Facebook Says Your Email Is @Facebook 346
beaverdownunder writes "Facebook has been silently changing users' default e-mail addresses to their @facebook.com address in a move that Facebook claims was 'to protect users' and to create 'consistency,' but has been blasted by many bloggers and news outlets as 'Facebook's Lame Attempt To Force Its E-Mail Service On You,' and even characterised the move as a Man-In-The-Middle (MITM) attack on users' private correspondence. From the article: 'Many articles characterized the change as a ham-fisted way for Facebook to push its email system, which it first announced in late 2010. At that time the company said its goal was to integrate conversations across multiple channels of communication — text messages, Facebook chat, email, etc. Facebook seemed surprised by the reaction. 'We basically defaulted to show your Facebook address as we rolled this out, just to keep it consistent for everyone,' said Meredith Chin, Facebook's manager of product communications. 'I'm seeing this whole meme around the idea that it's us pushing for people only to use facebook.com addresses,' Chin said. "That was not our intention. We want people to use whatever's easier for them.''"
Re:There is not even a way to remove it! (Score:5, Informative)
Re:There is not even a way to remove it! (Score:4, Informative)
Yes there is: Click "About" on your profile and scroll down to your email address. Click "Edit" to change them. Click on the circle next to your Facebook email address and change its setting to "Hidden From Timeline". Click on the circle next to your other email addresses and change their settings to "Shown On Timeline". Click the Save button at the bottom of the Edit popup (Don't forget this step).
Likes = Adverts (Score:5, Informative)
I hadn't noticed this but in the last week or so I've noticed the appearance of ads masquerading as 'likes'. I'm getting all sorts of shit in my newsfeed on a regular (i.e. daily basis.) FaceBitch is definitely going out of its way to piss off users. Thank goodness for Social Fixer.
Re:Why show everybody you use facebook? (Score:3, Informative)
Seriously A facebook email address says one thing about you , you use facebook. So when your boss see's it and sticks in a friend request how do you tactfully say never in a million years.
Personally, I would do it by declining the request. It isn't hard. If that isn't option because he's a scumbag, accept and add him to a group with the same privileges as non-friends.
And what-do-you-know, it's PUBLIC. (Score:5, Informative)
I just checked my own Facebook info page and discovered that while my gmail address was still "Friends/not shown on timeline," my new Facebook address is "Friends/shown on timeline." Depending on exactly is meant by that last bit, it could explain why I'm suddenly getting about double the spam in my Gmail account that I was getting a month ago. (I get email notifications from Facebook sent to me Gmail account, as I suspect most people do.) Thank goodness for good spam filters...
There's a good reason why I ratchet-down my email address' availability on web pages, and apparently Facebook isn't nearly so concerned (which, of course, comes as no great surprise). I'd be curious to know if someone whose normal address is set to "hidden" now has a non-hidden Facebook address.
Also, the line, "We want people to use whatever's easier for them" has a somewhat different meaning when you're actively making it easier for those looking at a user's info page to see the @facebook address, rather than the one the user intentionally put there. Either the staff is oblivious, or they're being dishonest about their intentions. (Not sure, given their track record with privacy and such...)
Re:There is not even a way to remove it! (Score:5, Informative)
Nobody sees it but everybody knows that given an url https://www.facebook.com/you there is an address at you@facebook.com
The help reads that mail received by that address goes into facebook's messages. That would be good for spammers. I tried sending a mail to myself, still waiting for it to arrive or bounce.
Re:There is not even a way to remove it! (Score:5, Informative)
Re:There is not even a way to remove it! (Score:5, Informative)
At this point I only have a fb id so that I can be invited to events by others.
Some old-timers once told me of a time when you could have friends and get invited to things without needing the services of a corporation that makes its money by knowing and selling every detail of your life, but I can't imagine how it was ever done.
Re:bullshit-o-meter is in the red (Score:4, Informative)
Ironic, considering Mark Z is all about openness.
Zuck: Yeah so if you ever need info about anyone at Harvard
Zuck: Just ask.
Zuck: I have over 4,000 emails, pictures, addresses, SNS
[Redacted Friend's Name]: What? How'd you
Zuck: People just submitted it.
Zuck: I don't know why.
Zuck: They "trust me"
Zuck: Dumb fucks.
Re:There is not even a way to remove it! (Score:5, Informative)
My special hate:
Now I see status updates of pages liked by my friends, and the only way to get rid of them is to unsubscribe from the friend. I've taken to reporting every damn one of these updates that appear on my feed as spam.