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Facebook privacy concerns are on the rise, says consumer report

Oversharing and excessive data collection are growing concerns of Facebook users, a US consumer reports has claimed.

PEOPLE ARE INCREASINGLY concerned with their privacy on Facebook, according to a new consumer report.

The Consumer Reports study involved 2,002 online households including 1,340 Facebook users and, extrapolating the results to apply them to Facebook’s 188 million North American users, it identified the main causes for concern as:

  • Oversharing: a total of 4.8 million users have posted their plans for the day on the site – a behaviour that some say raises the risk of burglary
  • Not using privacy controls: over a quarter of users share their wall posts with an audience wider than their friends, according to the study – and 13 million users have never set privacy controls
  • Data collection: the site tracks users’ activity both on and off the site and even though Facebook insist it do not sell user information to advertisers, it has admitted that it plans to release more of the data it has collected on users – like IP addresses and facial recognition patterns
  • Harassment: there has been an increase in the number of users reporting a online harassment or hacking incidents – cyberbullying is also on the rise, according to the report

It seems that users concerned about their privacy are also trying to run rings around Facebook, with 25 per cent saying that they had falsified their information in order to protect their identity.

Read: Facebook share price values social network at up to $96 billion

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14 Comments
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    Mute Padhraic McLaughlin
    Favourite Padhraic McLaughlin
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    Jan 14th 2025, 1:19 PM

    I don’t see the issue here. Giving back to society after being jailed for taking something from it. Better than sitting in a cell playing the PlayStation.

    142
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    Mute Padhraic McLaughlin
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    Jan 14th 2025, 1:27 PM

    @Luke Littler: I should’ve clarified, that part of my comment was inferring to the scr0tes in Irish prisons.

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    Mute Michael Reilly
    Favourite Michael Reilly
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    Jan 14th 2025, 2:21 PM

    @Padhraic McLaughlin: Take it easy Padraic – you will have the Irish Council for civil liberties for prisoners and law breakers and that outfit penal reform on ranting for the evening.

    8
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    Mute Gary Kearney
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    Jan 14th 2025, 1:14 PM

    Prisoners being useful to the community that the committed crimes against. A good idea.
    They are trained and when released have new skills to help them stay on the straight and narrow.
    Yu cannot pay them the same but they could be insured in case of serious accidents or worse.
    A lot better than making coffee tables and cake stands like our lot do!

    69
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    Mute Des Hanrahan
    Favourite Des Hanrahan
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    Jan 14th 2025, 1:36 PM

    Cheap prison labour is economically important in the USA and it is not about Rehabilation or Giving Back to the Community. That is PR. It is a big part of why the USA has such a high imcarceration rate.

    43
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    Mute Kieran Fogarty
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    Jan 14th 2025, 2:07 PM

    @Des Hanrahan: the so called ‘Land of the Free’

    6
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    Mute Jack Dermody
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    Jan 14th 2025, 5:20 PM

    @Dave G Doe: Prison is about rehab, not revenge..

    3
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    Mute William Jennings
    Favourite William Jennings
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    Jan 14th 2025, 4:00 PM

    Now this might seem harsh, but I honestly don’t think that they should be getting paid at all. We don’t pay people for community service, why should taxpayers foot the bill for people who have committed even more heinous crimes which required incarceration? The fact that some inmates are getting $30 per day despite possibly being serial abusers or violent murders/robbers just doesn’t sit right with me. Incarceration is not meant to be a reward but a consequence of their actions. Taxpayers are already funding their housing, food, healthcare, and security, why add a paycheque on top of that for work that’s part of their restitution? Work in prison should be seen as part of paying their debt, not as an opportunity to draw a salary funded by the very people they’ve wronged.

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    Mute Fergus O'Donnell
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    Jan 14th 2025, 1:36 PM

    A morally bankrupt country

    16
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    Mute alan dunne
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    Jan 14th 2025, 2:03 PM

    @Fergus O’Donnell: should help with the DEI inclusion targets also !

    12
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    Mute thomas molloy
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    Jan 14th 2025, 2:40 PM

    Activity is part of helping people In institutions cope with waiting to get back on track. Laundries were a standard activity for girls gardening for boys but firefighting is another level.

    12
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    Mute Stephen Wallis
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    Jan 14th 2025, 5:20 PM

    The 13th amendment to the US Constitution is widely taught to have ‘ended’ slavery, but it merely converted it into “convict leasing”, and US prisons need a steady supply of prison labour so the US has one of the highest proportions of its population incarcerated, and all of the work they do is for profit, not for rehabilitation: https://apnews.com/article/prison-to-plate-inmate-labor-investigation-alabama-3b2c7e414c681ba545dc1d0ad30bfaf5 Of course, work placement can be an essential part of prisoner rehabilitation, but that’s not what’s happening in the US.

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    Mute David S
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    Jan 14th 2025, 5:47 PM

    @Stephen Wallis: All work is for profit. Anyone who works for nothing will never be out of work.

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    Mute Chutes
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    Jan 14th 2025, 1:46 PM

    Bodie will get the gal, it’s all gonna be just fine! Don’t look up!

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    Mute Dominic Leleu
    Favourite Dominic Leleu
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    Jan 14th 2025, 4:55 PM

    some things never changed.

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    Mute K H
    Favourite K H
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    Jan 14th 2025, 9:54 PM

    This is what you get when you prioritise paying for wars in foreign lands

    1
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