For 15 of its existence, Facebook has turned from a brilliant student idea into a dubious empire that lures users into the networks of special services, who invest a lot of money in the company. Gullible users recklessly post their personal data, not even realizing that they will never be able to delete this information from the Web.
Everything is free
What? Don't know what Facebook is yet? It's time to get acquainted with the most popular social network on the Internet. It's time to post your photo, name, biographical data there; and it will give you the opportunity to find friends from the past or by interests. At least that's how it was intended. Now one can only envy those who hesitated and did not get into this huge database, which is growing day by day and unable to ensure the immunity of its users.
Many millions of people have become attached to Facebook and are sincerely convinced that thanks to this service they find their old acquaintances, make new friends, and can find information about the hobbies and interests of other users.
Some consider it to be the largest phone book in the world. And she has a huge following. These people lead such an active social life on Facebook pages that many firms are forced to restrict employee access to it during the working day.
And all Facebook services are absolutely free. The timid voices of protest and suspicion sound very faint, drowned out by the joyful enthusiasm of millions of users. Whose interests are behind this free paradise? Who is interested in collecting such a record amount of information?
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Do you read the rules?
When registering on Facebook, you need to enter your email address, first name, last name and date of birth, i.e. all personal data. Particularly suspicious is the multi-page explanation of the terms of use and privacy, which, if published on the pages of our magazine, would take about 10 pages.
As is customary in all confusing legal documents, the rules are written in a very small print, full of many unfamiliar words, and acquaintances are collected in such complex sentences that the user simply gets tired of reading them and trustingly ticks the box “yes, I agree with the terms of use” and “yes, I accept the privacy policy."
Has anyone gotten to the words "You grant us an assignable, sublicensable, royalty free, global license to use any intellectual property rights that you post on Facebook or in any way associated with Facebook …" ?
How do you like this polite remark: “This agreement was written in the English (United States) language. If any translation of this agreement conflicts with its English version, the English version will retain priority. Does anyone delve deeper into the original source to avoid possible controversy?
Fearful consequences
We can say that all uploaded personal data, including information, photos and links to your friends, relatives, acquaintances, work and hobbies, can be used in the future at the discretion of Facebook. For example, in print: how would you like your photo in the telephone directory? Or a huge poster on the street with your photo? Or in TV commercials?
Facebook states: "We will not be liable to you for any lost profits or other indirect, special, incidental or consequential damages arising from this statement, even if we have been advised of the possibility of such damages."
But this is not only about the placement of private information. The case may also concern your business or celebrities, politicians, media persons whose images cannot be used without prejudice to their interests. Will their lawyers be able to sort out complex and conflicting rules, and can we, ordinary users, feel free to be told: “We are working hard to make Facebook secure, but we cannot guarantee it”?
How can I erase my Facebook posts?
No way. And, even worse, all private, information about you can be transferred to third parties without admitting losses to you and your intellectual property. “No, we're not that bad! - the organizers of the social network will exclaim. “We care about your privacy. You can delete your account and all uploaded data at any time."
Indeed, we read: "When you delete materials that are subject to intellectual property rights, they will be deleted irrevocably." But at the same time: "Despite this, the deleted materials can be saved in the form of backups for a valid period of time." Maybe the English version of the text specifies what it is for the permissible period of time?
There are cases when participants after several months of correspondence with the technical support of the network and even lawsuits found some of their data open. After years of scandals, Facebook has updated its settings, and now you can deactivate it on the account management page, while the data will be saved, but not available to any of the users. But the next time you enter the site under the username, they are completely restored.
Microsoft manipulates records
Unpopular or unfavorable page content is destroyed by the Facebook management unconditionally, without questions or discussions and without any explanation.
There is a known fact that was covered in the German media. A blogger posted a Facebook post about nostalgia for a previous version of Windows. Indirectly, this information tarnished the latest version of Windows, and the note was removed from Facebook.
And then a Microsoft banner appeared on the user's page. Thus, defamatory information was replaced by advertising. At the same time, the user received letters with threats that he maliciously used negative information about the company, and therefore his account could be destroyed.
Who is hiding behind Facebook?
Who of the powerful, money tycoons or services obsessed with information theft is hiding behind this social network?
Many users sincerely believe that student Mark Zuckerberg's brilliant idea led to such a powerful information machine. And if he made money on it, then this is quite normal. If only everything were so harmless! Indeed, Mark Zuckerberg - a student at Harvard University - developed a platform for students to communicate on the Internet in 2004. It was originally intended for the local student community. And then it expanded throughout the United States. Already in 2008, Facebook conquered Europe, for example, in Germany alone for a year, the number of users was one million.
Such an enterprise needs strong funding. It is necessary to pay for the services of IT specialists, increase the space for storing and transferring all data, and simply pay for electricity. But this investment is justified: as soon as Facebook shares are listed on the stock exchange, billions should fall on investors' heads. The potential value of the enterprise in 2008 was about US $ 15 billion, regardless of the oil crises and downturns on the stock exchanges.
