Is Facebook trying to censor me?

[the stranger]

Last night I was doing some coding on strangersound.com in Firefox (with a clean cache and no cookies) and was testing some links and happened to notice that facebook.com/strangersound spits back a message:

 

 

This content is currently unavailable The page you requested cannot be displayed right now. It may be temporarily unavailable, the link you clicked on may have expired, or you may not have permission to view this page.

 

 

So, I was wondering if I needed to be logged in, but I didn't recall this being the case. When you aren't logged in to Facebook and go to somebody's profile, you get that page with their profile pic and the limited info. (Log out of Facebook to see what I mean when you try the links)

 

Like this:

 

http://facebook.com/zakclaxton

 

or a friend of mine:

 

http://facebook.com/ajklamer

 

Those work fine...

 

But, when you click

 

http://facebook.com/strangersound

 

You get that "content unavailable" page.

 

I also made a up few bogus ones to see what response I get and this page, which is different than the page my url brings back:

 

 

The page you requested was not found. You may have clicked an expired link or mistyped the address. Some web addresses are case sensitive.

 

 

Did I check all my settings? Yes. According to Facebook settings, my url is functioning (as I know it had been for some time).

 

And if I log back in and click my url, it works just fine. Log back out and every one I try works fine but mine.

 

Of course, Facebook and their circular help section provide no solution and no apparent way to contact them or report a bug. The links just send you in circles to right back where you started.

[Coaster]

google is just a front for the NSA. i mean what if the government directly said they have spy satellites that can read the license plates in your driveway in real time? people would freak and revolt. so lets call it google and everyone thinks its a nice service.

 

who knows what the hell facebook really is. i absolutely refuse to even go there at all; my wife and everyone i know dump all their information into that stupid thing and who know when it will bite them in the ass.

 

i'm seriously thinking about moving to a log cabin in the woods with no electricity.........................

[Jeff da Weasel]

Facebook is a data mine. As long as you know that going in and you're okay with it (as I am), then enjoy it.

 

Stranger, I'm too lazy to log out of Facebook to test your theory.

[blue2blue]

Facebook is a data mine. As long as you know that going in and you're okay with it (as I am), then enjoy it. Stranger, I'm too lazy to log out of Facebook to test your theory.

On the first point, in spades. Know your info and share it sparingly.

 

With re being logged in/out on that page, yeah, if I'm logged in (as I am currently in Chrome), your page displays properly. If I'm not logged in (as is the current case in FF), I see the missing content err msg. If I log in, I see the missing content.

 

OTOH, on my own 'personal' URL -- http://www.facebook.com/tkmajor -- I get the normal minimal info when not logged in and the regular display when logged.

[the stranger]

The behavior blue described is how it should be functioning. I'm sure it's just some mixup.

[claveslave]

Speaking of FB, who owns it? Enquiring minds etc.

[the stranger]

It dawned on me last night that I should try just my user id url, instead of the custom url to see what happens:

 

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=834425556

 

I get the same content unavailable message, but like the custum url, if I log in, it works. Same deal as the custom url.

 

Why is Facebook blocking my profile to people who aren't logged into Facebook? What else is being blocked?

[Jeff da Weasel]

Oh Stranger...

 

wRpAANsoG8I

[the stranger]

One of my favorite songs, but can you offer me a reasonable explanation for why my profile is partially blocked?

 

I typed out a long post about my experiences over the last ten years of protest and activism and didn't post it, because of course I expected exactly this response. Sorry that (in your words), you're too lazy to care. Which is bull{censored}, because I know you are a caring person who is anything but lazy.

 

Walk in my shoes for the last ten years and then see how you like being ridiculed.

[the stranger]

 

[Jeff da Weasel]

One of my favorite songs, but can you offer me a reasonable explanation for why my profile is partially blocked?

 

Nope! But see below.

 

Walk in my shoes for the last ten years and then see how you like being ridiculed.

 

No thanks.

 

Here's the thing: Facebook constantly makes purposeful changes that force you to opt out of a program, rather than opt in. They also purposefully make it difficult to find/change these settings. It's a huge matter of controversy, and I'm completely opposed to their policies in that regard.

 

So, in regard to your public profile access, here's the setup:

 

1. Go to Facebook

2. Go to Account (upper right menu)

3. Go to Privacy Settings

4. Go to Applications and Websites -- edit your settings (lower left)

5. Go to Public Search -- Edit Settings (lower right)

 

See if that box is checked, and get back to me.

[paulz]

I was kind of thinking along the same lines - that there may be a security/privacy settings issue.

