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Comment by onedev | Hacker News Reader

You realize graph search only utilizes information that YOU make available.

Why did you make that data available? Do you not want others to see it? If you didn't, then why did you put it out there for others to see?

Also, you know that privacy controls are taken into account right? So if you don't make certain data available to certain people, you don't show up in searches for those people....

I think you're being a bit irrational when you say that you're "being used".

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Yes I do but when I joined facebook I didn't realize they would create a super search engine to easily sort and categorize all of their users' data for more efficient targeted advertising. They sell likes, they have my friends sponsor ads they've never sponsored, they used 5 of my friends pictures to try to manipulate me into not deleting my account. We aren't their main customer but are there just to be targeted. Sounds like we are being used.

This graph search is just the last straw. It is terrifying the repercussions this search engine could have, and I believe this blog post shows some great examples.

So you are arguing that you made something public on facebook, but you didn't expect it to be that public? It looks like people who reject/don't use facebook due to privacy concerns do so because they don't understand the implications of what they put there. Personally, if I were to be concerned about privacy, I'd just make some research to understand what is and isn't public and how to use the product overall, but I suppose one could be pissed off at facebook for not being clearer about who can or could see what you put in there (even though they constantly try to improve this). Either way, the argument "I don't use facebook because I'm concerned about the data they extract from me" is flawed and irrational, because facebook won't know anything you don't explicitly tell to it. I still hear that argument from some people every now and then and I can't help but think that they just don't understand and did not want to make an effort in understanding facebook.

My 'irrational' fear exists because of facebook's constantly changing uses of our data. When they began and we all started liking things we didn't know these same likes would be used for marketing purposes. We didn't know they would be used to sponsor ads. They went from a social network for people to a social network for companies. I agree with you and I do understand that I choose what is public, yes that's great; but how about the average user? Facebook makes money by selling it's users' data to companies. If everyone was private they wouldn't make any money.

This open graph search will be great for marketing purposes, and a silly tool for us users. I guarantee there are going to be some serious consequences of companies/governments having the power to instantly search and sort billion's of users' data. And maybe you'll say that some great findings can come from this search; maybe we can learn more about humans and societies with this tool? Maybe, but I believe the cost outweighs the benefits.

".. why did you put it out there for others to see?"

I've noticed this argument more often w.r.t FB and other such privacy issues. I think it's flawed.

I joined FB back when it was closed. In my mind I wasn't putting anything 'out there' for the world. The first time they made things public and started messing with the default privacy settings I was worried but gave them the benefit of the doubt. Then the cycle repeated with new features and settings, which were altered from their previous states. From that point on I realised they didn't actually care about privacy the way I understand the term and they've gone on to 'open-up' more and more (rather aggressively in my view). What used to be hidden (or at least you thought it was) essentially becomes public at some point in the future.

Had I known this was the direction FB was taking I would have treated it as a public site from the very beginning. Twitter on the other hand was public from the beginning, so my interactions there have been different. I think it's unreasonable to expect that Joe Bloggs out there can get his head around what's public/private on FB. Even if they do there's no telling what might change in the future.

Of course, I could leave FB but then I'd lose touch with people. So now I leave my profile alone, hardly ever 'like' anything and generally try and limit what I do there. I'm sure FB still gleans plenty of info about me from whatever my friends do (i.e tagging photos, connecting address books etc).

And that's why you can unlike what you liked in the past, leave groups, unfriend people, etc. Also, it might still be an unreasonable expectation, but to be honest people do need to understand what is public and what is private on facebook. You don't give away embarrasing pictures of yourself or your bank account information to strangers in the street, so why should it be different online? Facebook, like real life, is not a product that can be used properly without understanding what's public/private. That's not to say the users who don't understand it are to blame; possibly it's just Facebook that has to work harder on this, but still.

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