I don’t know, but you know they’re on to you when you start seeing ads for tin foil, or one proclaiming “we’re not eavesdropping, trust us!” right after having a conversation about such speculations. According to my friend, the recent Reply All podcast does a good job covering this question and people’s stories.
I have mixed feelings about Facebook in general. It certainly provides value, but we also trust them with a lot of potentially sensitive information. Another friend was telling me about how an old surname, which she had to fight to have legally removed from her records, randomly started popping up on her Facebook profile. Shades of 1984, specifically the power to revise history…
If I had all the time or money, I would set everyone who wants one up with a blog like this. All the open source technology to replace Facebook (like RSS, WebMention) with a network of websites owned by the individuals they represent already exists. It just takes time or money to set up, whereas you can create a Facebook account in a few minutes.
