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drwex
Log in to FB.Go to the top right of the screen, click Account, then click Edit Friends.
Go to the left of the screen and click Phonebook.
Fascinating. I suspect many of those are phone numbers people put in themselves, but some are supposedly numbers that were grabbed by various Facebook apps on smart phones, probably without their users' actual knowledge. Which app I will now be deleting from my Droid. Sigh.
It's not clear to me whether any of those are numbers that an FB app grabbed from my (or someone else's) phone contact list. So even if I don't run an FB app on my smartphone it's possible you've added my phone numbers to FB by running the app on your smart phone with me as a listed contact. That's annoying, but I see no way to deal with it.
My numbers are all listed in phone books and findable by online searches; I have no idea if this process respects any sort of "unlisted number" you might have with your phone provider.
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no subject
Date: 2010-07-02 04:37 pm (UTC)Removed, i think I probably put it there way back when facebook wasn't evil yet.
no subject
Date: 2010-07-02 04:38 pm (UTC)No number
Date: 2010-07-02 06:39 pm (UTC)Re: No number
Date: 2010-07-02 07:31 pm (UTC)If you don't want to be in your friends' "phone book" just change your privacy settings (subcategory "contact information") to show any phone numbers to "just me."
The only reason they have a number at all is that they need it for my mobile phone photo submissions.
Re: No number
Date: 2010-07-02 11:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-02 04:40 pm (UTC)Nope
Date: 2010-07-02 06:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-02 04:47 pm (UTC)yeah, I figured that out
Date: 2010-07-02 06:41 pm (UTC)Horse, barn and all that.
Re: yeah, I figured that out
Date: 2010-07-02 07:39 pm (UTC)Re: yeah, I figured that out
Date: 2010-07-02 10:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-02 04:53 pm (UTC)The question isn't whether YOU do it
Date: 2010-07-02 06:41 pm (UTC)Re: The question isn't whether YOU do it
Date: 2010-07-14 07:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-02 05:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-02 05:40 pm (UTC)Nope
Date: 2010-07-02 06:42 pm (UTC)Re: Nope
Date: 2010-07-02 07:04 pm (UTC)Re: Nope
Date: 2010-07-02 07:43 pm (UTC)FB has my cell number, and is NOT showing it via this feature. This means it is in compliance with the privacy settings you choose.
It is NOT scooping your number from other sources (private or public) and giving it out against your will. Why think it is doing that when it isn't even showing the numbers that it legitimately has?
Re: Nope
Date: 2010-07-02 08:14 pm (UTC)Because, you know, Facebook has NO history of violating peoples' expectations of privacy.
It's a side effect of becoming Evil - people tend to suspect that everything you do is Evil.
When I install a droid app, it lists for me all things that the app has access to. This includes my phone number and my contacts stored on that phone. I have no way to verify whether or not the app is using that access; I just know that it can access that info.
no subject
Date: 2010-07-02 05:36 pm (UTC)The question is whether I can stop it lifting numbers from my phone contacts
Date: 2010-07-02 06:43 pm (UTC)Re: The question is whether I can stop it lifting numbers from my phone contacts
Date: 2010-07-02 07:35 pm (UTC)Re: The question is whether I can stop it lifting numbers from my phone contacts
Date: 2010-07-02 08:16 pm (UTC)It's possible that the app isn't using that access to lift numbers. It's possible that if it lifts numbers it also checks other peoples' stored settings in regards to those numbers.
It's also possible that it is not. Given recent history, I think a heaping dose of suspicion is in order.
no subject
Date: 2010-07-02 05:39 pm (UTC)Are we FB friends?
Date: 2010-07-02 06:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-02 07:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-02 05:50 pm (UTC)I hope you can see my number!
Date: 2010-07-02 05:59 pm (UTC)Only fb friends should be able to see my contact info, but, they should be able to see full mailing address & phone number.
