Live data from Hacker News

Facebook Doesn’t Tell Users Everything It Really Knows About Them

propublica.org

71–80 of 275 posts

Re: Facebook Doesn’t Tell Users Everything It Really Knows About Them

#72
post #2

You can replace "Facebook" with thousands of other companies. Everyone is doing this because the cost is low, its easy, and the return is massive. The sole service my roommate's company does is match your customer with data about them from countless other sources. If you want a peek into a small section of this type of data, go build a facebook ad. You can see all the targeting options. You can upload a list of email…

With it being so rampant, why is it so difficult to discover what people know about you. And what are the barriers to changing this?

Re: Facebook Doesn’t Tell Users Everything It Really Knows About Them

#73
post #64

There must be many HNers who work at Facebook. Anyone willing to make a throwaway account and tell us how it feels from the inside for Facebook to be one the wrong side of so many ethical issues? It just seems like in so many dimensions they've been caught saying wrong things or appearing to outright lie, and I'm curious how developers who work for them think about aiding a company that seems to be so compromised at…

I don't see how this is being on the wrong side of an ethical issue. Perhaps it is (somehow, after years of this being in the news) shocking that that data is collected about your life, but Facebook isn't doing the collection. Anyone can buy that data and many organizations do. Facebook hasn't actually done anything here that is harmful, not with the non-shocking data collection from third parties and not with the da…

>Facebook isn't doing the collection

Who is it then that allows facebook like buttons and social widgets to be integrated into other sites?

Re: Facebook Doesn’t Tell Users Everything It Really Knows About Them

#74
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately, one should not believe that deleting your account removes the underlying data. The actual operation is probably more like, "set a bit that prevents anyone from logging in to this profile."

True, but I deleted my account 2 years ago, so at least they have a lot less info during that time. Also, I don't miss it at all, not even a little bit. I think it offers no value for my time, let alone data. I am not sure why I am still on Twitter, but Snapshot has been entertaining and LinkedIn invaluable.

You still have an account and they are still collecting data on you. AFAIK nothing has changed by your deleting your account.

Re: Facebook Doesn’t Tell Users Everything It Really Knows About Them

#75
post #57

There must be many HNers who work at Facebook. Anyone willing to make a throwaway account and tell us how it feels from the inside for Facebook to be one the wrong side of so many ethical issues? It just seems like in so many dimensions they've been caught saying wrong things or appearing to outright lie, and I'm curious how developers who work for them think about aiding a company that seems to be so compromised at…

It is not wrong when you benefit from it. This is a human trait, people do not see the wrong on the things you benefit from. For example, did you ate beef or fish lately? When was the last time you thought about the animals that were killed in order for you to eat them. Have you seen the sacrifice of an animal needed for eating it. In Mongolia or Middle East nomads will sacrifice the animal in front of you before eat…

>This is a human trait, people do not see the wrong on the things you benefit from.

No, people very frequently do see that things have downsides. Only idiots think in black and white of 'right' and 'wrong'. For example, you just commented on a site that requires electricity to operate. This usage induces electrical demand and you have therefore contributed to global warming and assisted in killing polar bears. Will you choose to kill more polar bears to respond to me, or do you think it's not that simplistic now?

>Workers on facebook are multimillionaires that are pretty happy about their life

There are tons of people that work at facebook that are not millionaires at all. Most hires at facebook today are making standard SV salaries that could be made working for other companies.

Re: Facebook Doesn’t Tell Users Everything It Really Knows About Them

#76
post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a friend at Facebook. Yes, they do understand that some data they collect is pretty ... private. But since it's good for Facebook -- it's good for them. In all personal discussions they defend the company to the point that I started feeling like there is some mind-washing going on. Of course it's just a feeling, but my point is -- they don't think it is bad.

Same, I have a friend who works there, often tells me about how good his stock prices are etc, never ever heard him talk about ethics, it's just not even on his radar. The other day I installed messenger (in the hope I never have to login to FB web again) and received a message about 15 seconds later saying, "Good boy, that's good for my stock prices" ha. I know what you mean though, it's like they're trained not to…

>I know what you mean though, it's like they're trained not to discuss topics with outsiders or something?

Pretty standard amongst companies to discourage employees from talking politics about the product.

Re: Facebook Doesn’t Tell Users Everything It Really Knows About Them

#77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm starting to wonder if we the people need to begin creating a sousveilance system to track public officials and corporate heads.

I really think what we need is to be willing to pay for the things we use so that we aren't aggressively productized for the benefit of the entities who cover that cost "for us". I stopped using Facebook not because I was worried about privacy (although that did help) but because it was just a waste of time. It wasn't doing anything positive for me. All the features that I had once enjoyed had been removed or drowned…

Except that the ISPs, automakers, IoT venders, etc are tracking you too if they can get away with it.

It's perfectly possible today to pay for a service and be the product.

Re: Facebook Doesn’t Tell Users Everything It Really Knows About Them

#79
post #69

>"For instance, opting out of Oracle’s Datalogix, which provides about 350 types of data to Facebook according to our analysis, requires “sending a written request, along with a copy of government-issued identification” in postal mail to Oracle’s chief privacy officer." This is outrageous. Why is the onus on a user who never gave permission to a data broker in the first place? They deal in digitial domain when it com…

It isn't your data. It is their data about you, which is a very important distinction. Facebook and Oracle aren't the bad actors here, if you think there is a bad actor. The baddies are the people giving Oracle (and others) that data about you. (And now I have to hang my head in shame for saying something that sounds like it is a defense of Oracle. They're baddies for many, many other reasons, just not this one)

There is plenty of blame to go around, people running data broker services are far from blameless.

Re: Facebook Doesn’t Tell Users Everything It Really Knows About Them

#80
This became painfully obvious when LinkedIn's algorithm started making extremely circuitous connections that freaked people out. People in a relative manner are painfully stupid, algorithms are ridiculously capable. The result is freak out. Facebook being psychologically aware, protected its users from the truth before it could be known. It was long ago that google's Eric Schmidt said "we are on the verge of predicting our users thoughts" google is just as slick as Facebook.
Post reply on HN