I Want to Improve the Experience Project
Get The Facts--Privacy, Sharing, Search Engines & Facebook
By:
EPArsineh
Written on November 10th, 2010
A number of stories have recently been shared in this group and others about privacy and anonymity concerns. I'm glad these concerns are being shared because I'm pretty sure if it's bothering you, it's bothering other members too, and I want to clear things up and get everyone on one page.
There have been a lot of scary rumors floating around, so it's important that everyone get the FACTS.
-Search Engines-
Like anything posted publicly online, stories posted in groups may get seen by people who are not logged in, which includes search engines. So if you search for a topic like 'army wives', a group or story from EP may show up in the results. This has been the case since the first day of EP, and it is why we always say that you should never post anything in a public story that could jeopardize your anonymity if someone found it (details like real names, phone numbers, addresses, etc.) In fact, we actually *prohibit* you from posting these types of details, and remove dozens of stories per day that violate these rules. We extensively address how to protect your privacy in our FAQ, but the simple rule is: don't post anything that can specifically identify you. It doesn't matter how safe you think you are, this is a Golden Rule on ANY online site.
Now if you want to post something privately-- either for yourself, or for your friends, then you should use blogs set to private or friends-only mode, private messages, private gifts, or the live chat. Those canNOT be seen by anyone but your intended recipient (or just yourself in the case of private blog posts). Remember each and every blog posts has its own security setting-- so one post can be private and one post can be public. It's up to you.
Why are stories public? Because stories belong to experiences, and experiences are for everyone, so they are always available to be read by people who are not logged in. In fact, most everyone on the site today (80%+) first found EP through a search! This is nothing new, and it's a good thing-- every person that finds EP adds their own unique stories and experiences, and can become your next experience soulmate. Your privacy is not in question here, so long as you follow our community rules and do not publicly post names, addresses, phone numbers, etc. Rememember that this includes posting profile photos that are recognizable as you (which is why we provide a blur function when you upload your photos, and also provide 'generic' photos you can use), and why we advise you to not use a username that may identify you as an individual.
-Copies of stories-
EP does not keep copies of your stories once you delete them. Unless you specifically tell us to save your stories when deleting your account, we purge them all the moment we purge your account. Our site backups may have a copy of your story for a few days, but those are not accessible without extraordinary effort and are as good as gone. There is no 'restore' or 'reactivate' functionality. As a further precaution, we direct search engines to not store copies of stories in their databases (known as 'no caching'), which means if a story is deleted, it is immediately no longer available anywhere. A link might exist to it, but the link will lead to a page that does not exist, and even the link will disappear, usually within a day.
- Sharing Links on Facebook (and elsewhere) -
Yesterday morning we had a meeting with our engineers, and I got to share some of the concerns that members had about Facebook
sharing with the team. I'm happy to say we were able to brainstorm some ideas, and in fact implement a few of them already, but let's start with the basics.
First, it is very important to understand that sharing links is nothing new, not invented by Facebook, nor owned, or monopolized by them. It is also important to point out we have no relationship, monetary or otherwise, with Facebook, now or in the past. Now, before Facebook "Like" buttons, we had "addthis" buttons, and before we had "addthis" buttons, we had "sharethis" buttons-- all things that made quickly sharing something PUBLIC (like a story, not like a private blog) you read that you really liked a little easier. You could email a story to someone, or post a link (not the whole story) to it to sharing sites like del.icio.us, stumbleupon, and so on. Now, the world has changed, and the reality is that Facebook, email (and Twitter, to a lesser extent) are where almost all link sharing happens, so we've reduced the complexity of the sharing buttons and just boiled it down to these services that actually get used.
What happens if you 'like' something using a Facebook button? IF you're logged into Facebook, then they post a link on your feed that says you liked so-and-so story on EP. Your EP Username is NOT posted, nor is any of your activity. The only thing they know is that you liked this article-- and we, on the other hand, know NOTHING. We don't get your Facebook info, we don't post things to your feed, etc. This is purely controlled by you. If you accidentally click the button, you have at least 30 minutes to click 'unlike' and it will remove it. You an also always just go to Facebook and delete anything in your feed you don't want.
What happens if someone else 'likes' something you wrote? Then a link is posted on that person's Facebook that says they liked so-and-so article. Your username is not posted, your story is not posted, etc. If you followed our rules and did not post any personally identifying info, then this is no more a threat to your anonymity than someone telling someone they read a great story on Experience Project by so-and-so user about a particular topic.
While we spent a lot of time discussing Facebook, the issue is that NO ONE should promise you a false sense of security that a pbulic story can't be shared, and NO ONE can promise that a link to something you write publicly won't be shared. What I can promise you without a shadow of a doubt is that EP would never post a story or comment to your Facebook account without your explicit consent, and never has. We WILL NOT jeopardize your anonymity in this way, and we NEVER have-- in fact, we can't, and we wouldn't try. Remember that EP started as a health support group for multiple sclerosis patients. Privacy and anonymity is paramount in online health discussions! So, we have worried and designed for privacy since day one, and are always listening on how we can do better.
