At some point not too long ago, I gave facebook a gmail address. Its reaction has been annoying ever since: First, it tried to tell me just how many people had joined Facebook thanks to me (incidentally, another case of manipulation right there — the real answer to that question is “zero”), and that it would be really great if I’d hand over access to my gmail address book (which isn’t anywhere near as interesting as the one on my phone, which I’m also not going to “synchronize” with Facebook).
More recently, the tactics have become more devious: Two random contacts are shown (who, facebook claims, have found their “friends” on facebook this way), and facebook seemingly advertises its “friend finder” (which I used a long time back). But — behold! — when I click “find friends”, what comes up is Google asking me to authorize facebook to read my Google address book.
Dear facebook: If you want my data, in-my-face devious behavior like this is the last thing that’s going to get it to you.
Update: How interesting. Now that I’ve deleted that gmail contact address, facebook is asking for my email address and password right away. No kidding.
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