So I have made the decision to join Facebook.
I am advised "If you're going to start using Facebook then I recommend using Firefox, with the Facebook container add-in, as the only place you access it from. This massively reduces the extent to which it can track you across the web".
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/fa ... k-tracking
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/facebook-container-prevent-facebook-tracking
Which I do.
Next I generate a password (using my own password generator) and hand it over to " Alternate Password Generator " for five minutes. Not cracked.
I lie just a teeny bit in my application, but not enough to be taken to court, I feel sure …
… and within seconds I have managed to lock myself out of my own account!
Cool!
Now I have to work out how to do text messaging on my smart phone.
Meanwhile I think "Have I previously applied to join Facebook?", and if so, that would have been while I lived in Toronto.
A pop-up on my smart phone shows me the Magic Code which I type into Facebook and in less time than it takes to get your pocket picked professionally in Paris, I am back in their Good face Books.
So what was all that about?
(1) My smart phone appears to be receiving text messages; I must put a stop to that (see how every solution to a problem generates more problems? Every task completed generates two more tasks?)
(2) Have I lost my freedom so much that AI can now satisfy itself that either (a) I am who I said I was back before I forgot that I had/might have applied to join Facebook or (b) that I am a totally different user from way back before I forgot that I had/might have applied to join Facebook.
The Thin Blue Line has appeared on my tab in Firefox and I decide that I don't want to upload a photo as my avatar.
I mean,
?
Then I realize that while I have dozens of acquaintances, I don't have any friends.
So here endeth the lesson.
Tuesday, November 03, 2020
As a diversion I find myself on a page titled "people you may know" or similar.
There are 58 names on the list. How did Facebook know that that was my locker number at the hostel where I boarded back between 1960-1963? Also my towel number, AND my bed-linen number!
I inspect the Facebook page and quickly realize from the number of scantily-clad women that I had better drop into text mode, so a quick Copy-Paste-Copy-Paste via Notebook.exe into Word2003 and I have a table of 58 names, four of which are people I have actually met. The rest of the names are just names, including, and here I quote " Ágatha Cristi".
One of the four is well-known to me, but I didn't realize that he was familiar with English (US) · Français (Canada) · Español · Português (Brasil) · Deutsch. I too am familiar with those languages, and we should have a truly GREAT time next time we meet. I know a bit of Croatian, too, but not to brag about.
There again, I see that I am not on his Friends list, little snob that he is! So I shall not tell him that I am about to greet him with "bom dia!".
Which of course leads us into an interesting Facebook trial. Will Facebook tell him that I have been prowling his Facebook page? If Facebook does blow the whistle on me then I shall hear from Tom, via Facebook, or by phone, or by email.
I am still pondering FaceBook's hesitation at accepting me. Can a slight change in the representation of my name make such a difference? Or is Facebook just using a disgusting algorithm, as in "Chris Greaves of Newfoundland? Perhaps this is the same guy as Christopher Greaves of Etobicoke?".
Within two minutes I have determined that Tom has no Friends, no Events, no Photos, no Sports, no Music (!!!). Clearly not a very interesting person. I shall avoid him in future; boring people are NOT for me.