-EP accounts and Facebook Accounts-
Let's dig deeper on the relationship between your EP account and any FB acccount you may have, because let's face it, Facebook is a scary topic. First off, your Facebook account and EP account are COMPLETELY separate-- there are no back doors, automatic connections, secret links, etc. If linking accounts is something you want to do (a lot of people now use their Facebook login across different sites on the web, which is what the "Facebook Connect" button on the login screen lets you do), YOU (and only YOU) would have to manually and specifically choose to link these accounts.
Why would anyone ever want to link accounts in the first place? This feature is built by Facebook, and called "Facebook Connect"-- and the reality is that hundreds of millions (yes) of people now use their Facebook login to quickly sign on at other sites. I don't, I prefer to have a different login for each site, but hey, that's me. That 'single sign on' is the main advantage-- you *manually* choose to link the accounts, you approve the link, and from that point forward, when you're logged in to Facebook, you can also log in to all your other favorite sites with one click.
Now, we do support this functionality, but we don't make this easy to do, and you most certainly shouldn't be able to do it accidentally. There are only 2 places on the site you can do this: 1) the login page, by clicking the big blue Facebook Connect button and approving the various screens that will then pop up explaining the connection, and 2) the "in your words" event pages around September 11th, Veteran's Day, etc.
As one of the new changes, and because we we absolutely DON'T want anyone to EVER worry that they would do this by mistake, if you EVER happened to somehow accidentally try to link the accounts, we will now be forcing people to DOUBLE confirm the linking decision before anything happens. One giant page will ask you if you want to do this, and what it means, then another massive confirmation page will appear with details on what it means to link accounts-- and you'd have to approve both. A member can choose 'NO' at anytime, and no linking will be done. Bottomline, there should be NO CHANCE you can accidentally link your account, and this is not a feature that is required or needed.
- One more new feature: Protecting your username/logo in comments -
One of the longest story threads in this group was a worry that somehow a person would land on the site and read a friend's story, then recognize one of the commenters as their friend as well. In this way, a commenter might have to worry about being 'discovered.' If you followed our privacy rules, this shouldn't have been a realistic worry (they can't know who you are if you don't tell them), but we understand the concerns here, and we want to do more to give you better control.
We are now adding the option to hide your profile picture AND username in the comments section of stories, confessions and petitions from anyone who lands on the page and is not logged in to EP (including search engines). This option will soon be available under 'account settings' for users who are set to 'discreet' mode. This gives more privacy options than we've ever had, and we think it's a great idea that came from this very group. Most of the code is done, but the interface to set it isn't quite wrapped up yet-- watch this space for updates.
I hope this clears things up a bit. Of course if you have additional questions or concerns please bring them up. EP has always been a place where members can feel comfortable sharing, no matter what they want to talk about, and we won't EVER jeopardize that.
There have been a lot of scary rumors floating around, so it's important that everyone get the FACTS.
-Search Engines-
Like anything posted publicly online, stories posted in groups may get seen by people who are not logged in, which includes search engines. So if you search for a topic like 'army wives', a group or story from EP may show up in the results. This has been the case since the first day of EP, and it is why we always say that you should never post anything in a public story that could jeopardize your anonymity if someone found it (details like real names, phone numbers, addresses, etc.) In fact, we actually *prohibit* you from posting these types of details, and remove dozens of stories per day that violate these rules. We extensively address how to protect your privacy in our FAQ, but the simple rule is: don't post anything that can specifically identify you. It doesn't matter how safe you think you are, this is a Golden Rule on ANY online site.
Now if you want to post something privately-- either for yourself, or for your friends, then you should use blogs set to private or friends-only mode, private messages, private gifts, or the live chat. Those canNOT be seen by anyone but your intended recipient (or just yourself in the case of private blog posts). Remember each and every blog posts has its own security setting-- so one post can be private and one post can be public. It's up to you.
Why are stories public? Because stories belong to experiences, and experiences are for everyone, so they are always available to be read by people who are not logged in. In fact, most everyone on the site today (80%+) first found EP through a search! This is nothing new, and it's a good thing-- every person that finds EP adds their own unique stories and experiences, and can become your next experience soulmate. Your privacy is not in question here, so long as you follow our community rules and do not publicly post names, addresses, phone numbers, etc. Rememember that this includes posting profile photos that are recognizable as you (which is why we provide a blur function when you upload your photos, and also provide 'generic' photos you can use), and why we advise you to not use a username that may identify you as an individual.
-Copies of stories-
EP does not keep copies of your stories once you delete them. Unless you specifically tell us to save your stories when deleting your account, we purge them all the moment we purge your account. Our site backups may have a copy of your story for a few days, but those are not accessible without extraordinary effort and are as good as gone. There is no 'restore' or 'reactivate' functionality. As a further precaution, we direct search engines to not store copies of stories in their databa
- Sharing Links on Facebook (and elsewhere) -
Yesterday morning we had a meeting with our engineers, and I got to share some of the concerns that members had about Facebook
sharing with the team. I'm happy to say we were able to brainstorm some ideas, and in fact implement a few of them already, but let's start with the basics.