In 2011, Facebook's revenue was $ 5 billion. And on January 2, 2011, according to the newspaper The New York Times, the value of Facebook reached $ 50 billion.
However, many media outlets claim that money is being invested in such a venture not only because of the potential profit, but for much more sinister reasons.
Where does the money come from?
Peter Thiel, an American of German origin, was one of the first to invest in the company 500 thousand dollars. Almost immediately, his net profit was $ 60 million and continued to grow. Despite the fact that Thiel sold the majority of his shares, he is on the board of directors of the company. Behind his eyes he is called the superbrain of the enterprise.
In 2005, Accel Partners invested $ 12.5 million in Facebook. The chief of this company was James Brier, who at one time collaborated with the firm In-Q-Tel and its chief, Gilman Louis, a former CIA officer. In-Q-Tel was created in 1999 with the help of the CIA in order to supply the US secret services with technical innovations today.
The next US $ 27.5 million invested in Facebook came from Greylock Venture Capital. Needless to say, one of its owners, Howard Cox (formerly a systems analyst for the US Department of Defense) was very closely associated with In-Q-Tel?
Later in 2007, Bill Gates himself invested nearly $ 246 million in Facebook. He was followed by the Hong Kong multibillionaire Lee Ka Shin, who easily parted with 60 million and declined to comment on the deal.
According to Forbes magazine, eighty-year-old Li Ka Shin, with his modest $ 26 billion, is the richest Chinese man in the world. It is suspected that he has direct ties to the Chinese government. He is often referred to as the King of Asia and the banker of the Chinese army. And why would such a big financial tycoon invest millions of dollars on a friend-finding social network? Only out of love for your neighbor? Just to play with stocks on the stock exchange?
Everyone knows about you
No, we are talking about something larger. One reader of “Secrets of the XX century” shared with us: “When I registered on Facebook and opened my home page, I was immediately informed that I could get in touch with such and such people. They were all my friends! With surprise, I silently looked at the monitor. How did they know these people were my friends? Did they get immediate access to my mail and email addresses?"
Our staff conducted an experiment. We opened a mail on mail.ru and started registering on this social network. Registration of an account is carried out in several stages, and an inexperienced user skips the information written in small print that, by entering your password, you give the program access to your e-mail. And after all, Facebook and those who are behind it receive information not only about your Internet contacts, but also the entire contents of your mailboxes, all your letters!
Facebook is rapidly growing and developing, and, accordingly, the cost of the entire project soars. It's just a matter of time before the social network splits into two classes: free and paid privileged users. Those who are used to using all the portal's features will have to pay for the convenience in the future. Only the lite version will remain free.
Bill Gates can't wait to become the owner of the largest address book in the world, as he himself announced in 2008. Since then, joint projects have been developed, all the necessary agreements have been concluded. Now, Windows 7 - Microsoft's new operating system - lets you sync Facebook and Windows.
Specially or not, but the Facebook interface is made in such a way that at some point the user will accidentally press the “OK” button again and give permission to dig into his personal life. Facebook encourages you to jump into the trap yourself, by all possible means urging you to enter your email or Skype password. "Download Skype and chat with your friends on Facebook!" - joyfully call you. And they promise that your data will not be used without your knowledge. But here again a random movement of the mouse, and your personal data rushed at full speed to Bill Gates. Or the CIA or other interested intelligence agencies who modestly stand behind Facebook investors and are keenly interested in everything that happens.
Bloggers continue to be surprised that Facebook shamelessly forces you to give your personal passwords, despite the fact that the opportunity to "skip" this function or refuse it is written in the extreme corner and in the smallest letters.
You are offered to contact your friends, invite them to a social network. The user agrees with pleasure, and the program kindly notifies him that a notification letter will be sent to the selected person. Your addressee, having seen the letter, will not even think about the fact that he has not yet registered with Facebook, but his data is already stored in the special services notebook.
700 thousand new users daily
It is no longer a secret that the CIA chief is using a Facebook group to recruit staff. The project is called the National Clandestine Service. And since in order to have access to viewing and giving job advertisements, you need to log in to Facebook, it can be assumed that this database is under the full control of the special services.
On August 23, 2007, the chiefs of Facebook and their rivals Myspace set up a clandestine conference call, the Financial Times reported. This meeting was to discuss issues "to improve the internal communication of the CIA staff." We bet that behind the wine, whiskey and expensive cigars there were other things said too?
Maybe you want to know some more interesting facts? You are welcome! At the end of 2008, Facebook announced 150 million users. Three years later, the site had 750 million unique visitors and one trillion page views. More than 700 thousand new users join the social network every day. They upload about 700 million photos every month. And this number is constantly growing.
From the editor. All tongue-tied statements in quotes are quotes from Facebook rules.
Magazine: Secrets of the 20th century №14. Author: Nina Koneva
