I mentioned this on Twitter, but as Twitter has grown and grown (congrats, Biz and Ev!) it's become very "in the moment" and not the best place to put very important things like this:
There's a page on Facebook that appears to be mine. The problem with this is that I don't use Facebook, and I don't want people to be mislead. (Ohh! Bold text! Wil must be serious!)
. A casual observer could see this page and think it's legit, because there isn't anything on it that clearly identifies it as a fan page, or a parody page, or something like that. For all I know, it's well-intentioned and I'm overreacting, but I just can't take a chance with things like this. At the moment, it appears to be asking for donations to fight Alzheimer's, which is a noble cause, but if I stood back and let anyone claim to be me while asking for money – for anything – it could have really, really bad consequences.
There is a fanpage, but I don't recall what the address is. I don't have anything to do with it, because I don't use Facebook at all, and I trust the former soapboxers who have taken care of it since it was created to maintain it.
I'm fairly sure that this fake page will be removed or at least forced to clarify that it isn't actually me (if the picture – which I think is pretty funny, by the way – didn't give it away) before too long, and I hate having to be a dick about stuff like this, but it's important to me that my identity (actual and professional) is protected.
Now, as long as I have your attention and I'm talking about Facebook: I think that Facebook is evil, guys. I believe that Facebook is making gazillions of dollars by exploiting its users, and Facebook doesn't give a shit about how its users feel about that. The only reason Facebook has made any changes to their laughable privacy policies recently is because the company was looking at legal action, and was in danger of losing money.
If you're a Facebook user, you should really understand exactly how much of your personal information you're giving up to play those games, and you should know exactly what those developers are doing with it. You should understand that Facebook, as a corporation, doesn't give a shit about your privacy, no matter what their press releases say.
EFF has some important and useful things about all social networks that you should read if you use any of them, but if you're a Facebook user, you should really read How to Get More Privacy From Facebook's New Privacy Controls.
Personally, I think you should delete your Facebook account and wait for Disapora to get going. I know that's unlikely, though, because Facebook has become a useful and convenient way to stay in touch with people you care about. But please, please consider the consequences of trading privacy for convenience, and think about this, from Newsweek:
If you really expect this company to suddenly become trustworthy, you’ve lost your mind. Over the past five years Facebook has repeatedly changed its privacy policy, always in one direction, and every time this happens, the same movie plays out. People complain. Facebook stonewalls, then spins, then pretends to be contrite, then finally walks things back—but only a little.
Whether you use Facebook or not isn't really my business, and I'm not getting all Dad Voice on you if you choose to use it, but I'm alarmed that Facebook is training an entire generation that personal privacy isn't as important as it truly is. If you use Facebook, please protect yourself, and remember that, on the Internet, nobody knows that you're a dog.
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I agree with you about Facebook; I’m not sure it’s wise for people with names-as-a-brand to delete their account because Facebook is, itself, creating “community pages”–and harvesting member’s content from walls etc. to use on the Facebook controlled “community pages.”
There’s a weird thing about laws that sometimes, especially in terms of IP, require you to protect it in order to prevent an assertion of an abandoned asset. IANAL.
My tendency would be to keep an account and lock it down completely. I note, btw, that deleting an account is a multi-step process that takes a bit of effort; FB wants you to deactivate the account, which is not the same.
Facebook isn’t making gazillions of dollars. Its first net-positive year was 2009. They’re barely breaking even offering a free service that millions of people use.
I’m not disagreeing with you that their privacy policy is reprehensible, and that they’re doin’ it wrong. But it IS more complicated than just greedy bastards making gazillions of dollars.
(Also, you don’t want people to be MISLED, yes?)
Just claim it, and never go there again.
Unfortunately, part of my job as a Web communications geek means that I have to play in the Facebook arena — maintaining a page and social media conversation for my company is, simply, part of my livelihood. But it’s probably not a good sign that having to work so extensively with Facebook these days makes me feel somewhat … dirty. Ick.
And in another note, does it strike you as at all ironic that, in order to leave a comment on your blog, one of the proffered methods of validation is to sign in using Facebook authentication?!?
