Facebook's Zuckerberg will not appear before British MPs • Hacker News Board

Re: Facebook's Zuckerberg will not appear before British MPs

#41

Post by tjomk » Tue, Mar 27, 2018, 12:49 PM UTC

AJRF wrote: post #30

notafxn wrote: post #26

I hope this hate on FB ends already, I'm tired of seeing the home page of HN polluted by it. We all knew what was going on on FB, so acting surprised is silly. And we all know this won't change nothing because most people don't care and will happily keep using FB. And we also know even if people stop using FB they will keep using WA/IG. So what's the point? Is this only a problem now that Trump took advantage of it?

Who is acting surprised? Why do you think it is inevitable that people would use WhatsApp or Instagram if they decide to leave Facebook? Is that really as obvious as you are making it out to be? Is there any evidence of that? The point is that finally, FINALLY the mainstream is paying attention to the potential ramifications of having a consolidated identity on social media, and how they potentially could have their…

The problem is not only Facebook that distorts the reality, it's most of the media. Look at mainstream media like CNN or RT which favour one side and totally ignore the arguments of the other.

All of that will continue to happen no matter what until people start to think critically and question all the information they get, be it from their parents, school teachers, news outlets or social media.

In my circle of friends in fact a lot of people are using IG and WA and ditched Facebook long ago. I use all of the three solely because my business generates a lot of sales through these channels. So I think yes, people will continue to use it in the foreseeable future. But this opinion is based solely on my bubble that I live in.

Re: Facebook's Zuckerberg will not appear before British MPs

#42

Post by majewsky » Tue, Mar 27, 2018, 12:50 PM UTC

amelius wrote: post #19

Come on Zuck, think about how this will make you look in the sequel of "The Social Network".

"The Antisocial Network"?

Re: Facebook's Zuckerberg will not appear before British MPs

#43

Post by codq » Tue, Mar 27, 2018, 12:53 PM UTC

Agebor wrote: post #16

Reading comments lately on HN feels like an expression of Two Minutes Hate.

HN is highly critical of everything, especially closed-gardens and data manipulation. Of course there’s a distaste for FB.

Re: Facebook's Zuckerberg will not appear before British MPs

#44

Post by mistermann » Tue, Mar 27, 2018, 12:57 PM UTC

headmelted wrote: post #39

hanoz wrote: post #28

This was obviously never going to happen and is absolutely the right decision for Zuckerberg and Facebook. House of Commons select committees bagging a big scalp invariably turn into show trials, with MPs possessing a completely deluded sense of their own insight into a subject queuing up to play to the cameras. The spectacle of having Zuckerberg there would have been absolutely excruciating. So, much as I'd like to…

Everything you've said is utterly accurate and yet I still think this is a terrible decision. We'll have to witness some hapless middle-manager undergo the same circus, but with every new person to speak we'll have a customary "I simply cannot believe Mr. Zuckerberg did not think it was important for him to be here in person!". Having a fall guy give terrible answers looks worse than him giving terrible answers. At t…

I think Brexit might be his lucky out here.

Now if he's summoned to appear before the US or EU government, skipping that I suspect would not turn out well.

Re: Facebook's Zuckerberg will not appear before British MPs

#45

Post by grecy » Tue, Mar 27, 2018, 1:03 PM UTC

hanoz wrote: post #28

This was obviously never going to happen and is absolutely the right decision for Zuckerberg and Facebook. House of Commons select committees bagging a big scalp invariably turn into show trials, with MPs possessing a completely deluded sense of their own insight into a subject queuing up to play to the cameras. The spectacle of having Zuckerberg there would have been absolutely excruciating. So, much as I'd like to…

Would you feel the same way if the CEO of some massive Russian or Chinese firm holding the private data on millions and millions of American citizens refused to appear before the American Congress?

Re: Facebook's Zuckerberg will not appear before British MPs

#46

Post by pjc50 » Tue, Mar 27, 2018, 1:09 PM UTC

notafxn wrote: post #26

I hope this hate on FB ends already, I'm tired of seeing the home page of HN polluted by it. We all knew what was going on on FB, so acting surprised is silly. And we all know this won't change nothing because most people don't care and will happily keep using FB. And we also know even if people stop using FB they will keep using WA/IG. So what's the point? Is this only a problem now that Trump took advantage of it?

