Facebook is an attack on the open web • Hacker News Board

Re: Facebook is an attack on the open web

#331

Post by krrrh » Fri, Jun 02, 2017, 1:37 AM UTC

Clubber wrote: post #295

rezistik wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eternal September is the term for that. When the social site begins to accept too much trash because of it's size.

For those that don't know, September was when all the freshmen would get their first access to the non-commercial internet in college. It was a pain because they (we) had to learn all the nuances of how to interact with the people already on it. Newgroups, IIRC, etc. Eternal September is the term for when the internet went commercial in 1995. Wow that happened 27 years ago. Time does fly.

Not to quibble, but it usually refers to 1993, which was when AOL created a bridge from its proprietary network to USENET.

Re: Facebook is an attack on the open web

#332

Post by rndmind » Fri, Jun 02, 2017, 1:38 AM UTC

cgb223 wrote: post #324

> It is not accessible to search engines The thought of potential employers searching though Facebook posts I made when I was a teenager terrifies me. If they ever made this possible I'd stop using their service immediately

Don't be so naive to think that YOU are the only one who can potentially read and sift through all your facebook information.

The is empirical evidence that any one who pays for it, can has access to it, not even to mention nation-states, can has access.

Re: Facebook is an attack on the open web

#333

Post by krrrh » Fri, Jun 02, 2017, 1:39 AM UTC

guelo wrote: post #84

aeorgnoieang wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Excluding the "ads", how would you prevent users from posting "political spam", "viral garbage", and "pictures of what your friend ate for dinner"?

Part of the Facebook problem is that they mostly took control of the feed away from users. They now surface the more "engaging" posts at the top and more frequently. This leads to the overemphasis of viral images and videos. If you post a simple personal status message without an image and Facebook's sentiment analysis considers it to be non-engaging many of your friends won't even see it as Facebook will favor marke…

Even worse, purposely optimizing for engagement isn't too different from accidentally optimizing for outrage.

Re: Facebook is an attack on the open web

#334

Post by xadhominemx » Fri, Jun 02, 2017, 1:40 AM UTC

JBReefer wrote: post #327

xadhominemx wrote: post #264

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Try switching your feed from "Top Stories" to "Most Recent"

That doesn't stick between sessions

go to https://www.facebook.com/?sk=h_chr instead of https://www.facebook.com/

Re: Facebook is an attack on the open web

#335

Post by krrrh » Fri, Jun 02, 2017, 1:43 AM UTC

mi100hael wrote: post #184

FabHK wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Facebook will still learn which websites you visit (provided they have the "like" widget) and what articles you read on the NYT, unless you use a good tracking blocker. So, that's one downside, I think.

I run uBlock Origin everywhere and I rarely visit Facebook anymore. But when I do, I use a private window in a different browser.

Additionally, on macOS you can use Fluid.app to create a Facebook-only browser with separate cookies, etc. Keeps it isolated from the general web. Do the same for google apps.

Re: Facebook is an attack on the open web

#336

Post by JBReefer » Fri, Jun 02, 2017, 1:54 AM UTC

xadhominemx wrote: post #334

JBReefer wrote: post #327

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That doesn't stick between sessions

go to https://www.facebook.com/?sk=h_chr instead of https://www.facebook.com/

Thank you!

Re: Facebook is an attack on the open web

#337

Post by sslayer » Fri, Jun 02, 2017, 1:55 AM UTC

ricardobeat wrote: post #329

StavrosK wrote: post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I get that it's the network effects, but I guess I don't understand how your relationships are structured. I have a core group of friends with whom I talk every day on IM or the phone or face to face, then a larger group with whom I talk a few times a week, and then the rest are acquaintances I talk to rarely. If anything happens in any of the first two groups, I hear about it because I'm directly invited. There aren…

Your core group of friends may use Messenger for IM and FB events for meeting up. You can still probably catch up but it will take a _lot_ more effort.

0riginal neckbeard here - I have none of these problems, I have no friends, personal network, relationships, photos, or social interactions. I have never had Facebook, and I feel absolutely fantastic.

Re: Facebook is an attack on the open web

#338

Post by beagle3 » Fri, Jun 02, 2017, 2:02 AM UTC

peterwwillis wrote: post #287

You've got to be kidding me. Google has taken over search, web browsing, advertising, and has the largest mobile platform. They hold your email, maps, search history, personal docs, office suite, and calendar. They authenticate you to services all over the web. All of your actually important data (you really can live without pictures, unless you are a photographer or model) resides with them. They have created severa…

You are not wrong.

And yet, many people spend upward of 3 hours/day with the screen showing Facebook. They actively have google in front of their eyes for much less.

Re: Facebook is an attack on the open web

#339

Post by weq » Fri, Jun 02, 2017, 2:11 AM UTC

Tossrock wrote: post #19

I deactivated my Facebook account several months ago, and it's been about 90% great, 10% frustrating. It's great for all the obvious reasons (less timesuck, less compulsion to endlessly scroll your life away, no notification interruptions). The frustrations are real, though. Primarily it's around events and photos. There are some communities I participate in that regularly organize events through Facebook, and now I…

If u can stop using facebook when u deactivate it, cant u just not deactivate it, and use it for the 10% to stop ur frustration?

I treat facebook like i treat my phone. Its a tool. Not a way of life. Been on the internet since '95, back when i was at school i was the only one who would spend hours on the computer, they called us nerds. Now its the opposite, i use the computer at work everyday, and when im home, i stay away from it, my phone, tv, as much as possible and call everyone else geeks who need to stop obsessing over there hands (cause they dont know about computers, they just use them)

Re: Facebook is an attack on the open web

#340

Post by cyphar » Fri, Jun 02, 2017, 2:14 AM UTC

throwaway-1209 wrote: post #322

FridgeSeal wrote: post #321

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That doesn't mean we should just roll over and give it all to them. You're not obliged to hand this data over when you don't use their services, and ideally, they wouldn't track you if you didn't want to be tracked, but facebook is pretty close to being ethically void, so they'll do whatever scummy thing they want, so you should by all means make it as difficult as possible for them to get data on you.

>> That doesn't mean we should just roll over and give it all to them. Unless you run an ad blocker and/or EFF Privacy Badger, that's exactly what you're doing. Your consent is not required. There are literally _dozens_ of companies that do this, Facebook and Google are just two of them. There were some initiatives in some states to apply a stiff tax to companies that trade in user data, but I don't know if they went…

> Your consent is not required.

The point is that regardless of whether or not consent is required, it's a question of principle to not give consent (and personally I do use LibreJS and the other various tools to improve the shitty state of affairs).

Companies acting unethically shouldn't be given extra leeway to act even more unethically.