Sign-in to Comment - User Privacy question

mklabove

I posted this some time back on the Feature Request forum, and never saw it addressed. So I'm trying again:

I need to pass along a question I received from a user / potential commenter: "If I sign in to Smugmug using my Facebook account (in order to leave a comment), what information does Facebook receive about my activity on Smugmug???" The user was concerned about their activity on Smugmug then being used by Facebook to target advertising, etc.

It is clear that mandatory sign in for comments will give Smugmug information about my visitors (though I'm not clear on how Smugmug might/might not use that info), but I've seen nothing on what information Facebook will glean from this.

Many thanks,

Keith

mklabove

Bump?

mklabove

There's nothing quite like being ignored for over two weeks. So in the interim, I've come with three possible replies to my original question:

1) No one knows.

2) "THEY" know, but "THEY" are not telling. (cue 'conspiracy theory' music here)

3) It was a foolish question to begin with, since user privacy is always respected, especially by Facebook.

Anyway, . . .

Keith

dennismullen

I wish I knew the answer so I could help you.
Viewer comments have all but stopped for me since this change.

Cheers,

Ferguson

Smugmug doesn't promise responses in the forums. You can open a help desk ticket and may get further. I for one would like to know the reverse as well -- what does one give up to Smugmug as well when one logs in this way. So if you find anything out, we other users would appreciate followup here.

The one thing I think you can bet heavily AGAINST:

>> 3) It was a foolish question to begin with, since user privacy is always respected, especially by Facebook.

mklabove

Thanks, Ferguson. I posted here because I thought it was a issue that might concern others as well. I sent the question today to the help desk, via their web form. We'll see.

Keith

mklabove

For anyone who might have had in interest in this question, my response from the help desk follows, as well as my reply, which ended the conversation:
++++++++++++++++++++

Thank you for emailing SmugMug.

Before anyone could leave comment on your photo/gallery - you could not trace it back who was that. We had loads of customers who had really inappropriate comments made on their photos. With the new comment block - we can trace the visitor much easier. We have introduced this because of security reasons.

We hope to add more options to identify your visitors in the future. At the moment your visitors can use Facebook, SmugMug & Google +. These social media log ins to SmugMug do not post or receive information about what is commented on. It's a fantastic question. It's simply just to verify identity for security reasons.

Let us know if we can do anything else.

++++++++++++

My reply:
Thank you for answering my query. Based on your reply, I'm glad to be able to tell my user that you said Facebook does not receive any information about their logging in to Smugmug in order to comment.

+++++++++++

Though I'm still not sure she actually answered my question. Anyway . . .

Keith