Myspace, Facebook and privacy/security concern

[Saturn_Fan]

My sister-in-law has taken it upon herself to post pictures of myself, my wife, etc. without my permission and I am pretty miffed about it. These photos are from family events and are not of questionable taste, etc.

My wife thinks I am overreacting, but am I? I just don't like my image out on the web if I didn't consent or do it myself. This Facebook and Myspace stuff worries a bit I guess; I think it is a stalker's dream.

Any thoughts, or am I overreacting.

 

[ToyotaNSaturn]

You could be overreacting, but the bottoms line is if YOU feel YOU don't want those photos on there, ask her nicely to remove them. After all, it's a picture of you!

You may not win this argument, but it's worth it to let your concerns be known to her.

 

[firemachine69]

You are right about a "stalkers dream". About 95% of my friends have a Facebook account, and I swear I know more about them than they do themselves!

I had the same issue with a random nut case girl I met on a dating website. I met her once, out of town (typical for my work), and within a few hours she posted pictures of us at the restaurant, the hotel, the mall, like we had been dating for years! If she won't take-off the pics, email Facebook and usually within 24 hours they remove the offending content, and give them a warning that unauthorized content is a valid reason for account suspension.

 

[Saturn_Fan]

Originally Posted By: ToyotaNSaturn
You could be overreacting, but the bottoms line is if YOU feel YOU don't want those photos on there, ask her nicely to remove them. After all, it's a picture of you!

You may not win this argument, but it's worth it to let your concerns be known to her.


Maybe I am old school, but I would have ask someone's permission first before exposing their image on a popular web site.

I'll do as you suggest and kindly ask her to cease and desist on publishing my image.

 

[moribundman]

Originally Posted By: Saturn_Fan
Any thoughts, or am I overreacting.

Posting any regular person's picture without their permission is not only irresponsible, but it's just plain wrong. For one or the other reason people of public interest, for example celebrities, are pretty much fair game, though.

 

[javacontour]

How much information about you is out there? I mean if it's a picture and the caption says it's her brother-in-law Fred Jones from Springfield, MA then yeah I think the information needs to be more vague.

If it's just a picture with no personal information such as we took these photos at a family gathering, then it's probably not worth getting worked up about.

Yet I agree with mori, it's just rude to post such photos without asking permission.

Maybe ask that such pages be made private, so that only certain folks can see them, such as other family members, etc.

 

[firemachine69]

The new fad on Facebook is to "tag" (literally, a tag when you hover the cursor over the person in question) everybody and their mothers.

The tags just so happen to also be available to AdWords on Google if the profile is set to "public" (most of them are, most users don't know this either).

 

[sciphi]

You can de-tag yourself on Facebook. I've done that more than once. And MySpace is too sketchy for me. Facebook is bad enough as is.

 

[Saturn_Fan]

Wow all the legal ways we now have at our disposal to compromise our already limited privacy.

I have even read accounts of employers who will monitor prospective and current employee exploits on MySpace and Facebook, and it has factored into hiring decisions.

 

[doitmyself]

Originally Posted By: Saturn_Fan
Wow all the legal ways we now have at our disposal to compromise our already limited privacy.

I have even read accounts of employers who will monitor prospective and current employee exploits on MySpace and Facebook, and it has factored into hiring decisions.


I work with a lot of college students and it simply freaks me out regarding how much personal information these people are posting on the World Wide Web. Either I am getting old and paranoid, or I just worry too much?

 

[MrCritical]

I'd ask her nicely to remove your photos.

If that didn't work, I'd pursue legal means.

No, you're not overreacting.

 

[Canawler]

Originally Posted By: doitmyself


I work with a lot of college students and it simply freaks me out regarding how much personal information these people are posting on the World Wide Web.


No doubt! I have a mid-twenties cousin who had her full address, phone number, birth date and other identifying info on her Myspace page. She might as well have put her SS and credit card numbers on there too.

 

[huffmuds9320]

I agree its not right to post pictures without someones permission. Just ask her to to take the pictures off the site, ask calmly and nicely of course.

For example when I take pictures, I try not to include any people, vehicle license plates, house numbers visible. I do this as a courtesy to others when I post them to my web album (Webshots). On the other hand if someone takes a picture of me or my car out in public I would not mind.