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Statement by FTC Regarding Reported Concerns about Facebook Privacy Practices

ftc.gov

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Re: Statement by FTC Regarding Reported Concerns about Facebook Privacy Practices

#51
post #3

Remember the delete Uber campaign, the Equifax breach, the WFC accounts, the Bank of America suits, the Intel chip vulnerability? The market doesn't. The market has a short memory, and FB is not going anywhere. However, there may be some welcomed changes in data abuse. With that said, I think the stock is a bargain today.

The IC and their mockingbirds[1] in the MSM have been furious about losing their ability to completely control public opinion for a long time due to the internet and social media. The fact that Trump was able to win despite 91% negative MSM coverage[2] terrifies them. So they create a controversy out of thin air to force FB and soon other companies to comply and censor anything deemed wrong think. There's absolutely nothing new we've learned about what FB does in the last week, all this information was public and actually praised when Obama used FB data to win.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Mockingbird

2. https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2017/09/...

Re: Statement by FTC Regarding Reported Concerns about Facebook Privacy Practices

#52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With that said, I think the stock is a bargain today. And still falling. A dark part of me hopes the sharks looking to make a profit without recognition of how Facebook is in really deep shit just lose everything. A lot of glib predictions about catching falling knives here, but they seem to ignore Facebook not being quite as essential or inescapable as someone’s bank or credit reporting agency. People don’t really u…

> not being quite as essential or inescapable as someone’s bank or credit reporting agency. Given the existence of the shadow profile, FB is exactly as inescapable as a credit reporting agency.

> Given the existence of the shadow profile, FB is exactly as inescapable as a credit reporting agency.

That's not true. Facebook has data, but their data isn't as valuable and important to individuals as that controlled by a credit reporting agency.

For instance, Equifax has info to enable straightforward identity theft, and I need all that data to be there if I want reasonable terms on a loan I may want.

The Facebook social graph is mainly valuable to advertisers and intelligence agencies, both of which I can happily ignore day-to-day. It's data could be a tool for identity theft, but I doubt they have the SSNs or CC numbers in their shadow profiles needed to make that easy.

Re: Statement by FTC Regarding Reported Concerns about Facebook Privacy Practices

#53
post #33
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Remember Digg? Unlike the companies you listed, FB is user-facing - just like Digg. If users happen to decide that a company is not "cool" anymore or dispase its public figure(Zuckerberg), it may actually go away. Remember IE(stands for Internet Explorer)? Using Firefox and later Chrome became a crusade and the almighty brand of the richest person in the world that holds the monopoly on computers platforms bled to de…

I'm not sure Digg had enough money lying around to just buy the next "cool" thing that comes along, as Facebook has done a few times now.

It’s a turgid fantasy that you can predict, buy, and incubate the next big thing reliably. If that were true, there would be no failed VC’s.

Re: Statement by FTC Regarding Reported Concerns about Facebook Privacy Practices

#54
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Remember Digg? Unlike the companies you listed, FB is user-facing - just like Digg. If users happen to decide that a company is not "cool" anymore or dispase its public figure(Zuckerberg), it may actually go away. Remember IE(stands for Internet Explorer)? Using Firefox and later Chrome became a crusade and the almighty brand of the richest person in the world that holds the monopoly on computers platforms bled to de…

I don't think that is an apt analogy. Facebook users become so entrenched with their social network, pictures, etc. that it is much harder to delete than a bunch of interest categories.

I don't know. Once you get your photos off of Facebook I think you can leave really easily. You can still message all your important friends through sms or your chosen chat app. Snapchat exists as an alternative for casual photo sharing. Reddit or Twitter for posting news, memes or funny videos. I think people exaggerate the importance of Facebook. Young people can adapt to new technology quickly. I know I was able to drop Facebook pretty easily.

