Is facebook overstepping the mark?

InA

Hi guys!

I'm a newbie to comping and thought I would dip my toe in the water this year as I've been truly inspired by some of your posts and wins on this thread.

I noticed there are quite a lot of facebook competitions but I really didn't fancy clogging up my facebook feed / likes with comping related stuff as some of my real-life friends would no doubt think I'd developed an unhealthy comping obsession or some very unusual interests. I also didn't want to waste time having to check privacy settings each time I posted.

So I set up a separate account, using the same (my real) name (but only added my OH as a friend and set all the privacy settings that I could find to "only me").

When I tried to log in, I was faced with a message telling me that I was suspected of not using my real name.

According to facebook, I would need to go through their security procedure in order to prove that I was who I said I was. The security procedure was basically nothing more than an attempt to get my phone number. It also told me that entering my phone number would publish it on my timeline, but "reassured" me that I would be able to control who could see it.

However I have only ever given out my number to family, friends, colleagues and other trusted people or organisations who need it to get in touch with me. I highlight the word "trust" because facebook is notoriously untrustworthy when it comes to privacy and handing your data over to third parties without your knowledge / express consent. Under no circumstances would I hand over my phone number to a social networking site.

So I clicked on the only other option available which was "help". I was gratified to find a help category which stated, "I can't use my phone number to verify my account".

However, facebook's response to this was:

If you're unable to verify your account using a mobile phone number, you can submit a request to verify your account using government-issued ID.

Is this some kind of joke! Who on earth do facebook think they are? How ludicrous is the idea that you can face passport or driving licence checks just to use a social networking site.

At the end of the day, Facebook is a business. It bombards us with advertising whenever we visit the site. All major retailers now use it as a platform to reach out to customers (which facebook can also cash in on as a result of interests based advertising), but what does it intend to do with our phone numbers, passports or driving licences?

Perhaps facebook has come to regard the NSA as an additional revenue stream? Does facebook even have the infrastructure / network security in place to store the highly sensitive personal information that they are now collating on their systems?

Will facebook pay compensation to any victim of identity fraud if it was caused by a security breach or vulnerability on their side? What kind of vetting procedures do facebook employees have to go through to ensure that our information is handled by people we can trust?

After suffering the indignity of having a social network question my identity I think I would rather just delete my accounts.

Facebook is turning into the snotty kid who sneaks around, spies on other kids and then does a deal with the school bully to pass on all the gossip. It's a slippery slope and I hope people and retailers wake up and smell the coffee. Twitter is far superior by comparison.

ness13

They do all this because it's against Facebook's rules to have more than one account. Some people on here have had accounts closed for that very reason.
As for using your mobile phone number to verify your account, they are correct, it can be set up in such a way that no-one else can see it (I've checked!).

As for the government-issued ID, some competition providers ask for the same before they send out the prize!

If you're this worried about identity-theft or the general security of your personal details then, alas, comping may not be the ideal hobby, as many, many sites ask for your details, including phone number, and, although this site is very good for flagging up any potential risks, we can't be certain how every one will handle our personal data. Having said that, I've been comping for 20 years, online for about 15 and I've never had any problems.

Good luck with your comping!

serenity2012

I agree. You've come up against this because you've set up a second facebook account. You can only have one. Facebook have many idiotic rules but this isn't one of them.

martinthebandit

Or you could just but a payg sim with £10 credit on it and use that for Facebook (and competitions)

snakepilsen

What was it Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg called users who trust him ?

System

Oh Facebook have some rather silly rules. They remove photos of naked people yet let others post photos of animal cruelty, dead bodies and other weird, offensive content without fluttering an eye lid. I complained once about a photo of a dead baby being shared (it was an awful photo) - you know what they said to me ''you should contact the sharer and tell them the photo offends you and ask them to remove it''. However, my stepmum posted a photo of my dad in a mankini and that was removed!!! They make me so angry :mad::mad::mad:

Sorry, I ended up going off on a little rant there!! xx