Yay! Thank you for posting this. Everyone looks at me strange when I try to make the same argument, even when I’ve said, almost word for word, what Newsweek said. Then they make excuses and say, “Well, they’re kinda sucky about that sort of thing, but I’m careful about what I put on FB, and besides, it’s the only way I can keep track of my friends and family.” I try to point out that it doesn’t matter what you put on FB — they make deals with other companies and start sharing what you do on OTHER sites, too, not just FB. It seems to fall on deaf ears. I hope this will make people start thinking more seriously about moving off of FB.
Thanks for the advice… DAD. *sheesh* 😉
I agree that Facebook is not making a ton of money, but implementing stricter privacy measure does in fact go against their current business model.
Sometimes I feel like they’re slowly bullying people into paying for their accounts, which I would welcome. I would pay $2.99/mo for stricter privacy controls or pay nothing for looser privacy controls. In that scenario though, it would behoove them to be transparent in what they are doing. In the current scenario, not so much.
Thanks for the EFF link about changing you FB settings; it was worth the price of admission by itself.
Thanks for all you do, btw. Entertaining and educational.
Hah. Yeah, if I could turn that off, I would, but TypePad has an "all or nothing" sort of system for non-TypeKey signins.
@Wil: Well said. Though I’m going to wait for something tangible to appear before I talk up Diaspora at all.
@Lisa Spangenberg: The problem is, people like Wil are user magnets on services like Facebook, and just having an account on there would passively encourage people to sign up just so they can “Fan” Wil. I think Wil’s approach is most appropriate, even considering brand preservation.
Given Facebook’s issues with privacy, I find it…laughable? ironic? idiotic? that one of the people who is running for attorney general actually uses the fact that he is a top legal counsel for Facebook as a reason we should all believe that he has our privacy and protecting our identity foremost in his mind. I don’t say this to start a political war or commentary but perhaps to show how few people “out there” really know what they are getting into when they plug in and log on.
the guys from diaspora tweeted this link: http://www.reclaimprivacy.org/facebook to help manage privacy settings on facebook.
i would love to leave (and am eagerly awaiting diaspora) but there are people i only keep in touch with through facebook. for now, at least, i won’t delete my profile – though i keep a very close watch on what personal information is available on facebook (and to whom).
Apart from the privacy thing, several times Facebook failed to notify me about messages I’d received from friends, with the result that I missed them until it was too late.
http://www.alexcoles.com/why-i-will-delete-my-facebook-account/
What I’ve found funny about the newest change to its privacy policies was that it was really a change in how you manage your settings. By ‘simplifying’ it they hope that everyone will overlook that they still make all new changes public by default. I’m using Facebook, but have really been looking forward to Disapora.
The most important thing to know about the internet is that if you put information out there, someone can find it. Don’t talk about every part of your life unless you’re willing to scream it out to a public place as well.
This is why I made a new Facebook account for my friends and family. I removed all of my personal info from the “game” fb account and people can’t see the info on my new account until they add me as a friend. And even then, if I don’t want them to have my info, I made a group that only allows the bare minimum.
I would def contact FB about that page. Most fan pages state that they are fan pages and endorsed/not endorsed by the celeb. this guy isn’t actively pretending to be you but he’s also not saying “Hey, this isn’t Wil, it’s just a fan page”. Plus the only thing he’s posted are links to donate to his cause. Tis a worthy cause but not the best way to go about getting donations, IMO.
It does appear to just be a fan page. The clue is in the “Like” button at the top, instead of an “Add as Friend” button.
Of course, the fact that the admin of the page only seems to post once a month, linking to the Causes application (reportedly shitty), is an entirely different matter worth at least a small amount of concern.
On the issue of privacy: I’ve never really understood the problem. It’s not like anywhere on the internet is genuinely secure. If you don’t want people to know something, don’t put it on the internet – hey presto, FB’s privacy policies become irrelevant… or am I missing something here?
In any case, having moved to Twitter recently I can see my FB use declining rapidly. Pretty much the only reason I’m still there and not purely on twitter is that my friends are all there, and reluctant to move with me =/
Here’s Facebook’s “delete my account” page: http://www.facebook.com/help/contact.php?show_form=delete_account
I deactivated my account a little over a year ago, and it wasn’t until I heard about Delete Your Facebook Account Day (or whatever) that I finally found out that there was a way to actually delete it.
It is getting rather creepy.. scary too.. I have mine locked down (probably could do more though, will have to check your links out) and I have kept my privacy configuration and not allowed them to switch over to that new way.
I don’t play the games or anything. I post some stuff now and then but mostly I track my family and friends.
