Facebook's 'creepy' new search reveals people's secrets

Facebook's new 'graph search' allows users to search for people via their 'Likes' - and it is already revealing more than most of us would like.

A blog, ActualFacebookGraphSearches, has compiled a set of embarrassing results such as 'Tesco employees who 'Like' horses' and 'Employers of people who 'Like' racism'.

The site, a Tumblr blog, was set up to show how the new function - currently in the test phase  - can be misused.

Other searches include people who like both the far-right English Defence League and 'Curry', and married people who like 'Prostitutes.'




                          [Related: Is 'Facebook envy' making us miserable?]

Anyone whose Facebook page is set to the site's default privacy settings can be searched in this way by strangers.

The site also shows off searches which could be used by repressive governments, including 'Iranian men who want to meet other men' - in a country where homosexuality is illegal.

Online privacy activists the Electronic Frontier Foundation have described Graph Search as 'creepy' and say, ' this new search allows strangers to discover information about you that you may not have intended them to find.'

The site's searches are all anonymised - but the data will be available to anyone who signs up to use the new search function.

At present, users can join a waiting list, and will be given access at Facebook's discretion.

The site's creator says, "I got invited to Graph Search, started playing about with it, and got some interesting results. I’m not sure I’m making any deeper point about privacy: I think, at this point, we’re basically all just rubbernecking - myself included. Facebook does have good privacy settings: but there are many, many people who don’t know how to use them!

"If it’d be awkward if it was put on a screen in Times Square, don’t put it on Facebook. Oh, and check your privacy settings again."

The Electronic Frontier Foundation warns that the function may reveal things people have forgotten they ever liked, "As Facebook's Graph Search gets rolled out, it may be a wakeup call for people to examine—and rein in—their privacy setting."

"Actions and photos that were once lost in the sands of Timeline are now more easily discoverable by strangers with loose ties, forcing us to reassess what we actually think is private and what is not."