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“Dear Mark. I am writing this to inform you that I shall not comply”

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Re: “Dear Mark. I am writing this to inform you that I shall not comply”

#51

Post by madcowherd »

typeiierror wrote: post #37

Sometimes I wonder that when we shower criticism on Facebook about privacy concerns, we're missing the forest for the trees. The bigger issue I see is the sheer amount of eyeballs trained exclusively to Facebook's content. What does it mean for society when Facebook can demote a challenging but important article (say, of war reporting) in your newsfeed so it can promote your friend's Wedding photos, because an algori…

do people use social media as their sole news source? why is a newspaper my friend?

Re: “Dear Mark. I am writing this to inform you that I shall not comply”

#52

Post by robryan »

mavrc wrote: post #18
hiddenkrypt wrote: post #13

> "Facebook is for the pleasure and benefit of the whole world, myself included, on a number of levels." Wrong. Facebook is for making money. If providing users with pleasure or benefits makes them money, then that's lucky for the users. > "Facebook has become a world-leading platform for spreading information, for debate and for social contact between persons. You have gained this position because you deserve it." A…

> Wrong. Facebook is for making money. I know you're not wrong here, but at what point does social responsibility trump profit? Should it?

Basically only when the law says that something is illegal.

Re: “Dear Mark. I am writing this to inform you that I shall not comply”

#53

Post by openasocket »

typeiierror wrote: post #37

Sometimes I wonder that when we shower criticism on Facebook about privacy concerns, we're missing the forest for the trees. The bigger issue I see is the sheer amount of eyeballs trained exclusively to Facebook's content. What does it mean for society when Facebook can demote a challenging but important article (say, of war reporting) in your newsfeed so it can promote your friend's Wedding photos, because an algori…

> What does it mean for society when Facebook can demote a challenging but important article (say, of war reporting) in your newsfeed

I think it means absolutely nothing. I use Facebook so I can see how my friends are doing, not to find news articles to read (unless it's an article my friend just shared, and even then only maybe). I don't think many people use facebook to get their news and nowhere else.

Re: “Dear Mark. I am writing this to inform you that I shall not comply”

#54

Post by robryan »

ajoy39 wrote: post #28
fsloth wrote: post #11

Facebook - context oblivious censorship on the other hand - reality-bubble forming curator algorithms on the other. Somehow the term "negative feedback loop" comes to mind every time Facebooks mechanisms to filter and market content is brought forth. I don't think internet search engines should try to be helpful. Guessing what the recipient would like to see removes chance for serendipity and creates and information…

Facebook hasn't been filtering their trending news for about a week now, and in that time some of the top stories have been - A man having sex with a chicken sandwich - A fake story about Fox News firing Ann Coulter - A fake article about the iphone 8, claiming tim cook said Siri is going to do your chores for you. So yeah maybe the people were kinda needed?

You can get away without people when you have a set list of sources like google news does.

Re: “Dear Mark. I am writing this to inform you that I shall not comply”

#55

Post by CaptSpify »

Miner49er wrote: post #32
viraptor wrote: post #25

I wonder what the solution to this is. From what I know about reviewing reports about content, it's basically a case of someone reporting the post, then the report being farmed to reviewers, then the reviewers can check the post and I optionally the context to either kill the post or leave it alone. That means your post is one of hundreds this person sees that day and their guidance is likely "no genitalia, no nipple…

One solution is to not remove anything until told to do so by law enforcement. If people don't like what's posted they can choose to not view it.

I really don't get why sites don't think this way. If you take the hands-off route, you can deflect a lot of criticism: "We don't endorse it, we just let people post what they want". But as soon as you censor, or curate, or promote one item/subject, you become responsible for everything else on your site. Why add extra load on yourself?

Re: “Dear Mark. I am writing this to inform you that I shall not comply”

#56

Post by this_user »

riboflava wrote: post #15
Torgo wrote: post #10

You're a serf on the content farm, begging your lord for a favor.

At least he knows who the lord is and in principle the lord can set things straight. A step above complaining to the void or casting a throwaway vote.

Except the lord is not free to decide as he pleases. Governments around the world have been putting pressure on FB to censor certain kinds of content. Most of them also have a narrower definition of "free speech" compared to the US. The German government especially has been involved in this, pushing the social network to censor "hate speech". This has prompted FB to hire German company Arvato to handle reports of inappropriate content. These also seem to be the people that newspaper was dealing with.

Re: “Dear Mark. I am writing this to inform you that I shall not comply”

#57

Post by dredmorbius »

Torgo wrote: post #46
typeiierror wrote: post #37

Sometimes I wonder that when we shower criticism on Facebook about privacy concerns, we're missing the forest for the trees. The bigger issue I see is the sheer amount of eyeballs trained exclusively to Facebook's content. What does it mean for society when Facebook can demote a challenging but important article (say, of war reporting) in your newsfeed so it can promote your friend's Wedding photos, because an algori…

It's a man-in-the-middle attack on culture.

Which turns out be the general argument against centralised authority. Autocratic rule, monopoly power, monoculture agriculture, etc. You've only got one system, one set of preferences, one set of decision algorithms, often with its own preferences (even if unconscious, though very often not), determining outcomes for all.

Any wealth or power imbalance tends toward this result.

Re: “Dear Mark. I am writing this to inform you that I shall not comply”

#58

Post by vkou »

madcowherd wrote: post #51
typeiierror wrote: post #37

Sometimes I wonder that when we shower criticism on Facebook about privacy concerns, we're missing the forest for the trees. The bigger issue I see is the sheer amount of eyeballs trained exclusively to Facebook's content. What does it mean for society when Facebook can demote a challenging but important article (say, of war reporting) in your newsfeed so it can promote your friend's Wedding photos, because an algori…

do people use social media as their sole news source? why is a newspaper my friend?

Many people use it as a gatekeeper of news - they read what gets shared.

Re: “Dear Mark. I am writing this to inform you that I shall not comply”

#59

Post by tomohawk »

hiddenkrypt wrote: post #13

> "Facebook is for the pleasure and benefit of the whole world, myself included, on a number of levels." Wrong. Facebook is for making money. If providing users with pleasure or benefits makes them money, then that's lucky for the users. > "Facebook has become a world-leading platform for spreading information, for debate and for social contact between persons. You have gained this position because you deserve it." A…

Perhaps you could direct me to this money making API of which you speak.

See what happens when you woodenly interpret the words someone is saying?

Re: “Dear Mark. I am writing this to inform you that I shall not comply”

#60

Post by marcosdumay »

typeiierror wrote: post #37

Sometimes I wonder that when we shower criticism on Facebook about privacy concerns, we're missing the forest for the trees. The bigger issue I see is the sheer amount of eyeballs trained exclusively to Facebook's content. What does it mean for society when Facebook can demote a challenging but important article (say, of war reporting) in your newsfeed so it can promote your friend's Wedding photos, because an algori…

While is stays an algorithm optimizing for usage, I'm not concerned.

The moment is squires extra optimizing targets, that's a problem. What is more troubling is that we can't even know when that changes (if it didn't already).

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