Farcebook Needs My Passport!?!?

From the Pastor:    Farcebook Needs My Passport!?!?

       It has been several months since I logged onto my farcebook account. I know that many of you reading this may be astounded that anyone could survive without such a popular social media platform for such a lonnnnggggg period of time (and it’s not even being done as a Lenten penance!) but I was all too happy to just ignore it and see if somehow the world would continue as normal. Well, looking at what is going on in the world since I stopped posting or reading others’ posts, you might be able to make a case that my ignoring of FB really did cause incalculable problems! Regardless of the cause/effect of my absence, two weeks ago somebody texted me a FB link, insisting that it was worth my time to read, so I clicked. FB refused to open the post unless I signed in. So I tried signing in. My sign-in was rejected. Was my password entered incorrectly? No. Was my sign-in name wrong? No. Everything was correct but FB insisted that, for my safety and security, and to guarantee that it was actually me signing in, I had to send them a copy of my passport, driver's license, birth certificate, social security number, and umbilical cord blood from my firstborn child. Or something like that. I thought that for sure I had been spoofed, that this notice was not really from FB and that somebody, either a prankster or a gangster, thought that I was stupid enough to send such information to them. I opened a “private tab” and tried going directly to FB. I got the same message of strange demands. I tried another browser. Same thing. I tried changing my VPN to another location. I received the same strange message yet again. So I googled “passport for FB sign-in scam” and discovered that it was neither a new thing nor a scam—unless you count Farcebook as the scammer! For years, it has demanded of some people at some time that they send copies of their identification cards, certificates, etc., to them in order to use—or to be used by—FB. I am going to copy and paste (although removing the formatting and italicizing it) from FB’s “help” pages to show you the audacity of FB.

Types of IDs that Facebook accepts
If you need to confirm your name on Facebook, or if you've lost access to your account, you may be asked to send us a copy of something with your name on it. You have several different options for this, including photo IDs issued by the government, IDs from non-government organizations, official certificates or licenses that include your name or other physical items like a magazine subscription or a piece of mail...(It was the government-issued photo ID that they wanted from me.) You can also learn more about what happens to your ID after you send it to Facebook.
Don't digitally conceal ID information
To help us prevent fake IDs and other abuses, we don't accept photos that have been digitally modified to hide information. You can also physically cover any non-essential information on your ID, before you take a photo of the document.
Government IDs
You can send us 1 government ID to confirm your name or regain access to your account.
Anything that you send us should contain either: Your name and date of birth, or Your name and a photo.
Some examples of government IDs we accept include: (my bold color here, as this is what they were demanding of me) Driver’s license; National identity card; Passport; Birth certificate

      There was much more information to be found on that page and on others it linked to. For instance, this:

What happens to your ID after you send it to Facebook
After you send us a copy of your ID, it'll be encrypted and stored securely. Your ID won't be visible on your profile, to friends or to other people on Facebook...

​       Notice that I can send my passport totally unencrypted (that is, open to bad guys stealing that information) at which time they will encrypt it (thanks) and store it securely. Read that again. They will store it. For how long? For what purpose? My ID won’t be visible to my “friends or other people on Facebook” but it will be accessible to FB! Will it, like all other information that they get from me, be sold to all bidders? 
       I am writing this, not because it has anything to do directly with Epiphany or the Church but just as a means of showing how far this social media giant has pushed the envelope as they convince people to give up even the most “valuable” of information to a company that does nothing essential for life, either in this world or the next. Would you continue going to church if I demanded a copy of your passport which I refuse to assure you will not be used for marketing or other thievery? The Church is necessary for salvation, FB is not. Would you continue to buy groceries at a market that demands such ID? Food is necessary for physical life. People must think that FB is even more important or they wouldn’t give up such information.
       Needless to say, I didn’t send my ID.

With prayers for your holiness,
Rev. Fr. Edwin Palka