There's an awful lot of people posting "we knew it was bad already, why do you care now?" Remarkably consistently across all articles relating to Facebook. Clearly you want nothing done about this and are happy with this low level of privacy. But on the other hand a lot of people have been unhappy with it for a long time; suddenly the dam has broken and the public discussion in the media is taking an interest.

This happens with many scandals. I'm reminded of LIBOR "rigging", which all the participants thought was entirely normal.

Re: Facebook's Zuckerberg will not appear before British MPs

#47

Post by pjc50 » Tue, Mar 27, 2018, 1:10 PM UTC

tjomk wrote: post #41

AJRF wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who is acting surprised? Why do you think it is inevitable that people would use WhatsApp or Instagram if they decide to leave Facebook? Is that really as obvious as you are making it out to be? Is there any evidence of that? The point is that finally, FINALLY the mainstream is paying attention to the potential ramifications of having a consolidated identity on social media, and how they potentially could have their…

The problem is not only Facebook that distorts the reality, it's most of the media. Look at mainstream media like CNN or RT which favour one side and totally ignore the arguments of the other. All of that will continue to happen no matter what until people start to think critically and question all the information they get, be it from their parents, school teachers, news outlets or social media. In my circle of frien…

RT is not "mainstream media" in any sensible way, it's Russian state propaganda TV.

Re: Facebook's Zuckerberg will not appear before British MPs

#48

Post by dwringer » Tue, Mar 27, 2018, 1:11 PM UTC

OrganicMSG wrote: post #31

rndmio wrote: post #22

As someone from the UK I am not at all surprised, there is no upside to him doing so. There is nothing he can say that will help, the committee will absolutely rip into him as their primary audience is the press and people of the UK, they don't really care about his answers to their questions. The problem is that the story isn't about FB making mistakes, or being hacked, or doing something they said they wouldn't. It…

>It's that people are working out what it is they've agreed to to use the service If the vast majority of users are only working out what they have signed up for now, after using the service for years, then it would be hard to argue that Facebook's users have given informed consent to a contract, which is generally a legal requirement here for it to be said that you have agreed to something.

When I and a lot of people I know signed up, an active .edu email was required. It was like the unprofessional kids' version of LinkedIn. The implicit conditions of the agreement to sign up for an account - that only other students and academic faculty could use the service and engage with content - were completely abandoned after they had cornered a part of their "social graph".

Re: Facebook's Zuckerberg will not appear before British MPs

#49

Post by throwawayReply » Tue, Mar 27, 2018, 1:12 PM UTC

martinald wrote: post #14

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> FB took out a personally-signed-by-Zuckerberg letter in 6 UK sunday papers last weekend Were they identically worded?

Yes, but it wasn't signed by the CPO, the board, or anyone, they were all signed by Zuckerberg so I think it looks especially fake to take out those ads (which are especially targeted at the 'political class' IMO) and then refuse to come before MPs. Source: https://cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/180325071038-01-faceb...

That makes it sound like people are upset about an isolated incident, trying to play this off as an isolated incident is going to blow up very badly as people "discover" just how much of their data is everywhere, whether they gave permission or not this isn't about a single breach.

Re: Facebook's Zuckerberg will not appear before British MPs

#50

Post by bitxbit » Tue, Mar 27, 2018, 1:15 PM UTC

CaveTech wrote: post #40

bitxbit wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I actually think this is absolutely the wrong move for him if he already came clean. In my estimate, he is being legally advised not to show up to these hearings for reasons unclear to us at the moment. Perhaps there's more to the story than what has been revealed thus far.

There is no conspiracy here. Being publicly scrutanized is not good for business, there is no win for Facebook to be had in this format.

Perhaps not but there is a big difference between going on TV and taking out an apology ad vs. appearing in sworn-in hearings. Recall this is a part of an ongoing issue that they have been carefully trying to manage for the past few years. Unfortunately for Facebook, they are very much in the public space by design. If they cannot withstand this level of public scrutiny, then they are effectively conceding that they "don't deserve" to serve the public.