hurt to be nice. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-facebook-is-evil/606613/11 "2011-12-18T19:03:57Z")
Oh, Facebook made a rape joke! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-facebook-is-evil/606613/12 "2011-12-18T19:17:14Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > When you collect everything (and the world knows you collect everything), data mining becomes meaningless. Yes, it’s meaningless, but it it’s still valuable. That is to say, when properly processed, the data has great marketing potential. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-facebook-is-evil/606613/13 "2011-12-18T19:27:00Z")
> [@guizot](#): > > Yes, it’s meaningless, but it it’s still valuable. That is to say, when properly processed, the data has great marketing potential. Not when people know you’re collecting everything. Especially for Facebook as the ability to fuck with their scanners is so easy. ---
**Author:** ![Estilicon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/848f3c/32.png) [@Estilicon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Estilicon)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-facebook-is-evil/606613/14 "2011-12-18T19:59:55Z")
> [@drastic\_quench](#): > > Facebook killed my mother and raped my father, but your example is evil too. Well data mining suggested that they deserved it if that is any consolation. I am part of the global “elite” that doesn’t use facebook. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-facebook-is-evil/606613/15 "2011-12-18T20:12:22Z")
> [@dauerbach](#): > > The message I got was not of an unsuccessful login attempt. It just annoyed me that they saw me try to login, checked and saw I had not for a long time, and then sent me emails inviting me back. Why would that bother you? They did something bases on your action, I’m just not seeing anything that is out of the ordinary for a community based site. ---
**Author:** ![Throatwarbler\_Mangrove](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8c91f0/32.png) [@Throatwarbler\_Mangrove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Throatwarbler_Mangrove)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-facebook-is-evil/606613/16 "2011-12-18T20:14:56Z")
[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/ZJ380SHZvYU/hqdefault.jpg "CIA's "Facebook" Program Dramatically Cut Agency's Costs") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJ380SHZvYU) ---
**Author:** ![curlcoat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea5d25/32.png) [@curlcoat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curlcoat)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-facebook-is-evil/606613/17 "2011-12-18T20:22:40Z")
I have a different Facebook is evil problem - they apparently updated their site _again_ and now it won’t display properly on my version of Firefox (3.6.24 for Mac). Irritating as hell to have to boot an OLD version of Safari just to read messages my friends send me. I don’t suppose anyone knows how to fix this? ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-facebook-is-evil/606613/18 "2011-12-18T20:33:23Z")
WHile the evilness of it can be debated by others - they are not ‘collecting’ anything from you to determine when you logged in last - They know when you logged in last - they have database queries/etc set up to say “when x is greater than y send a reminder” They don’t have to ‘collect’ anything to do that. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-facebook-is-evil/606613/19 "2011-12-18T21:17:52Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > Not when people know you’re collecting everything. Especially for Facebook as the ability to fuck with their scanners is so easy. And how many are actually doing that? Facebook, Google, etc. count on the fact that even though people know what they’re doing, the vast majority don’t do anything about it. That’s one of the primary operating principles behind data mining. Just because the data collection they do is public knowledge doesn’t mean that it can’t be the foundation of their business model. They aren’t spy agencies, and you aren’t subverting them by fucking with their scanners. They’re businesses, and they’re doing quite well, thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-facebook-is-evil/606613/20 "2011-12-18T23:16:11Z")
> [@guizot](#): > > Yes, it’s meaningless, but it it’s still valuable. That is to say, when properly processed, the data has great marketing potential. Wow, that’s so evil. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yes-facebook-is-evil/606613.md?page=2)