Mark Zuckerberg testifies before Congress • Hacker News Board

Re: Mark Zuckerberg testifies before Congress

#101

Post by fbonetti » Tue, Apr 10, 2018, 8:13 PM UTC

merouan wrote: post #93

fbonetti wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a really odd line of questioning from people who don't seem to understand the subject matter. This gem made me laugh out loud: Senator: How do you sustain a business model in which users don't pay for your service? Zuckerberg (in a disdainful tone): Senator, we run ads. https://clips.twitch.tv/FantasticCrowdedDelicataPipeHype Edit: I directly transcribed the exchange

I think you're misunderstanding the intent: obviously they are aware of that. Hearings commonly involve asking basic questions

I know that was probably the intent, but the senator sounded genuinely confused. It didn't sound like a deposition-style question.

Re: Mark Zuckerberg testifies before Congress

#102

Post by Apocryphon » Tue, Apr 10, 2018, 8:14 PM UTC

kyleblarson wrote: post #51

As if any of these politicians actually give a shit about the privacy of American citizens. Pure theater.

And Facebook does?

Re: Mark Zuckerberg testifies before Congress

#103

Post by refurb » Tue, Apr 10, 2018, 8:14 PM UTC

oh_sigh wrote: post #90

baalimago wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's so many "I need to get back to you on that".

It's a good strategy, all the media coverage is about his actual testimony today, whereas when he sends an update to the committee next week, it will not make as big of a splash as this one.

Exactly. Far better to admit to something in a follow-up letter to Congress than admit to it on live TV.

Re: Mark Zuckerberg testifies before Congress

#104

Post by jakebasile » Tue, Apr 10, 2018, 8:16 PM UTC

koolba wrote: post #24

Live from the testimony, emphasis mine: > MZ: "There will always be a version of Facebook that is free. Coming soon, Facebook Pro(TM)! Literally putting a price on your privacy.

I mean, it's trumpeted from the rooftops here that if you don't pay you are the product. What is the alternative if not charge the user for the service?

Re: Mark Zuckerberg testifies before Congress

#105

Post by gcatalfamo » Tue, Apr 10, 2018, 8:16 PM UTC

The tenor, the awareness, the culture of questions that 70-year-old senators are turning to Zuckerberg at the congress would make you cheer for Facebook. Even if you previously hated it.

Re: Mark Zuckerberg testifies before Congress

#106

Post by sumoboy » Tue, Apr 10, 2018, 8:18 PM UTC

Senators ranting on terms of service, nobody reads or understands these documents for products or services.

Re: Mark Zuckerberg testifies before Congress

#107

Post by mortdeus » Tue, Apr 10, 2018, 8:19 PM UTC

btown wrote: post #79

misiti3780 wrote: post #41

"Is it true facebook can track user browsers even after they are logged out of facebook?" Zuck: "I need to get back to you on that"

Facebook doesn't delete all cookies (for instance, there's an `sb` cookie still set) in their logout response. They may choose not to do anything with the cookies that remain, but the technical answer to the question is yes. And even if they currently did delete all cookies, there's nothing from preventing them from introducing cookies that do remain. Zuck knows this is generally feasible - he's a talented software e…

This is all supposed to be politically scary and demonstrative of the fact that very few people actually knows what is going on. Which all the more scary to me because these are the people who are supposed to understand what's going on so they can have proper oversight. This entire issue reminds me of the time the supreme court tried to wrap their brains around the (finger quotes) "the cloud".

What's really sad is that nobody has been addressing just how creepy the internet is getting. Like the fact that with just 500 likes the social network can insinuate more of your personality than your lover. Or how Google can predict what you will likely like to eat for breakfast tomorrow based on the kind of stuff you are buying at the store whenever you use reward cards that is gets cross referenced to your browsing habits that insinuate moods.

We are really over engineering the internet to the point that we have a "don't touch that red button" being installed into our lives where nobody knows what it does until it gets pressed, we end up wrecking our cars and are left wondering why the car manufacturers thought it was smart to install NOS in our cars without our knowledge in order to remain on the cutting edge (and thus competitive).

Re: Mark Zuckerberg testifies before Congress

#108

Post by ibejoeb » Tue, Apr 10, 2018, 8:20 PM UTC

dfxm12 wrote: post #55

ibejoeb wrote: post #18

I guess I'm still confused about this matter. As I understand it, nothing was exploited. A company used intrinsic capabilities of the system to do a job. Are we just raising the question of whether this is an appropriate business model? I suppose that's a good discussion to have. I'm just a bit miffed that we're effectively holding another obscenities hearing while the only thing going on with the Equifax debacle is…

nothing was exploited Assuming you're only considering the computer security definition of "exploit", I'm not totally sure why this matters. User data was obtained via means not allowed by Facebook. Facebook realized this & didn't disclose it to the US government or its users, as required (or, at the very least questionably required) by its consent decree with the FTC . Based on this, it's not out of line for the gov…

>User data was obtained via means not allowed by Facebook

That's what I'm asking. 1) Is it alleged that CA found a flaw in FB's design and 2) did something illegal with it? I've seen accounts alluding to that, but that makes me think that it is entirely by design and it's just be framed negatively for the greatest political impact.

Re: Mark Zuckerberg testifies before Congress

#109

Post by gizmo385 » Tue, Apr 10, 2018, 8:20 PM UTC

fbonetti wrote: post #87

_bxg1 wrote: post #48

It's pretty cringe-y so far. From The Verge's liveblog: "I would liken this hearing so far to a precocious college junior explaining his major to his grandparents at Thanksgiving"

It's a really odd line of questioning from people who don't seem to understand the subject matter. This gem made me laugh out loud: Senator: How do you sustain a business model in which users don't pay for your service? Zuckerberg (in a disdainful tone): Senator, we run ads. https://clips.twitch.tv/FantasticCrowdedDelicataPipeHype Edit: I directly transcribed the exchange

Timestamp for this exchange?

Re: Mark Zuckerberg testifies before Congress

#110

Post by tareqak » Tue, Apr 10, 2018, 8:24 PM UTC

tareqak wrote: post #23

I’m streaming it along side graphs of Facebook’s stock price here: https://twitch.tv/tareqak and I posted it on HN earlier here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16803453 .

Thanks to all who came to watch. I stopped the stream now because it’s been over 20 minutes since the markets have closed and I’m not adding value at this point. The links to my sources are still live. They just took a brief break as well.

Thanks again.