Re: Statement by FTC Regarding Reported Concerns about Facebook Privacy Practices

#55
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Remember Digg? Unlike the companies you listed, FB is user-facing - just like Digg. If users happen to decide that a company is not "cool" anymore or dispase its public figure(Zuckerberg), it may actually go away. Remember IE(stands for Internet Explorer)? Using Firefox and later Chrome became a crusade and the almighty brand of the richest person in the world that holds the monopoly on computers platforms bled to de…

> If users happen to decide that a company is not "cool" anymore or dispase its public figure(Zuckerberg), it may actually go away. This is already sort of happening anyway with the "my parents are on Facebook now" problem. That I think is a much bigger threat to Facebook's future than any regulations that are coming.

I feel the same way

Re: Statement by FTC Regarding Reported Concerns about Facebook Privacy Practices

#56
post #2

And the ironic cherry on top is the line right under the report “Like the FTC on Facebook.” It this a farce?

I'm sure you know that, but that paragraph looks like a standard blurb that is pasted onto all press releases.

Re: Statement by FTC Regarding Reported Concerns about Facebook Privacy Practices

#57
post #41
post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure Digg had enough money lying around to just buy the next "cool" thing that comes along, as Facebook has done a few times now.

I added IE to my example to illustrate that having all the money in the world may not save you when your brand becomes toxic. Some may say that FB users don't care but with IE it also was just geeks and devs, but it turned into a crusade and now everyone "knows" that the first thing you do after you have a fresh PC is to install Chrome.

The difference is, if devs don’t support your brower, your browsing experience suffers.

Every developer on Earth could leave Facebook and it would not make the experience of using fb any worse. Facebook is not a software platform, it’s an ad platform.

If anything fb would get better if we stopped targeting it.

Re: Statement by FTC Regarding Reported Concerns about Facebook Privacy Practices

#58
post #3

Remember the delete Uber campaign, the Equifax breach, the WFC accounts, the Bank of America suits, the Intel chip vulnerability? The market doesn't. The market has a short memory, and FB is not going anywhere. However, there may be some welcomed changes in data abuse. With that said, I think the stock is a bargain today.

With that said, I think the stock is a bargain today. And still falling. A dark part of me hopes the sharks looking to make a profit without recognition of how Facebook is in really deep shit just lose everything. A lot of glib predictions about catching falling knives here, but they seem to ignore Facebook not being quite as essential or inescapable as someone’s bank or credit reporting agency. People don’t really u…

Considering you just said you hope I lose everything... I will take the follow up "Good luck" with a grain of salt.

Re: Statement by FTC Regarding Reported Concerns about Facebook Privacy Practices

#59
post #3

Remember the delete Uber campaign, the Equifax breach, the WFC accounts, the Bank of America suits, the Intel chip vulnerability? The market doesn't. The market has a short memory, and FB is not going anywhere. However, there may be some welcomed changes in data abuse. With that said, I think the stock is a bargain today.

How is the top comment here a weak version of, “come on in, the water is fine” when Facebook keeps dripping scandal? A lot of armchair investors and professionally apathetic people the last couple of days, and they’re all making the same claim, “nobody cares.” Meanwhile it’s still being drilled in the media, keeps hitting the front page here, dropped tens of billions, and so on.

“Nobody cares” feels more like desperate wishing/spinning, and it’s getting old in a hurry. It also ignores how this is being driven by Trump’s election, which has freaked a lot of people out, and by a general backlash against big tech. A lot of anecdotes are being bandied about, in the face of a lot of realities that are not anecdotal.

So buy the stock, but don’t be shocked when like Moore’s Law, past performance fails to predict future gains.

Re: Statement by FTC Regarding Reported Concerns about Facebook Privacy Practices

#60
post #48
post #3

Remember the delete Uber campaign, the Equifax breach, the WFC accounts, the Bank of America suits, the Intel chip vulnerability? The market doesn't. The market has a short memory, and FB is not going anywhere. However, there may be some welcomed changes in data abuse. With that said, I think the stock is a bargain today.

Remember when sexual assault and harassment were routine, and powerful men could do what they wanted with impunity? There was an awakening, the public mood changed, people were energized and emboldened to take action. What used to be an open secret is now taboo and many powerful men have been fired and disgraced. Remember the awakening about the unhealthy effects of sugary carbonated beverages? That wasn't a one-time…

Let me know when we fire Trump for those same transgressions.
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