 

A way to streamline the test might be to just turn off all privacy/security settings and then check

 

 

I couldn't tell you anything specific, I don't use Facebook because it's a datamine

[the stranger]

Here's the thing: Facebook constantly makes purposeful changes that force you to opt out of a program, rather than opt in. They also purposefully make it difficult to find/change these settings. It's a huge matter of controversy, and I'm completely opposed to their policies in that regard. So, in regard to your public profile access, here's the setup: 1. Go to Facebook 2. Go to Account (upper right menu) 3. Go to Privacy Settings 4. Go to Applications and Websites -- edit your settings (lower left) 5. Go to Public Search -- Edit Settings (lower right) See if that box is checked, and get back to me.

 

How in the hell did you find that?! I went through all those pages until I was blue in the face. And I guess my paranoia got the best of me, because it appears that that fixed it.

 

Ironic that most people get mad because of less privacy and I'm bitching about too much. I'm trying to social network, for heaven's sake!

 

Thanks for sorting that out, I knew you weren't too lazy to care. Thanks for reinforcing the "stranger is paranoid" thing, I think I'll go listen to The Kinks now...

 

Some people like to call it "paranoia", I call it heightened awareness. And there is still evil afoot, even if they aren't censoring my profile.

[Coaster]

its not paranoia if people really are trying to get you.

[Jeff da Weasel]

How in the hell did you find that?!

 

As I said, there's no question: Facebook does NOT want you to find that stuff. I do web design (among other things) for my bread and butter, and I know a bit about user interface design. There's no way they were trying to make that easy for you to find. That's purposefully hidden.

 

As to how I found it, I'm a tenacious bastard.

 

Thanks for sorting that out, I knew you weren't too lazy to care. Thanks for reinforcing the "stranger is paranoid" thing, I think I'll go listen to The Kinks now...

 

You are welcome. I never said I was too lazy to care; merely too lazy to sign out of Facebook. I use it for business as well as music promotion and staying in touch with friends, and the less signing in and out I do, the easier my life is.

 

Regarding the paranoia, the main thing to keep in mind is this: 99% of people are so damn unimportant that it's almost completely pointless for anyone else to go after. I'm pretty sure that includes both you and me. Facebook only cares about you as far as they can use you as a marketing demographic. That's why I was pretty sure that they weren't censoring you; they don't care what you do, as long as it's not illegal.

 

And enjoy the Kinks! I always do.

[blue2blue]

See, if the Weasel was really web-savvy, he'd always have at least two browsers open -- one where he's signed in and one where he's not.

 

Seriously, though, it's the only way to check a lot of social media stuff. In fact, sometimes I have to load up all four of my current crop of browsers when I'm testing some Drupal or other social site thing that requires interaction between users.

 

 

I love the Kinks (seen them thrice) but for paranoia, there's only one king of fear and darkness:

 

NZyVZFJGX5g

[the stranger]

[rasputin1963]

The behavior blue described is how it should be functioning. I'm sure it's just some mixup.

 

My take, too.

[Cry Logic]

 

Speaking of FB, who owns it? Enquiring minds etc.

 

 

From the Wikipedia Facebook entry :

 

".... Mark Zuckerberg owns 24% of the company, Accel Partners owns 10%,

Dustin Moskovitz owns 6%, Digital Sky Technologies owns 5%,

Eduardo Saverin owns 5%, Sean Parker owns 4%, Peter Thiel owns 3%,

Greylock Partners and Meritech Capital Partners own between 1 to 2% each,

Microsoft owns 1.3%,Li Ka-shing owns 0.75%,

the Interpublic Group owns less than 0.5%,

a small group of current and former employees and celebrities own less than 1% each,

including Matt Cohler, Jeff Rothschild, California U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer,

Chris Hughes, and Owen Van Natta, while Reid Hoffman and Mark Pincus have

sizable holdings of the company, and the remaining 30% or so are owned by employees,

undisclosed number of celebrities, and outside investors...."

[Beck]

I love facebook, but really hate it!

 

I like the concept, but I've almost shut it down a couple times because I'm a stubborn SOB that doesn't like to feel controlled. Had to count to 10 and sleep on it. I'm still there for now... really nice friends... all of them, but man it's the hardest thing for me to do sometimes... to put up with the changes and control imposed upon us. I'm painfully aware of it, but stick around because of the friendships... some of them new some of them from childhood.

 

I'm thinking it's not going to last much longer at this point, so I'm wondering where we'll all meet up. I've exchanged a lot of info with my friends or I know them from other sites as well. I wouldn't be surprised to wake up one day and it will be gone... just like that!