Face Book

[Andrea S]

Scary

Can FB access names in someone's mobile phone.

Last week I booked a holiday on my phone for a friend and her partner. That is the only time his name has been mentioned .

I have just received a message saying I have been accepted as a friend by someone with the same name as my friends partner. Neither of them are on FB and this message has come from miles away and there is no connection to him whatsoever.

I don't want to come off FB as it gives me frequent contact with my family in America but I find this very uncomfortable.

[david63]

Can FB access names in someone's mobile phone.

Quite probably - as they can access personal data from most other sources and they also track who/where you visit on FB.

All of this, together with their lack of security, is why I will not use FB.

Interestingly I was reading an article a few weeks ago that was saying that FB has now "peaked" and people are loosing interest in it and are moving away from it.

[Dark Knight]

Andrea
tighten up you privacy settings, to the top level so only your friends can see you posts, it cuts down on a lot of this rubbish, also turn of the thing that tells people where you are

[Andrea S]

DK , Thank you. I just don't see wrong in anything until weird things happen.

[Andrea S]

David, I have never used FB to make general statements like a lot of people do. It enables me to see what things family and friends put on but I do often comment on their posts.

What has made me uncomfortable about this is that I also used my friends card details to book her flights. It all seemed too much of a coincidence with never using his name before.

[barney]

They are watching your every move Andrea.

A modern phone is simply a tracking device that allows you to make calls.

As for Facebook. Big brother is well and truely here to stay.
What amazes me is the information that folk volunteer.

I've seen The Terminator. I know how it all ends

[Andrea S]

Thanks Barney, I don't think I have knowingly put anything for others to see but I do use my I phone for pretty much everything that can be done on a computer. I only use secure sites so thought I was ok.

Good job I don't like films I probably would hide myself away.

[cornmillgirl]

Interestingly I was reading an article a few weeks ago that was saying that FB has now "peaked" and people are loosing interest in it and are moving away from it.[/quote]

I am one of those who have lost interest in Facebook not that I ever really post ever, but keep in touch with people like the OP. I like Twitte
much better.

[Frank Manning]

You do have to be careful, and dont put up anything compromising your own security. I never access it via a mobile phone or a wireless connection, and I never access my bank account via a wireless connection either. Criminals are becoming more and more high tech.

[david63]

... and I never access my bank account via a wireless connection either. Criminals are becoming more and more high tech.

Whilst it is technically possible to access data via a wi-fi connection it is highly unlikely that anyone will try to do this in a domestic environment.

Firstly in order to do so they would need to be parked outside your house, if not in your drive, as domestic signals are not that strong. Then they would have to be accessing your data at the precise time that you were logging on to your bank. It would be a lot easier, if you knew what you were doing, to access the bank from further down the chain as you would have access to multiple accounts (assuming that the bank security was so lax that they could get in).

I would agree with you about accessing secure data/sites from a public wi-fi connection and even more so from a mobile network. Having said that with the levels of security that most banks have I doubt that anyone would actually be able to access your account via that route when there are far easier ways to do it (card/pin/security numbers)

I appreciate Frank that you have been the victim of card fraud (as have I) and that it has made you more suspicious of these activities.

[Andrea S]

David63, Your last post is very reassuring. I think I have done what others have suggested about privacy settings. This same name friends acceptance could be pure coincidence but after my card details had been used fraudulently on 2 occasions it worried me.
Naive people like myself using sophisticated systems they don't understand will always be at risk.