By Boyce Watkins, PhD on Oct 18th 2010 5:14PM
Filed under: Dr. Boyce Money, News
Facebook has spent a lot of time trying to convince you, me and millions of others that the information we share is private. They keep working to explain to us how only our "friends" can see our personal information, and that it's not going to be sold to companies. We believe that we can say, do or depict nearly every aspect of our personal lives in this online locale and everything is going to be just fine.
Maybe it's time to think things over again.
The Wall Street Journal recently conducted an investigation, and found that many of the most popular applications on Facebook are taking the private information of their users and selling it to corporations. This information includes users' names, their Facebook IDs and names of their Facebook friends.
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Are They Lying to You?
How many times has your business suffered because you trusted the wrong person? If you're like most people, you've been lied to thousands of times.
But you don't have to be a victim. Here are seven subtle cues that often mean a person isn't being completely honest with you.
Frank Franklin II, AP
AFP
BlackVoices.com
Are They Lying to You?
How many times has your business suffered because you trusted the wrong person? If you're like most people, you've been lied to thousands of times.
But you don't have to be a victim. Here are seven subtle cues that often mean a person isn't being completely honest with you.
Are They Lying to You?
We have erectile tissues in our noses, which engorge with blood when we lie. This causes a tingling or itching sensation that requires a nose touch to satisfy. The absence of a nose touch doesn't guarantee truth, but the presence of a nose touch often means deception
Are They Lying to You?
When we lie, we force our brain to pretend that the lie is true, that the truth is a lie and simultaneously remember that the real truth is that each is the other. This process of deception taxes our cognitive ability to think efficiently. So when we lie, we pause longer and speak slower than normal and often experience speech disturbances that serve as gap fillers, such as "um," "er" and "ah."
Are They Lying to You?
When our words and our body language don't agree, our communication is incongruent. Imagine that you ask a salesman if he can assure your delivery will be on time. If he explains how certain he is about it being on time while also shaking his head--as if non-verbally saying "no"--he is incongruent. When this sort of incongruence occurs, you would do well to believe the person's body over his words.
Are They Lying to You?
We rub our necks because of the stress we experience when we feel that an obstacle may be insurmountable. Let's say you're interviewing a potential employee and when you explain the expected duties, he also begins to rub his neck . This probably means he doesn't feel he'll be able to accomplish the duties. And if someone believes that they can or can't do something, they're probably right.
Are They Lying to You?
An eye rub is an indicator of disbelief. Let's say you have an important computer keystroke sequence to teach a new employee. The employee begins to rub her eyes even while verbally affirming your statements. This probably means that she doesn't believe you or disagrees with your instruction. Many subordinates feel uneasy about disagreeing with the boss, but their bodies don't hesitate.
Are They Lying to You?
We upwardly inflect our words when asking a question. You may have noticed that some salespeople will upwardly inflect certain statements of fact. This is a red flag that should alert you to potential deception. If a salesman upwardly inflects his words, you should disregard this statistic and be suspicious of him altogether.
Are They Lying to You?
In the study of graphology, hollow letters represent honesty. Anything that disrupts a hollow letter could indicate deception. Pretend you find a note from your top salesman on your desk. His note indicates that he went to visit his sick mother. You notice that every "o" in his note has some sort of mark interjected into the hollow space of each letter. You would be right to be suspicious of the facts in the note.
Are They Lying to You?
More interesting is that the problem affects even those who have the strongest security settings on their Facebook accounts. The WSJ investigation found that all 10 of the most popular applications on Facebook were transmitting user IDs to other companies. The malicious apps include a popular game called FarmVille (with 59 million users), Texas HoldEm Poker and others.
This is not the first time that Facebook has been criticized on privacy issues. Last year, the company was found to be transmitting user ID numbers to ad companies whenever a consumer clicked on an ad.
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Here's the deal with online privacy: I strongly suspect that we really don't have as much privacy as we think. I'm sure that within five years, we will find out that we are being monitored in ways that we've never fathomed.
Perhaps I sound skeptical in my analysis, but one should never underestimate the depth and power of corporate greed. You, the consumer, are a commodity for which advertisers are willing to pay billions. Therefore, companies will always try to find creative ways to get into your personal life.
Going deeper into the issue of online privacy, there are likely other human-based breaches that you haven't even noticed. Do you really know what your other 300 Facebook friends are doing with those pictures you took at the wild party the other night? When you write up your status updates, do you ever wonder how many people are silently peering into your personal life? My philosophy: If you wouldn't broadcast it on CNN, then don't put it on Facebook, in an email or in a text message. If you're not careful, your pictures and words can come back to haunt you forever. Bottom line? Corporations are probably the least of our concerns, since the Internet provides a plethora of ways for us to bamboozled.
Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and a Scholarship in Action Resident of the Institute for Black Public Policy. To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here. 
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