It's better than the phone book, and more people I know will think to check facebook first when they manage to forget my practically unforgettable number.
I have not seen an increase in unsolicited calls, or an increase in snail mail spam. The email spam I get still does not appear to be from facebook.
I still don't fully understand the problem of having accessible contact information. It's not enough for identity theft, and unsolicited contact is easily filtered. (I'm still far more annoyed by people with clipboards on sidewalks.)
People are terrified of attempts at more efficient marketing, in a society that is better described as an economy than a culture, and survives by knowing what people really want. Of course, social networks quickly lose effectiveness, as people will start listing less sincere interests for appearances sake, so what people deliberately connect to fb will never be as meaningful as their search engine history...
I wish more of my friends could find more of a middle ground between putting credit card info in an unsecured form and being apostles of LENNY FONER.
Re: I hope you can see my number!
Date: 2010-07-02 06:48 pm (UTC)The problem with "accessible contact information" is to whom it's accessible and what it's used for. Many people actually do just want to be left the hell alone and the amount of intrusive phone calling for commercial and political purposes is out of hand. During the MA special election, probably 90% of the phone calls we got were robocalls for one candidates/party/issue or another. Three in one day was the low and I think 12-13 was the high. It was annoying as fuck.
"attempts at more efficient marketing" presumes that the purpose for my information to exist is so that someone can use it to market to me. I rather think that the purpose is for my friends to get ahold of me. Sadly I can't fully separate the two.
(And for the record, putting your CC info into an unsecured form is entirely fine because almost all the risk is borne by the credit card company. Technically you're at risk for $50 but in practice that's not enforced.)
no subject
Date: 2010-07-02 06:19 pm (UTC)Nope
Date: 2010-07-02 06:49 pm (UTC)Re: Nope
Date: 2010-07-02 07:10 pm (UTC)Re: Nope
Date: 2010-07-02 07:37 pm (UTC)FB has enough aspects that are actually fucking us over and should have attention drawn to them. Let's not start making stuff up, eh?
no subject
Date: 2010-07-04 01:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-03 01:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-03 01:55 am (UTC)Please please please edit your post to avoid spreading this fear. This really is one of the most useful things about Facebook, and it's the only phone directory out there with good privacy controls and wide enough coverage to actually be useful.
Edit: Actually, I plead with you to write a new post rather than just editing this one, since I bet a lot of people who got the fear won't reread this post.
"got the fear"
Date: 2010-07-03 02:01 am (UTC)At least two people here weren't aware of the FB phone directory - three if you count me. So, really, it's pretty sane to check whether FB is only publishing numbers it ought to publish and the apps aren't messing with that either.
no subject
Date: 2010-07-14 07:33 pm (UTC)I now know this because it says as much on the page where you can ask them nicely to delete the data they scooped from you.
http://www.facebook.com/contact_importer/remove_uploads.php
HOWEVER - and this is an important detail - there is STILL no indication that they are giving people's numbers out without their permission to people who did not already have that information.
In other words, Person A has Person B's phone number in their phone, and uses the FB app. FB now has Person B's phone number, whether Person B ever gave it to FB or not and in fact whether B even has a FB account. However, since many people have the same name, FB cannot associate Phone Number B with Person B unless your phone also had their email address (the unique identifier of choice) in it.
It seems logical that B could now be listed in A's FB "Phone Book" since arguably A already had B's number and therefore has permission to see it (although I have not heard of this happening). However, there is still no indication that B's number is being shown to Persons C, D, and E, even if they are "friended" if Person B has their contact information listed as seen by "only me." I have also not heard of people's numbers being added to their profile if they did not enter it themselves.
What is definitely true, whether B's number is viewable by anyone at all in Phone Book or anywhere else, is that FB does have it and has stored it in their own data on Person B.
It also doesn't exactly say that they delete the phone numbers from their master database when you ask them to remove it, just that they will stop using it to make friend suggestions to you and about you. The horse is long gone.