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UmeNow calls Facebook a predator (video)

UmeNow, a new social network that aims to kill Facebook, is still on the offensive. The latest video aims to imply that Facebook is a predator.
Written by Emil Protalinski, Contributor

As part of its "Facebook is Trash, National Privacy Celebration" marketing campaign, UmeNow, a new social network that wants to kill Facebook, is calling the social network a predator. As you can see above, the latest video released by the company implies that an innocent picture posted on Facebook can spread around the globe into the hands of people never meant to see it.

Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg believes the minimum age limit should be removed eventually, allowing those under 13-years-old to create an account on the social network. UmeNow argues that since your photos shared on Facebook are sometimes seen by people who are not your friends online, this could one day happen with photos of your child.

"My biggest concern is that not only does Mark Zuckerberg and his company want to seize all the information it can on adults like you and me so he can make money selling ads, but Facebook also wants to snatch away the precious privacy of your kids," UmeNow founder Evelyn Castillo-Bach said in a statement. "I believe Facebook wants to grab as much personal information as it can about our children, so they can track their habits, stalk their thoughts, and target their friends, compiling everything into giant databases to profit from a child's innocence. When will Facebook stop? It stops right here and right now. They'll stop because of UmeNow."

"We don't 'like' Facebook," Castillo-Bach continued. "Where's the button for that? Who really likes Facebook? People use it by default. Who 'likes' seeing ads all the time? Who 'likes' being watched, analyzed and tracked? And now they want to add children into the mix? I don't think so. Not if I have anything to do with it. It takes a mother to finally put this arrogant know-it-all billionaire and his company in its place. Enough! Don't touch our kids."

UmeNow has a $6.00 monthly subscription fee (you can sign up for a one-month free trial), which gives you the following features:

  • No ads.
  • No tracking and No data mining.
  • No selling of personal information.
  • All third party apps banned.
  • Anonymous posting allowed.
  • Protection from privacy violations by "free" sites.

Last month, Facebook announced a major revamp of its privacy settings (Photo Gallery). Although security experts still see room for improvement, the overall consensus is that this is a step forward.

The changes make it very clear who you are sharing something with on Facebook: you can choose public, just your friends, just a group of friends, or hand-pick specific friends. Of course, it's possible that one or more of your Facebook friends will then share your status update, link, photo, or video with someone else, but that's how the Web works (and this can easily happen on UmeNow as well). The bottom line is this: if you don't want to risk a piece of content from being shared with others online, don't upload it to the Internet.

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