First, it is very important to understand that sharing links is nothing new, not invented by Facebook, nor owned, or monopolized by them. It is also important to point out we have no relationship, monetary or otherwise, with Facebook, now or in the past. Now, before Facebook "Like" buttons, we had "addthis" buttons, and before we had "addthis" buttons, we had "sharethis" buttons-- all things that made quickly sharing something PUBLIC (like a story, not like a private blog) you read that you really liked a little easier. You could email a story to someone, or post a link (not the whole story) to it to sharing sites like del.icio.us, stumbleupon, and so on. Now, the world has changed, and the reality is that Facebook, email (and Twitter, to a lesser extent) are where almost all link sharing happens, so we've reduced the complexity of the sharing buttons and just boiled it down to these services that actually get used.
What happens if you 'like' something using a Facebook button? IF you're logged into Facebook, then they post a link on your feed that says you liked so-and-so story on EP. Your EP Username is NOT posted, nor is any of your activity. The only thing they know is that you liked this article-- and we, on the other hand, know NOTHING. We don't get your Facebook info, we don't post things to your feed, etc. This is purely controlled by you. If you accidentally click the button, you have at least 30 minutes to click 'unlike' and it will remove it. You an also always just go to Facebook and delete anything in your feed you don't want.
What happens if someone else 'likes' something you wrote? Then a link is posted on that person's Facebook that says they liked so-and-so article. Your username is not posted, your story is not posted, etc. If you followed our rules and did not post any personally identifying info, then this is no more a threat to your anonymity than someone telling someone they read a great story on Experience Project by so-and-so user about a particular topic.
While we spent a lot of time discussing Facebook, the issue is that NO ONE should promise you a false sense of security that a pbulic story can't be shared, and NO ONE can promise that a link to something you write publicly won't be shared. What I can promise you without a shadow of a doubt is that EP would never post a story or comment to your Facebook account without your explicit consent, and never has. We WILL NOT jeopardize your anonymity in this way, and we NEVER have-- in fact, we can't, and we wouldn't try. Remember that EP started as a health support group for multiple sclerosis patients. Privacy and anonymity is paramount in online health discussions! So, we have worried and designed for privacy since day one, and are always listening on how we can do better.
-EP accounts and Facebook Accounts-
Let's dig deeper on the relationship between your EP account and any FB acccount you may have, because let's face it, Facebook is a scary topic. First off, your Facebook account and EP account are COMPLETELY separate-- there are no back doors, automatic connections, secret links, etc. If linking accounts is something you want to do (a lot of people now use their Facebook login across different sites on the web, which is what the "Facebook Connect" button on the login screen lets you do), YOU (and only YOU) would have to manually and specifically choose to link these accounts.
Why would anyone ever want to link accounts in the first place? This feature is built by Facebook, and called "Facebook Connect"-- and the reality is that hundreds of millions (yes) of people now use their Facebook login to quickly sign on at other sites. I don't, I prefer to have a different login for each site, but hey, that's me. That 'single sign on' is the main advantage-- you *manually* choose to link the accounts, you approve the link, and from that point forward, when you're logged in to Facebook, you can also log in to all your other favorite sites with one click.
Now, we do support this functionality, but we don't make this easy to do, and you most certainly shouldn't be able to do it accidentally. There are only 2 places on the site you can do this: 1) the login page, by clicking the big blue Facebook Connect button and approving the various screens that will then pop up explaining the connection, and 2) the "in your words" event pages around September 11th, Veteran's Day, etc.
As one of the new changes, and because we we absolutely DON'T want anyone to EVER worry that they would do this by mistake, if you EVER happened to somehow accidentally try to link the accounts, we will now be forcing people to DOUBLE confirm the linking decision before anything happens. One giant page will ask you if you want to do this, and what it means, then another massive confirmation page will appear with details on what it means to link accounts-- and you'd have to approve both. A member can choose 'NO' at anytime, and no linking will be done. Bottomline, there should be NO CHANCE you can accidentally link your account, and this is not a feature that is required or needed.
- One more new feature: Protecting your username/logo in comments -
One of the longest story threads in this group was a worry that somehow a person would land on the site and read a friend's story, then recognize one of the commenters as their friend as well. In this way, a commenter might have to worry about being 'discovered.' If you followed our privacy rules, this shouldn't have been a realistic worry (they can't know who you are if you don't tell them), but we understand the concerns here, and we want to do more to give you better control.
We are now adding the option to hide your profile picture AND username in the comments section of stories, confessions and petitions from anyone who lands on the page and is not logged in to EP (including search engines). This option will soon be available under 'account settings' for users who are set to 'discreet' mode. This gives more privacy options than we've ever had, and we think it's a great idea that came from this very group. Most of the code is done, but the interface to set it isn't quite wrapped up yet-- watch this space for updates.
I hope this clears things up a bit. Of course if you have additional questions or concerns please bring them up. EP has always been a place where members can feel comfortable sharing, no matter what they want to talk about, and we won't EVER jeopardize that.
By:
EPArsineh
Age:
26-30
,
Female
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