Well, Facebook may not be making money, but it’s founder sure is. http://blogs.forbes.com/velocity/2010/03/10/mark-zuckerberg-richer-than-ever-with-an-estimated-4-billion/
I agree with you, but really the concept should be pretty simple. If you don’t want something public, don’t put it on FB… this same generalization should pretty much go for anything online… it’s online – which by it’s very definition, is public
I laugh out loud every single time I see that commercial … then I'm grateful it isn't one of the GOP primary commercials that can all be distilled to some variation of, "The other candidate CLAIMS to be batshit insane, but *I* am the REAL batshit insane candidate in this race!"
I hate political advertising so much, and thanks to Citizens United, it's only going to get worse.
That FB profile picture is SOOOO photoshoped from the picture of you in the jeanjacket..isn’t it?
Funny you should mention the Facebook / dogs connection – that occurred to me too not long ago:
And you’re right about the use and convenience of Facebook as a way of staying in touch. Facebook knows this all too well… to the point that, when you try to quit, they tell you your friends will know longer be able to keep in touch with you. And they underscore the point with pictures of several of your friends, each one captioned “(person’s name) will miss you!” (Marshall Kirkpatrick wrote about this here:
The real test for Facebook will come they roll out some new privacy breaking feature as opt-in or opt-out. They talk lots about becoming more in tune with what their users want, but we’ll see if they really mean it next time. I’m not hopeful: How much different than the whole Beacon fiasco was this latest one?
I’m with Squall_liore, I wish I could get (or find) more of my friends on Twitter as a holdover until Diasopra gets going.
I have a convenient and excellent way to make sure that I am not exploited in any way by facebook: I don’t share anything with them that I wouldn’t share on a 100% public forum.
I appreciate the fact that I can limit who sees stuff to people that I choose, but I am under no illusion that clever and/or devious people can’t see it.
So I choose to use it as a method for keeping in touch with people, but I don’t put anything on there that I care can be taken and used, etc…
Do I ultimately really care if an advertiser knows my opinions about Iron Man 2 that I just saw last weekend? No, not really. If anything that helps me out…if I said it sucked, maybe they won’t make a third one. If I said it was awesome, maybe they WILL make a third one (protip: Go see Iron Man 2, it was awesome).
Privacy is incredibly important. There needs to be a service out there that competes with facebook to really improve privacy. Maybe if such a thing does come about I will use it, but for now I am content to use facebook. As long as you know the score and are happy with the price you’re paying, you shouldn’t be afraid to use it either, but for some people that isn’t good enough, and that’s totally cool. Some people need a gaurantee of privacy that you’ll just never get from Facebook.
I hope that the diaspora project works out. It sounds really cool but I am skeptical that it will really be able to draw in the facebook crowd that has become addicted to farmville and mafia wars.
The people who need to heed the warning about being careful with Facebook are likely not the people who read your blog. Alas!
I personally like Facebook because it keeps me in touch with family and friends. For the ones I don’t know quite so well, they are on a filter that see almost nothing. I love using those filters. 😉
my news feed is full of farmville 🙁
I would, pretty please, like you to fly up here and clean off my desk and monitor now since my reaction to that picture was to spray the whole shebang with the drink of soda I had just taken as I clicked on that link and then laugh until I fell off my chair. Really dude, some warning! Please! 🙂
I totally agree with you about FB. It’s ever hard to be sure if the account is really the person who says it is. And there so many more sites like facebook and every person around seems to be in another and every of this sites send me invitations to join them (I think the last half of a year I get five to seven invitations from some friends).
But also I found it very interesting to meet new people, to make new friends and that’s much more easier over Facebook than over Twitter, because of the groups you can join. I live in Germany and I had no other Star Trek Fans around me. Now I know some and I don’t feel so beeing diffrent.
But I knew about the dangerous in the World Wide Web so I (hope I) am very carefully.
It’s ok that you hate and don’t want to use Facebook. I get that, and agree with your reasoning. Their constant privacy BS is indeed BS.
HOWEVER, considering your place in our lives as a writer/actor/sci-fi demigod shouldn’t you set up your “official” page, even if you never go there again to post anything? That, to me, makes the most sense. It stakes your claim so that people that are looking, can find you. I know that I looked for you, and not finding anything “official” put my “Like” stamp on something with your name just so my friends would know that I’m a fan of yours. Shoot, put a blurb up that you hate facebook, and why, so everyone knows you won’t be there posting all of the time. It’s also a great way to get word out about your upcoming appearances on TV and in person.
