Google, Facebook, and your personal information

Whenever I get a phone call from a number I don't recognize, I Google it before answering. I simply enter "000-000-0000." I can always at least find out which geographic location is home to the area code, which often tells me who's calling. Sometimes I even get the name of the organization the call is coming from or, if I'm really lucky, the name of the person calling.

I ran a search on an unknown number that came in today and actually got the name of the caller, who turned out to be a coworker who was calling me from his cell phone. I'd never seen a Facebook post give me the caller's identity before.


The only search result in all of Google that actually told me this guy's identity is a crass Facebook post from a guy who lost his cell phone and just needs his buddies' phone numbers. My coworker had entered his number in the comments and likely never thought anything of it.

I told him about it and he immediately deleted his number from the comments, but of course that doesn't change the fact that Google has his phone number cached and still returns that page as its top result, regardless of the fact that his number is no longer listed there. It also doesn't help the 17 other people whose phone numbers are still listed on that page.

What makes this even stranger - or more unsettling, depending on your perspective - is how long this post had been sitting out there. I blacked out my colleague's name and number in the image above, but you can clearly see the date and time: "May 27, 2007 at 10:12am." This guy left his buddy his phone number almost 4 years ago on Facebook and it's still out there and is the number 1 Google search for his phone number.

Your Facebook privacy settings should protect what's on your own page, but they don't impact what you post on others' pages or group walls. Ultimately, you have to consider anything you post online to be public information forever, regardless of your settings. Google is returning results from social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, using your discussions with friends to populate its search results.

A search of my phone number won't lead you to Facebook, but it will tell you that I used to lead a church small group. The church-related pages, which I didn't know existed, give the meeting location of that small group, which happens to be my home address. It also tells you my wife's name. Another page in the search results tells you that I used to umpire for the city of St. Paul. I don't lead that church group or umpire any longer, but my information is still out there.

I don't worry about my web presence. I figure if someone really wants to find out where I live, they'll figure it out one way or another. But a lot of people are concerned about this. Do you worry about your personal information being online?

And is it weird that I Google phone numbers I don't recognize?

How private are your Facebook photos?

UPDATE 2/11/11: It appears that Facebook has put at least one measure in place to help prevent issues. As you can see below, the image from Facebook no longer sources into this post. It appears they now prevent hotlinking of their images. However, you can still access private photos by clicking the direct link to the photo. That's something that they likely can't prevent.

I had an extensive discussion with a friend recently about posting pictures of our kids online. He won't do it, going so far as to require friends to remove any photos they have on Facebook or elsewhere that include his kids.

First, I'm not a paranoid person, so the privacy issues aren't a huge concern to me. I try not to make it easy for you track me down, but really, a Google search or two and you could be knocking on my front door. That goes for most people.

Second, I argued that even if you're paranoid, Facebook's privacy settings allow you to restrict who sees your photos.

I recently realized this second point really isn't entirely true.

Below is a photo I took with my phone and posted on Facebook. I took it on Saturday as my kids looked out the window at our big snowfall.



When most people send someone else a link to a Facebook photo, they simply copy the URL. For this photo, they would send this: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=606953874260&set=a.570112459750.2102325.184901250. However, you would be unable to view that photo unless you're friends with me. My Facebook privacy settings don't allow anyone but my friends to see my photos.

However, the photo above is sourcing directly from Facebook's servers. Here's the direct link to the photo: http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs1168.snc4/151092_606953874260_184901250_34727626_5009187_n.jpg. That link probably isn't familiar since there's no "facebook.com" in the link. The only indication it comes from Facebook is "fb." You can view that photo just by clicking that link, regardless of whether or not you're friends with me on Facebook.

Now, only my friends can access the page in my Facebook photo album with this photo. They're the only ones who could right-click on the photo, click "Save as..." and save it on their computer. They're the only ones who could right-click on the page, click "View page source" and get the link to where the image is hosted on Facebook's servers.

Still, if you don't have to even have a Facebook account to view a photo posted on Facebook's servers, how easy might it be for someone to access other photos on those servers?

I'm still not paranoid and I won't quit posting photos to Facebook. I am reminded, however, that regardless of privacy settings, once anything is posted on Facebook I have to assume that anyone may see it.