Who can you trust?

I've been setting limits on my privacy on Facebook, especially during our work against the gun range in our backyard. It's the place where I can keep up with family and far-away friends. Trolls are not welcome. 

Whether you are on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, or WhatsApp, Meta announced a loosening in standards and fact checking. 

This includes the ability of people to use rainbow themes. Heaven forbid we show our Pride, or show that we are allies to friends and family. 

The billionaires are sucking up to the far right bigots, misogynists, and disrespecting people they consider different. They are out of their minds. Profits over principles. 

Look at what they did on Facebook to someone:

There are huge conspiracy theories around, but we know who are doing the most harm to our children. It's not the LGBTQ community.

You really have to check your sources. 

Here are the antiheroes

The new convoy people are planning to head into cities on Jan. 25th. 

Convoy Watch

Look for the heroes!

In the meantime, there are a lot of people working really hard to look after one another.

 Firefighters, what a plane! This was from CBC.

Our plane, hired by California, collided with a drone flying illegally. It's been under repair for a week. What a criminal action. The fines, in the US, are $75,000 for the incursion in the area of the fire. 

Witnesses can report their concerns to Transport Canada through its drone incident reporting portal. Other aviation incidents may be reported at Incident reporting: Report an aviation incident.

Wed., Jan. 15, at 16:51 hours, Quebec sent another water bomber to California. 

I found out it was diverted in Columbus, rather than heading to St. Louis. I hope they don't have a problem. 

False advertising promoted on Facebook

For those, like me, with too much time on their hands, or have been sick...or believe in time well-wasted, I've spent time hanging out with Friends on Facebook. Partly, I've noticed that Social Media has learned that we old farts are on FB and also tweet. For the most part, it is the young people who send out tweets. These folks, from my research, tend to be those who use it for...SOCIAL purposes. To hook up with friends, and not for any real purposes other than fun. Social Media has been stolen by marketing firms, however, and PR firms who bombard us with reasons to buy their products and advertise their services.

I'm looking at my Facebook account. I began to notice that many of my friends seemed to happen to 'like' sponsored ads. I've been collecting screen shots! I posted it to an album on Facebook, and my friends told me they have either not been playing a particular game for a year, or did not 'like' AmEx, as is posted!

 I have come to the conclusion that Facebook is producing false advertising. I know my friends aren't 'Liking' all of these pages. I understand stockholders need advertising revenue, this is what keeps Facebook free to me, but this seems criminal, indeed.
One friend wrote:
I have a facebook "friend" who died of cancer over a year ago. She is still "liking" things. Who knows what I am "liking". I read that fb is going to start with autorun videos sometime soon. That may be the cause of my departure from facebook. 
 
The article, partially quoted below, hit home for me. With strangers asking to 'friend' me. If you read the last paragraph, I find it ironic since I have noticed that Facebook presents fake 'likes', by advertisers. I've checked it out! My friends have NOT liked particular pages.

Facebook’s False Faces Undermine Its Credibility, By SOMINI SENGUPTA
Fakery is all over the Internet. Twitter, which allows pseudonyms, is rife with fake followers, and has been used to spread false rumors, as it was during Hurricane Sandy  False reviews are a constant problem on consumer Web sites. Facebook has sought to distinguish itself as a place for real identity on the Web.
As the company tells its users: “Facebook is a community where people use their real identities.” Fraudulent “likes” damage the trust of advertisers, who want clicks from real people they can sell to and whom Facebook now relies on to make money. Fakery also can ruin the credibility of search results for the social search engine that Facebook says it is building.

Facebook Privacy

Facebook used to be fairly private, but that’s been changing for a few years. Get the lowdown on Spark, with technological info.

 It tells us, in part...
But lately, privacy issues with Facebook have come to the fore. There’s a saying that you shouldn’t put anything in an email that you wouldn’t be comfortable seeing on the front page of the Globe and Mail. 

As of today, there is a NEW PRIVACY setting called "InstantPersonalization" that shares data with non-Facebook websites and it isautomatically set to "Allow." Goto Account > Privacy Settings >Applications and Websites > Instant Personalization > EditSettings, and uncheck "Allow"....BTW, if your friends don't do this, they will be sharing information about you.

I think it behooves us to refrain from putting any info on the 'net that we wouldn't want an employer or client or family member to read! We have to balance our eagerness to share photos with friends with putting up photos that a member of the public might find offensive. I was just contacted to teach a course by someone who checked out my resume on-line. I have little to hide, after all I wrote my book! 

Some people are wondering if that should now be extended to Facebook. Employers have used it to screen out job applicants and people have lost disability insurance benefits and even their jobs because of what they put on their Facebook pages.

While you can control who can see most of your information on Facebook (not to mention the information you choose to put there), recent changes to Facebook’s privacy policy have made the lines very blurry. According to PC World, a computer magazine, it now takes going through 50 settings and 170 options to safeguard your Facebook privacy. 

How to fix Facebook's new privacy settings

Facebook and privacy violations

Merciless website exposes Facebook indiscretions

A new website is exposing embarrassing and potentially job-threatening Facebook messages posted by users who probably don't realize their privacy settings are turned off.
There are posts with people brazenly admitting to playing hooky from work and others pull no punches in making fun of their bosses. Some are of a very personal nature, falling into the category of too much information.

From a Facebook post...

As of today, there is a NEW PRIVACY setting called"Instant Personalization" that shares data with non-Facebook websites and it is automatically set to "Allow." Go to Account > Privacy Settings > Applications and Websites > Instant Personalization,and uncheck "Allow". BTW if your friends don't do this, they will be sharing information about you... please copy & paste.

Facebook and the legal system

It is with increasing alarm that I view the type of activities that go on in Facebook. Anyone can form a group, entertain false ideas and notions, allude to illegal activity, or defame others. From a Social Networking site for University students it has evolved into a wide-ranging forum where teenager are raging at those. In typical teenage angst, the rant and vent and disseminate information that they do not understand.

When a young person dies, or disappears, a site is created and these young people share their memories and feelings (such as the Rengel, Boudreau, and Ponte murders). This is healthy. Kids share photos and memories. Families can benefit from these sites and receive the love and the wonderful stories of what their son or daughter meant to others. Some of the photos are less than flattering and some downright revealing and the site administrators ought to be reminded of how much skin they should show of a friend.

What is not healthy on the websites are the false accusations, the gossip, the libelous actions, and the innuendos that permeate some of the sites. Those in middle school seem to be the worst at this. In righteous indignation they name those who are accused of crimes, or are taken in for questioning. They do not understand or respect the legal system in which we are presumed innocent until proven guilty. In small communities everyone knows the names of those involved and rumours spread regarding what is happening. The conversations can turn vitriolic and they recommend violent answers to the murder and demand violent retribution for those who have unfairly passed away.

I believe that these sites must not be allowed to be created: using another person’s name seems wrong. I would be horrified with some of the photos I have seen, as well as the foul language used by those posting and reaming out the killers in violent threats. Our society deems free speech a good thing, but until young adults become adults and understand respect for others they are abusing the privilege.