What causes some people to be paranoid about Facebook?

[Bradford]

They save everything that you have EVER posted in a massive database that has no government oversight. Even stuff you think you deleted they have saved. It is a private corporation that will always do what is best for itself. There is nothing stopping FB from selling their massive storehouse of user data to anyone who wants it, including to the government. There is no assurance of anything resembling privacy on the site, and they have a history of making "private" data visible to the "public" without informing users until after the fact (what if you only log in once per month?) There is just too much potential for abuse of this information. And FB has a well-documented history of handling this info poorly, without true regard for the privacy of its users (of course they apologize & say they care after they fuck up, but only because saying that is good for business).

If that is too vague for you, you obviously aren't keeping in mind the potential impact of unexpected events. The government might not want FB's info NOW, but what if we get into WW3 and have something akin to the communist paranoia of the 1950s? We already have the Patriot Act & it has been accepted like it is nothing. Anything can happen. Why give anybody all this info?

And the entire model of "social networking" is completely flawed. People got along for thousands of years without having to know what someone they talked to twice during 5th grade ate for lunch. Real friends don't need FB to keep in touch. It is a completely unnecessary device. When you consider the risks noted above, and the fact it is not needed, there is really no reason to expose one's self by giving this company any of your personal info.

Whenever someone doesn't want to be friends with me because they can't find me on FB, or because I'm not willing to hand over oodles of personal info to a shady company, I know I am not losing someone who would be a good friend anyway.