Comments on: Facebook starts suggesting “People You May Know”

By: George Eckert

George Eckert — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 02:15:43 +0000

It must be that I’m in these people’s email address book and they searched for friends using it. Some are people I knew years ago but had no common friends, school, employment, city or anything, yet Facebook suggested them from out of the blue. Yet people I try to find and reconnect with I can’t find to save my life. And if I get one more Farmville request I’m gonna scream.

By: a "people you may know" guy?

a "people you may know" guy? — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 11:52:29 +0000

They can just scan the browser history and watch for any names, maybe correlated to social network sites, especially Facebook sites.

check http://whattheinternetknowsaboutyou.com/docs/overview.html

If you clear the browser cache, or even use another computer, they could have saved these informations before and remember your IP address if it’s not dynamic.

They can do the same to your friend’s computer…

I’m glad that there is this “pymk” function. It definately prevented me from giving them any further information (voluntarily).

By: 0427635

0427635 — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 05:50:04 +0000

In addition…Facebook is stalking/tracking YOU too.
Even if you’ve never joined, people you’ve known have. People who were trusting and stupid enough to give their personal information and photographs over to the facebook surveillance database.
See the above comment by “people you may know guy”
Facebook had tracked his activity at google.
Like I said, they are like a weird cyber-KGB stalking YOU through internet activity.
They are absolutely trampling on MY 4th ammendment
rights since i did not give them permission to digitally snoop and form a profile of me
which they obviously have by profiling me. A non-facebook-user. with “people I may know”.

By: 0427635

0427635 — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 05:39:32 +0000

Just one more thing…Facebook is stalking/tracking YOU too.
Even if you’ve never joined, people you’ve known have. People who were trusting and stupid enough to give their personal information and photographs over to the facebook surveillance database.
I would not doubt that facebook is sharing peoples’information with other databases as well.
See the above comment by “people you may know guy”
Facebook had tracked his activity at google.

By: 0427635

0427635 — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 05:19:04 +0000

I have never joined Facebook.
I recently received an unsolicited email to join.
It suggested “people I may know” and it got 6 out of 8 correct. Now, I have never joined yet facebook knows who my friends are or have been
One suggested “friend” I haven’t seen in 7 years, yet there he was.
HOW and WHY the hell does facebook know who i’ve met?
Can anyone say Big Brother? social surveillance
and intelligence gathering.
I despise facebook. It’s like having a weird high tech form of secret police/stasi in our society. There has always been an agenda behind it.

By: a "people you may know" guy?

a "people you may know" guy? — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 10:41:17 +0000

I never had a facebook account. All I did before was using google and found some people at FB and looked at their profile.
When I created a facebook account, I used an e-mail adress noone of my friend knows, because I don’t use it for any private e-mails. I typed my name in a way that the search engine didn’t find me typing my name in the usual way. I checked this myself and it worked like I wanted. I didn’t give FB any other information than name, birth date and e-mail.
When I logged in for the first and only time, there were many “people I may know”. Those were the people I found at google and their friends.
I disabled my accout after a few hours because I absolutely didn’t like that “people you may know” feature. I guess I showed up at all those people who were in my list… But I didn’t ask anyone about that.

By: Genevieve

Genevieve — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 06:42:04 +0000

Funny I should come across this forum. I was doing some research and trying to dig up the formula Facebook uses for the people you may know feature. I found something from one of FB’s developers who said the feature is based around your current friend’s list, people they know, and your school and employment history, (IE people you work or go to school with.) I find it interesting that FB doesn’t release all of the details on how they compile the list. There’s someone who keeps appearing on my may know list that I do in fact know, but who I’m certain shares none of my friends and who’s never worked or gone to school with me. . . So if what You can’t fool me Facebook is saying is true, that FB adds a person because they’ve viewed your profile. . . It’s fascinating, and yet, how do they know? Is her name just a random connection that Facebook made, no different than how it determines other people’s, or does it have some access to information you yourself don’t even know exists?

By: Budroski

Budroski — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 23:25:40 +0000

This SUCKS to the Max. I know that this is supposed to be a social network. Well, first off = I’m not social!!! I have only a few close friends, if you don’t know if you are one of my friends = Your NOT!! So don’t offer to find me any!!!!

By: C

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 17:37:05 +0000

But you did tell them your e-mail address… Maybe they matched that info with what they had in the “pymk”’s addressbooks. Although i am curious on how they REALLY do it.

By: Vincent Le Pes

Vincent Le Pes — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 01:38:34 +0000

I am also very creeped out…I only just signed up for Facebook and it already knows who I know? How? I didn’t give it any access to my other online accounts from which to scrape information. I didn’t give it any personal information yet, except my name. I have added no friends yet for it to base the connections from. This feels very wrong and invasive, and I think Facebook should start telling people where they are getting this information from.