What Does Facebook Want with Your Phone Number?

buffylinden said:

If someone on, say Facebook, has given their phone #, an address can be gotten from that.

And given my first and last name and the state that I live in, a quick visit to The Official WhitePages - Find People for Free turns up my Name, my parents name, my wife's name, my sisters name, my phone number, my address and a nice BING provided map of exactly where I live.

buffylinden said:

If you tell people you are going on vacation, that's their opportunity. Even "computer shut-down" is easily translated into "vacation". That's my take on it.

The problem here is not Facebook. It's being smart enough to not tell people you are going on vacation. People can use a variety of tools, including the one example I gave above and do the same thing.

buffylinden said:

Suicides by teens have resulted.

Suicides have also resulted from music...from what I hear.

buffylinden said:

Everyone views it differently, and for many it suits their needs. Apparently you find it handy & useful. Enjoy it!

It's like anything else, some like it and find it usefull others don't. But I don't like to paint it as a universal bad idea with respect to security. Used the right way, it can be just fine and dandy.

My kids told me that Facebook was fun and I ought to enroll. So I did. I waited for about 3 weeks and then emailed my daughter and told her that I was going to dis enroll because I wasn't having fun yet. I also had a problem with the privacy issue. I therefore dis enrolled and do not intent to use them anymore. I'm having more fun drinking a glass of beer and watching a ball game.

After 4 beers the ball game is even more fun.