Also, there’s a cool way for everyone to easily check their privacy settings and find out how much of themselves they are giving away to the masses. http://www.ReclaimPrivacy.org/
That’s my $0.05!
Thanks for the reminder.
Agreed — never post something online unless it’s okay for everyone, including potential employers, to see.
I’d object to them pretending to be you, even if there’s some technical detail that makes it a fan page rather than your page.
I doubt the charity he’s promoting actually gives to the cause it claims. Reputable charities don’t rely on FaceBook applications.
Yeah I don't see it when I go to Facebook itself. But I also use Facebook on my BlackBerry and at the moment it defaults to News Feed and you cannot filter. I mostly use my BlackBerry too so I see it all anyway.
"Power corrupts. Absolute power is pretty neat though."
Thanks for posting the links to the articles, they were highly informative, especially the one that went step by step through how to lock down your page. I already had mine locked down as much as I could, but I know people like my mom and most of the friends she has on facebook that are from her generation couldn’t have figured out how to do the whole opting out process on their own, so I sent them the links too. I think it is important to give them the option to opt out, even if they choose not to do it.
as for using facebook, I agree that it could be classified as a “necessary evil”. There are some people that I just can’t get a-hold of any other way, that are simply a message away on facebook. You just have to make sure to take everything out there with a grain of salt, and not get caught up in schemes. Good luck to everyone.
To start this comment on the right foot, I signed in with Facebook to TypePad.
I find your opposition to Facebook confusing for a man that has a Twitter account and a blog. Both have a worse privacy policy than Facebook. Every man, woman, child and dog on the Internet can read every single thing you post to both of them.
Facebook is a blog that is easily linked to other blogs (your friends). If you don’t want the world to know about it, don’t put it on Facebook. If you only put into Facebook the same things your put into your blog, your privacy is not ruined any more than it was before.
For people that don’t have 2 million followers, Facebook is a much easier blog to manage. I can put something on Facebook and expect my friends to see it. I had a blog, and only spammers read it.
To me, the issue isn’t Facebook, it is the millions of people that think posting things in clear text to a website that they don’t control is secure. We have a Eternal September issue here, not a evil company issue. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_September
I recently quit Facebook over privacy and scumbag concerns, and am also waiting for Diaspora. It became too creepy, and though I miss my friends (who are not on twitter) I feel that it is an issue of integrity. I’ve got some, they do not.
I agree completely with what you’ve just said about Facebook. It’s a total joke to think that you’re keeping in touch with your friends and family by checking their silly little status updates and pleas about Farmville produce.
I left Facebook earlier this year and you know what? It felt really good.
I still keep in touch with people. There are these weird things out there called phones, oh oh , and an awesome thing call email. (Not to mention LJ, Twitter etc.)
Do I miss Facebook? Let me think… do I miss having my computer hacked, invaded by viruses and have random men send me the most inappropriate pictures of themselves as a way of saying hi? Nope.
Sorry, I went on a mini rant there and all I really wanted to say was I agree with you.
Hi Wil. I’m not going to give the address here, but I’m one of the admins for the Fans of Wil Wheaton Facebook page, where it clearly states it’s a fan page and isn’t set up to pretend to be your official page (unlike the other one). We still maintain it, and we don’t ask for contributions or allow spam on there. I will be happy to contact FB and ask them to remove the other page since it makes it seem it’s masquerading as you. But I suppose you’ve already done that! Want you to know we hold you in the highest regard and will always endeavor to do right by you, Wil.
I quit FB a week ago. I just grew tired of being ever vigilant of what has changed now.
And anyway, FB today is not the FB I joined a few years ago. And you truly don’t own your info on FB. Getting messages out of its inbox is a copy/paste job…
Your Fan page is a bit weird. Someone’s trying to give the impression to others that you’re telling them to donate.
Urge to build something better growing … *construction noises*
I find it interesting that you don’t use Facebook because of privacy concerns. You share more with the general public on your blog than I share with Facebook. Of course you don’t have privacy issues with TypePad because you know up front that everything is public.
