The internet is a wonderful place. But it's also a labyrinth of booby traps that can lead to disastrous outcomes.
For example, Facebook now offers people the ability to see all of the pictures you've ever liked - that's sure to ruffle some feathers.
However, this is another thing I've recently noticed on Facebook.
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Somehow, the tiny technological minions within Facebook's coding have been syncing all the photos I've taken on my phone since 2012. Twenty-fucking-twelve.
I assume that at some point I've accidentally pressed a button that has enabled this feature, but I didn't have a clue about it - I certainly don't like it.
The worst thing? One press of 'Share photos' and there's literally thousands of pictures that would begin uploading to my profile.
I was alerted to this by a friend who'd allowed his younger sister to use his laptop. Obviously, he cleared his browsing history before letting her use it (standard), but that wasn't enough.
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His nosey sibling went through his Facebook and found a questionable photograph that he'd taken (I won't go into details) and although he hadn't posted it, it was synced to his profile without his knowledge.
She called him out on the matter and he had some serious explaining to do.
A quick check of the settings and it becomes apparent that it's easy to disable the feature, however it's only doable via a mobile device.
It's not so much a worry that all of the photos I've taken have been backlogged to my profile. It's just that, whether it be of new born kittens (which are amazingly cute, say otherwise and you are wrong), screenshots of texts, below average relatable memes or funny close-ups of my friends - they're all being used by Facebook.
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It makes me feel a bit uneasy.
If, like me, you're unaware this was happening to you, follow these steps if you wish to stop it.
- Go to your profile and find the 'Photos' tab.
- Go to the 'Synced' section in the top right.
- Tap the cog above the tab.
- Choose to turn photo syncing on or off, or to sync over Wi-Fi only.
I've somehow managed to use up 68% of two gigabytes of storage with pictures I can't even remember taking.
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The worst thing? Scroll back far enough and there's pictures of me and my ex. I don't want to see that shit.
Everyday it feels more and more like we're living in George Orwell's '1984'.
'Big Brother is watching you.'
Words by Mark McGowan
Featured Image Credit:Topics: Social Media, Facebook