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A Man Who Stood Up To Facebook

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Re: A Man Who Stood Up To Facebook

#31

Post by ghurtado »

kazinator wrote: post #21
deckar01 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not the same, but it is a powerful metaphor. Wanted email is to consensual relations as spam is to physical violation.

It's a very bad metaphor, because the "spammer" term is thrown around casually in IT and is often false. For instance, someone might be called a "spammer" if they post a lot to some forum, by someone else who disagrees with them. If you equate "rapist" with "spammer", you might be regarded as trivializing "rapist" accusations as being usually false and frivolous in the same way.

> If you equate "rapist" with "spammer", you might be regarded as trivializing "rapist" accusations as being usually false and frivolous in the same way.

I don't think he was equating the two at a legal or moral level, just presenting an analogy with regards to:

- The likelihood of false accusations being similar in both cases (higher than the norm)

- The devastating social consequences of falsely accusing someone of either crime, even where no proof exists

Having said that, there are circles where false accusations of "rape" are sometimes thrown around rather frivolously, and where the term is being stretched to include other lesser crimes, such as crimes of expression ("verbal rape") and sexual harassment. You may not be familiar with these circles, but they do exist. If you've ever heard someone use the term "he raped me with his eyes": this is the action that trivializes the actual crime of rape.

Making the observation that this subculture exists in no way trivializes actual cases of rape.

I think this may have been the intent of the analogy.

Re: A Man Who Stood Up To Facebook

#32

Post by athenot »

The elephant in the room is that facebook wants to directly engage with their users in order to control the advertising aspect. This startup uses the side-effect of Facebook (platform for friends to share stuff) while cutting out the business value proposition (advertising).

This is sad because I'm increasingly getting annoyed at Facebook's positionning between me and my friends. It's promoting behavior that is different from real life as they stand to gain from stoking outrages and heated discussions: more active user engagement!

Re: A Man Who Stood Up To Facebook

#33

Post by ghurtado »

DanBC wrote: post #26
deckar01 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not the same, but it is a powerful metaphor. Wanted email is to consensual relations as spam is to physical violation.

It's a fucking stupid metaphor that acts as a barrier to understanding. People should stop casually making jokes about rape[1] or using rape as a metaphor. [1] It's baffling to me that crimes of sexual violence are a common theme for jokes on US media.

IMHO what is really needed in this topic is for people to stop having a violent allergic reaction every time the word "rape" is mentioned.

This debases the conversation much more than all the jokes and inept metaphors that have ever been made about rape. At least those don't intentionally attempt to censor or silence others they disagree with.

Re: A Man Who Stood Up To Facebook

#34

Post by [deleted] »

ghurtado wrote: post #33
DanBC wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a fucking stupid metaphor that acts as a barrier to understanding. People should stop casually making jokes about rape[1] or using rape as a metaphor. [1] It's baffling to me that crimes of sexual violence are a common theme for jokes on US media.

IMHO what is really needed in this topic is for people to stop having a violent allergic reaction every time the word "rape" is mentioned. This debases the conversation much more than all the jokes and inept metaphors that have ever been made about rape. At least those don't intentionally attempt to censor or silence others they disagree with.

[deleted]

Re: A Man Who Stood Up To Facebook

#36

Post by jsprogrammer »

Sacho wrote: post #28
jsprogrammer wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Power Ventures could probably start back up from the payout that will be coming from FB when things are resolved.

Uh, what payout? The 9th circuit essentially ruled that his attempts to access Facebook servers after the cease-and-desist letter were illegal. Unless I'm reading this wrong, he lost, and is criminally liable.

Facebook brought a malicious action under the CANSPAM act when it had no basis for doing so. That action, in part, resulted in the loss of Vachani's business and livelihood. Facebook will need to compensate for the loss they caused.

Re: A Man Who Stood Up To Facebook

#38

Post by colejohnson66 »

zanethomas wrote: post #23
meichenf wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Be civil. Don't say things you wouldn't say in a face-to-face conversation. Avoid gratuitous negativity. When disagreeing, please reply to the argument instead of calling names. E.g. "That is idiotic; 1 + 1 is 2, not 3" can be shortened to "1 + 1 is 2, not 3." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

I would say it to his face, but point taken. :)

Fair enough, but just because you'd say it to someone's face doesn't make it civil

Re: A Man Who Stood Up To Facebook

#39

Post by aseipp »

ghurtado wrote: post #33
DanBC wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a fucking stupid metaphor that acts as a barrier to understanding. People should stop casually making jokes about rape[1] or using rape as a metaphor. [1] It's baffling to me that crimes of sexual violence are a common theme for jokes on US media.

IMHO what is really needed in this topic is for people to stop having a violent allergic reaction every time the word "rape" is mentioned. This debases the conversation much more than all the jokes and inept metaphors that have ever been made about rape. At least those don't intentionally attempt to censor or silence others they disagree with.

"Words don't real. Don't analyze them. That's not important. You're the real problem."

Re: A Man Who Stood Up To Facebook

#40

Post by lucb1e »

panic wrote: post #2

Cross-network dashboards like the one described in the article help make the world more open and connected. Facebook ought to be supporting this guy.

For those like me who missed it at first, "make the world more open and connected" is Facebook's "official mission" (i.e. what the PR department claims they do).

But it's directly in contrast with what makes them money, so obviously they won't.

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