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Facebook’s Surveillance Machine

nytimes.com

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Re: Facebook’s Surveillance Machine

#81

Post by moduspol »

mattbierner wrote: post #13

Seeking advice: how do I tell friends and family about the negative aspects of Facebook without coming across as all “I don’t even own a TV” or “meat is murder”? Is that even possible?

I'm not sure the negative aspects are considered that bad, even by people who know about them. I really think techie sites just have an overrepresentation of online privacy advocates that steer conversations in that direction.

I think you'll have trouble not coming across that way because it almost inherently suggests your values (importance of the privacy of your data) are better than theirs (enjoying Facebook and that it is free).

Re: Facebook’s Surveillance Machine

#82

Post by ashman5 »

roadbeats wrote: post #42
hellofunk wrote: post #31

I wish quite badly that the benefit of deactivating FB would outweigh the inconvenience, but FB has become such a mainstay that I'd lose touch with lots of people I really have no other way of contacting. I could say "good riddance," if there is no other way to contact them then perhaps they are not important enough to my life, but that's just not true. Or what about all the local forums (FB groups) in my city that h…

What is the point of staying in contact only in Facebook ? If someone is important for me, I'd be in contact with them in real life or another platform. Also, lots of people seem to be unaware of that you can delete your Facebook account. They don't have a link to the delete page from settings menu though. It's here: https://facebook.com/account/delete

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Re: Facebook’s Surveillance Machine

#83

Post by shard972 »

3chelon wrote: post #78
bambax wrote: post #66

> Facebook makes money, in other words, by profiling us and then selling our attention to advertisers, political actors and others. These are Facebook’s true customers, whom it works hard to please. And you just figured this out now? This is like saying "wow, who knew we would get so fat by feeding only on pizza, hamburgers and coke, aren't those companies evil". Well, yes, companies are evil. They don't work for you…

You're absolutely right we should all leave FB. It's the only way to make them change. I've been seriously considering it for a while - I'd lose some exposure in my hobby groups, and my mother would miss the kids' photo updates, but I could just about live with that.

You could use Diaspora. I haven't used either FB or Diaspora in quite a few years know but I would have to imagine it still exists.

Re: Facebook’s Surveillance Machine

#84

Post by w_t_payne »

hellofunk wrote: post #31

I wish quite badly that the benefit of deactivating FB would outweigh the inconvenience, but FB has become such a mainstay that I'd lose touch with lots of people I really have no other way of contacting. I could say "good riddance," if there is no other way to contact them then perhaps they are not important enough to my life, but that's just not true. Or what about all the local forums (FB groups) in my city that h…

I deleted it three or four months ago when I realized that it was just making me unhappy.

Re: Facebook’s Surveillance Machine

#85

Post by anonu »

hellofunk wrote: post #31

I wish quite badly that the benefit of deactivating FB would outweigh the inconvenience, but FB has become such a mainstay that I'd lose touch with lots of people I really have no other way of contacting. I could say "good riddance," if there is no other way to contact them then perhaps they are not important enough to my life, but that's just not true. Or what about all the local forums (FB groups) in my city that h…

What happened to good ol' emails? Serious question... Can't you organize amongst friends with emails? I hate to suggest Slack as well... But there are alternatives is the point...

What about Meetup.com for bigger groups?

Re: Facebook’s Surveillance Machine

#86

Post by robteix »

roadbeats wrote: post #42
hellofunk wrote: post #31

I wish quite badly that the benefit of deactivating FB would outweigh the inconvenience, but FB has become such a mainstay that I'd lose touch with lots of people I really have no other way of contacting. I could say "good riddance," if there is no other way to contact them then perhaps they are not important enough to my life, but that's just not true. Or what about all the local forums (FB groups) in my city that h…

What is the point of staying in contact only in Facebook ? If someone is important for me, I'd be in contact with them in real life or another platform. Also, lots of people seem to be unaware of that you can delete your Facebook account. They don't have a link to the delete page from settings menu though. It's here: https://facebook.com/account/delete

It's actually https://www.facebook.com/help/delete_account

Re: Facebook’s Surveillance Machine

#87

Post by 1over137 »

camillomiller wrote: post #60
chiefalchemist wrote: post #58

I read "Dragnet Nation" shortly after it came out. http://juliaangwin.com/dragnet-nation-available-now/ And a couple years later "Chaos Monkeys." https://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/06/29/business/dealbook/revi... Obviously there are others, as well as articles in between. In terms of FB et al, we are the product. They know this. We know this. And the prevailing (USA) cultural wind is "Privacy? Who needs it?" If there's…

Here in Germany online privacy is a social value, and Facebook is gonna have a even harder time from now on. I don't see it happen in the rest of the world. I give this three months: when the news cycle will have died out, for Facebook it's gonna be business as usual. Zuckerberg is in such a denial about the real mission of his creature, that I don't see how it will ever be able to steer the boat, even if he wanted t…

Why do you think Zuckerberg is in denial? (Honest question.) Seems to me he knows exactly what he's doing.

Re: Facebook’s Surveillance Machine

#88

Post by [deleted] »

hellofunk wrote: post #31

I wish quite badly that the benefit of deactivating FB would outweigh the inconvenience, but FB has become such a mainstay that I'd lose touch with lots of people I really have no other way of contacting. I could say "good riddance," if there is no other way to contact them then perhaps they are not important enough to my life, but that's just not true. Or what about all the local forums (FB groups) in my city that h…

[deleted]

Re: Facebook’s Surveillance Machine

#89

Post by prepend »

The positive outcome of this could be society’s shift away from marketing to meaning.

This isn’t unique to Facebook. It’s true of many large media companies that rely on advertising (Comcast with NBC, Disney with ABC, NYTimes, Google, etc).

Facebook is just among the best at advertising’s extreme optimization.

The election is high attention now, but I’m looking for research on whether society is worth off from drinking Coke and sitting for hours watching video.

Re: Facebook’s Surveillance Machine

#90

Post by jackstraw14 »

3chelon wrote: post #78
bambax wrote: post #66

> Facebook makes money, in other words, by profiling us and then selling our attention to advertisers, political actors and others. These are Facebook’s true customers, whom it works hard to please. And you just figured this out now? This is like saying "wow, who knew we would get so fat by feeding only on pizza, hamburgers and coke, aren't those companies evil". Well, yes, companies are evil. They don't work for you…

You're absolutely right we should all leave FB. It's the only way to make them change. I've been seriously considering it for a while - I'd lose some exposure in my hobby groups, and my mother would miss the kids' photo updates, but I could just about live with that.

If they announced a totally different business model, you would trust them and go back? I’m just asking because that’s an interesting thought, making Facebook change. How can you trust them enough after quitting in protest?

If we expect to have any success, people need to remove this idea that they need social media in their lives. All this is hypothetical too — last I checked Facebook brought in more cash than the 15 lowest GDPs or something like that. Making Facebook change just isn’t realistic. When you quit Facebook, you join a protest against for-profit social media, and as long as Facebook is a blind money machine it will always be part of the problem.

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