Facebook!

Hello, does anyone use facebook? (I find I use it more than email these days, and am looking for a Russian pen pal).

www.facebook.com

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Originally Posted by Caroline

Hello, does anyone use facebook? (I find I use it more than email these days, and am looking for a Russian pen pal).

www.facebook.com

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It's more popular to use vkontakte.ru in Russia. But you know there are some rumors that former KGB uses it for spying over the internet users, thus be careful... :)))

Yeah, if you want to find someone for penpalling, it`s better to take advantage of (Spam. L.); it`'ll be total immersion into the Russian language. If you've got any questions on the issue, don`t hesistate to ask.

I made a profile, but I don't know anyone!

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Originally Posted by Rtyom

Yeah, if you want to find someone for penpalling, it`s better to take advantage of (Spam. L.); it`'ll be total immersion into the Russian language.

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They have an English interface, too. Don't know exactly since when, my account switched to it automatically a couple of days ago. :(

Facebook is now also available in Russian, by the way.

Caroline, I sent you a PM.

Yes, I know... I needed my archeology hat on to dig up this old thread here... HOWEVER, this article from the New York Times was rather interesting and I thought it worth passing on in the event that FaceBook has become more popular since this thread was last dusted off.

I for one am what is termed a "Lurker" on Facebook; however, I have a relative who does these quizzes about every 30 seconds. After reading this article, I have now updated my privacy settings!!!

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Originally Posted by What Facebook Quizzes Know About You

August 27, 2009
By SARAH PEREZ of ReadWriteWeb

The Northern California chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has put together a campaign to raise awareness of privacy issues surrounding Facebook applications, in particular quizzes. According to this group, the millions of Facebook users taking quizzes are revealing far more personal information to application developers than they are aware of. This is mostly due to the fact that Facebook's default privacy settings allow access to all your profile information whether or not your profile is set to "private." Even worse, the ACLU reports that even if you shun quizzes yourself, your profile info is revealed when one of your friends takes a quiz. Want to see how bad the problem is? Just take the ACLU's Facebook Quiz and prepared to be shocked.

As any regular Facebook user knows, quizzes are some of the most popular applications in use on the social network. Every day, our News Feeds are filled with everything from the latest variation on the "5 Things" theme to the "What (insert popular movie title) character are you?" and more. But these seemingly innocuous time wasters could have dangerous privacy implications if they ended up being distributed by malicious app developers who want access to Facebook's treasure trove of personal data.

The Danger of Quizzes

With each question in the ACLU's Privacy Quiz, you're not only told what information a quiz author can see - you're shown. For example, after answering the first question, you learn that almost everything on your profile, even if you use privacy setting to limit access, is available to the quiz. Then, a graphic is shown which reveals select information retrieved from your profile including hometown, groups you belong to, events attended, favorite books, and more.

The second question is even more disturbing. It informs you that everything on your profile is made available to the developers when your friends take a quiz. To drive this point home, the ACLU's Quiz loads up information pulled from your friends' profiles and displays that data below the answer for your perusal. Here, information on your friends is shown including hometowns, favorite books, political views, networks, birthdays, number of wall posts, and even personal photos. Thanks to the quiz, all that info which you can see on your friends' profiles is now available to the quiz author, too.

Lest you think your info is safe because somewhere, somehow Facebook is looking out for you, the third question shatters any illusions you may have about that, too. According to the answer to this quiz question, not only do Facebook's default privacy settings do nothing to prevent application developers from scouring your information, Facebook also doesn't screen developers for trustworthiness nor to they require the developer comply with a privacy policy (something we've mentioned before). It's also noted that Facebook does not use any technical measures to limit how developers can collect and use personal information. Says Chris Conley, a technology fellow with the ACLU, it's difficult to know how developers use this data, which could, in theory, be collected and sold for marketing and advertising campaigns.

Finally, the last question prompts you to take action. When the quiz asks you what you should do, the correct answer is: "demand the right to control my information without sacrificing the right to use new technology." To get the word out there, the ACLU suggests you update your privacy settings, share their quiz on Facebook, and sign their online petition.

Is This True?

The nature of the quiz makes it sounds a bit like fear-mongering, especially with statements like this: "Once details about your personal life are collected by a quiz developer, who knows where they could end up or how they could be used. Shared? Sold? Turned over to the government?" However, outside of these overly dramatic tactics, the claims made by the ACLU are true. According to CNET, Facebook doesn't even deny the fact that quiz developers have access to this sort of information. The company does point out that users can limit how much information applications (including friends' applications) can see by tweaking their privacy settings.

Note: To do this yourself, go to Settings -> Privacy Settings -> Applications. From there, you can uncheck the boxes next to the items which you don't want apps to have access to.

Still, the ACLU suggests that access to personal information such as this be opt-in rather than opt-out, as it is now. Facebook spokesman Barry Schnitt says the company "generally agrees" with the ACLU's recommendations and notes that the social network recently disabled hundreds of applications that were inconsistent with Facebook Platform policies. He also mentions the company has been working with the Canadian Privacy Commissioner, Jennifer Stoddart, to improve user data controls on Platform.

This is just one of the concerns that will be addressed later today when Stoddart announces the agreement that has been reached between her country and the social network in terms of privacy protocols. Stoddart ruled last month that Facebook had 30 days to come up with a plan to comply with Canada's Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act or face court action.

Copyright 2009 ReadWriteWeb. All Rights Reserved.

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I tried registered to (Spam. L.) and i dont have a phone number to put in! lol because it isnt a Russian phone
and my international phone doesnt work in the USA lol

Would rather use the more steamlined Facebook than Russian's Вконтакте. Interface seems clunky and the features don't work half the time. :wacko:

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Originally Posted by postmazter

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Originally Posted by Caroline

Hello, does anyone use facebook? (I find I use it more than email these days, and am looking for a Russian pen pal).

http://www.facebook.com

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It's more popular to use (Spam deleted. L.) in Russia. But you know there are some rumors that former KGB uses it for spying over the internet users, thus be careful... :)))

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Ha-ha-ha
They do not know than to borrow :lol:

hei, gues. there's one more popular site in Russia to make friends on. it is called www.odnoklassniki.ru. you're wellcome))) but it is payfull to register in (or on. i don't know how to say it correct). :flazhok:

Caroline -

If you want to find pen pals, I recommend registering and using livemocha.com. It's a language learning site and so far it's been a great place to find people to chat and skype with. It's free too.

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Originally Posted by noheat

Caroline -

If you want to find pen pals, I recommend registering and using livemocha.com. It's a language learning site and so far it's been a great place to find people to chat and skype with. It's free too.

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Yeah, it's "free", but they suggest that you сan upgrade "for better results".

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Originally Posted by NuBoseTHX

I tried registered to (Spam deleted. L.) and i dont have a phone number to put in! lol because it isnt a Russian phone
and my international phone doesnt work in the USA lol

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(Spam deleted. L.)
your number should look like: +[code of country][area code][number]
send me a PM if it doesnt work

(Spam deleted. L.) spam is flooding ICQ... =@

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Originally Posted by Lampada

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Originally Posted by noheat

Caroline -

If you want to find pen pals, I recommend registering and using livemocha.com. It's a language learning site and so far it's been a great place to find people to chat and skype with. It's free too.

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Yeah, it's "free", but they suggest that you сan upgrade "for better results".

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I guess so for the lessons maybe but the people finder works just fine for me.

I am on (Spam deleted. L.) and don't seem to have any problems except that they recently did something and now my surname in latin (the way I normally use it - I'm American) is spelled wrong. But the Russian version is correct.