However, not all of us want to live in the spotlight. Facebook gives us a chance to share things with friends at a level we’re comfortable with. And they’ve made it so easy that an unprecedented number of people are using it and reconnecting with old friends that would otherwise be out of touch.
I am frustrated with their “business practices” as well, but until a practical replacement comes along, I am going to continue using them. Carefully.
The problem with this fan page though, is that it’s not about Wil’s fans, or Wil. It is using his likeness and name in order to call attention to a cause that he may or may not be affiliated with. If someone used your name and picture to promote a cause, wouldn’t you want your fans to know if it’s authentic? That’s all that’s being done here. Wil is letting us know it has nothing to do with him.
i have a facebook and yes it is great for keeping in touch with people but on a young girl was murdered in the uk by someone she met online pretending to be a seventeen year old boy. can totally see why people are concerned but if they protect themselves and have the common sense not to accept just anyone i dont see a problem 🙂
Thanks for the trust, Wil! 😀
Here’s the link to your Facebook fan page, which is unfortunately not a fan page because it was created way before Fan Pages existed and Facebook, in its infinite wisdom, did not create an easy way to transfer the information.
I am not a Facebook user. I was reluctant to open a MySpace account, and I’ve seen my use of it decline greatly over time. It doesn’t contain any personal information; the name is a pseudonym, with 90210 as the location. I advise my Real Life friends of the fake name, but others only know me by that name.
I agree, there is no real security on the internet. Only put information out there that you are prepared for the world to know. YOU are your only online protection.
And Wil, I think Facebook should delete the bogus account automatically upon your request. I mean, impersonation *is* a crime, right? 🙂
Moderation in everything and everything in moderation.
Facebook is just a tool, like Twitter, and the key is to not put something on the internet that you wouldn’t want your next door neighbor to know. Privacy rules or not, if you upload a picture to Facebook or to twitter or to Flickr, it’s out there and anyone can get it.
The Key is, of course, to realize what info you are putting out there and only put out what you want others to know.
Unfortunately, the downside being that by not using the tools available to us, we are limited in who we can reach out and touch/connect with.
To be honest, you could create a Facebook page with the exact same limited info that is on twitter, Link it to your Twitter account, and then never go there again. It would update from Twitter and live on it’s own.
If you think that *anything* about you is private, then read this article http://www.f-secure.com/weblog/archives/00001958.html . Your information — Facebook, Twitter, anything — is not private. Even if you don’t ever use a computer.
It’s a picture of Wil, in his spaceman uniform, with extra facial hair. This must be the Hwil Hweaton I’ve been hearing so much about, the one who had all that sincere geek cred before he sold out and made all those Hollywood movies.
I have to agree with Factoid. The basic function of Facebook is not private: Any information you’re putting up there is a mass broadcast to hundreds of “friends” (by which I mean, acquaintances).
It should also be noted that the current anti-Facebook campaign is filled with radical inaccuracies and hysteria.
It’s kind of like Wikipedia: When used properly it teaches you the importance of always verifying and cross-checking your sources (and makes it easy to do so). In the case of Facebook, it’s teaching you that posting things on a public website with the expectation that they won’t be public is a bad idea.
I’ve not deleted my FB account, but I’ve removed pretty much everything from it except for my e-mail, gender, relationship status, and some pictures. No location, no “likes”, no groups, no specifics. I’m basically using it as a Flickr/Twitter/eVite combo deal at this point, and nothing more. I’m too nervous about using it for anything further than that.
Wil might be doing just that, but I’m sure he’s aware that something like this doesn’t stop with him. The page is being semi-flooded now with calls for closure of the page, yelling IMPOSTER! IMPOSTER!
If it is indeed someone using Wil’s image and name purely to ensnare or attract people to their cause (good or bad), then of course it should be taken down.
However, if it is, like most fan pages on Facebook, simply a page someone created so that their news feed (and that of others) could say “$n likes Wil Wheaton”, that has been forgotten or neglected by it’s creator, then a more reasonable and polite tactic should be employed. Not by Wil, as you say he’s merely pointed it out, but by the rage-fuelled influx of posters there now.
Really though, while I can understand it from people who don’t use Facebook, I just can’t see how a regular facebook user could still be under the delusion that the fan pages they join have anything to do with the people or groups they’re named for. Very few do, and those that do clearly state it.
No one knows that as they are a privately held corporation. Whatever they say their revenues are cannot be trusted without seeing the books to see what they are calling losses.