I use facebook.com as a tool for networking just as I would LinkedIn, no app, no messenger, just the site. I know people who don't need facebook at all, I know others that use it to share their creative content and others that just post useless articles. However it is still a tool for many, if you don't want it to collect a massive profile of yourself either limit the amount of posts you share online or don't use it at all. I don't understand the massive fallout of facebook on HN, the 'collective think' mentioned earlier and companies like Cambridge Analytica seem like bigger issues than the data facebook collects itself.
Facebook is terrifying
261–270 of 300 posts
Re: Facebook is terrifying
#262I use facebook.com as a tool for networking just as I would LinkedIn, no app, no messenger, just the site. I know people who don't need facebook at all, I know others that use it to share their creative content and others that just post useless articles. However it is still a tool for many, if you don't want it to collect a massive profile of yourself either limit the amount of posts you share online or don't use it…
Facebook collects information about you whether you use it or not.
Re: Facebook is terrifying
#263Its not just faces .. me and a friend had a little jam session recently and posted a picture of our cool little setup, consisting of a few pocket-sized machines (synthesizers and controllers) on our table in front of us. Just an innocent little picture of our jam setup. Within seconds of posting this picture of the machines, my friend was getting targeted ads from the manufacturers of those devices - within seconds!…
I had a similar moment (and ironically I'm a musician too). I went to a bar, where a band was playing on stage... After a while I realized I know the drummer. I played with him before, in another band, years ago. We had a beer, chatted a bit and went home. Now, we hadn't posted any pictures, nor statuses, we have no mutual friends on facebook, no connection at all... Heck, Facebook DIDN'T EVEN EXIST when I last saw h…
Two potential causes:
1. Location matching - both your apps detected you in the same place for an extended period of time. Maybe you guys had mutual friends in the music community?
2. Microphone[0]. They have since refuted that claim[1], but I've had way too many coincidences and I'm choosing to keep my tin-foil hat on... :/
[0] www.geek.com/apps/facebook-app-now-listens-and-records-audio-when-you-post-updates-from-your-phone-1595873/
[1]http://newsroom.fb.com/news/h/facebook-does-not-use-your-pho...
Re: Facebook is terrifying
#264Re: Facebook is terrifying
#265Earlier quoted context omitted.
> What is the proposed recourse? Ban Facebook from analyzing data that users give it? I think the answer's obvious -- replace Facebook with an entity, hypothetical at present, that's controlled by its users, not a corporate board of directors whose loyalty is to themselves and to stockholders, people for whom subscribers are a product being offered up for sale. I'm obviously speaking hypothetically -- there's essenti…
Communism would't work, without some benevolent AI running it. People incharge of managing the system will have reason in billions to be corrupt. Such useful info, will always be monetised, right now we can follow the money, take away the legal way and a backdoor will open which will be more difficult to tame.
>Communism would't work, without some benevolent AI running it
Oh really? And who would build that "benevolent" AI? A lot of things that may be benevolent for you may not be so benevolent for others.
Re: Facebook is terrifying
#266Its not just faces .. me and a friend had a little jam session recently and posted a picture of our cool little setup, consisting of a few pocket-sized machines (synthesizers and controllers) on our table in front of us. Just an innocent little picture of our jam setup. Within seconds of posting this picture of the machines, my friend was getting targeted ads from the manufacturers of those devices - within seconds!…
For the sake of discussion, why is that scary rather than kind of nice? Unless you take the AdBlock route, aren't well targeted ads better than irrelevant ones?
> "aren't well targeted ads better"
When you're the advertiser, sure. When you're the target, not so much. Do you really want billboards speaking to you as you walk down the street? Making suggestions based on your recent purchase history or activities and personal associations?
Just because advertising technology can achieve greater powers of reaching people, doesn't mean we need or want advertising woven into the fabric of our existence more than it already is. You can opt in to that if you want, I'm staying well clear.
Re: Facebook is terrifying
#267What is the proposed recourse? Ban Facebook from analyzing data that users give it? I use Facebook's automatic tagging because I find it useful. Should it be illegal for me to use this feature because someone might unintentionally be identified in a photo that I took? Is the argument that Facebook--or any other company--should never be allowed to develop software that could process data that could identify folks, eve…
Two remedies I've heard about in science fiction are:
1) "Gevulot" in the book Quantum Thief. There are laws that allow you to control the spread of information about you. Digital technology without the 'DRM' that enforces these laws is banned (and yes, the book does explore the obvious problems with this). I've written more on this at http://www.bayleshanks.com/notes-computer-gevulot
2) "Friends of Privacy" in the book Rainbow's End. A charitable organization creates a zillion fake identities with your name so that someone getting a credit report for you, looking for you on Facebook, etc, gets a lot of hits, all indistinguishable from you, and all filled with lies.
Re: Facebook is terrifying
#268Earlier quoted context omitted.
You know you have an account anyway, right? FB makes and manages profiles of people who don't have accounts, even of people who have never had accounts. They use this for their ad network, among other things. LinkedIn does this as well. I don't know about others.
How does that even work? Where does FB (or LinkedIn) get the information from that they can determine who you are even if you've never signed up for an account?
People with facebook-apps on their phones essentially allows Facebook to get their full contact list. If person A, B and C all have the number of a person D who is not on facebook, it's enough to create a shadow profile. On the basis of A, B and C, their social statuses, their level of education, country, etc., it's possible to make pretty accurate guesses to determine the person D.
If person D some day decides to install, say, WhatsApp (or even if he had it before Facebook acquired it), it also has his text messages, and photos shared through said app. It can all be linked to that shadow profile with that phone number. If D at some point typed his email-address into WhatsApp, or signed up at some site that shares data with Facebook, it's also easily linked to that shadow profile.
Re: Facebook is terrifying
#269Earlier quoted context omitted.
I recently accidentally re-activated my old FB account from high school (deactivated 2010). It's all still there. It's more like "unpublishing" your account than really "deactivating" it.
Where are you from? Not sure if that's just in Europe but there's an option[1] to permanently delete everything from fb, though I'm sure it wasn't available a few years ago. Now it is though and I'm guessing fb is obligated to provide this b/c of some european law. [1] Sorry for the google ref link but I have fb hosts blocked and couldn't find an easy way to just copy the actual link: https://www.google.gr/url?sa=t&r…
United States. I need to look again but I don't think there's the option to permanently delete. Just some kind of generic notice like "your data will eventually be permanently deleted"... eventually, like the heat death of the universe.
Re: Facebook is terrifying
#270Would it be possible to provide a link to your public FB profile? EDIT: Nevermind, found it: https://m.facebook.com/BigChiefSmoke EDIT-2: https://pipl.com/search/?q=BigChiefSmokem EDIT-N: You start asking why I would post everything I am able to find on you (and anyone you know) and ask me to stop; or at least that is what the average person would do.
Public or not, getting personal like that is a bad violation of HN's civility rule. Please don't do it again.
We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13568593 and marked it off-topic.