Mark Zuckerberg testifies before Congress • Hacker News Board

Re: Mark Zuckerberg testifies before Congress

#181

Post by aviv » Tue, Apr 10, 2018, 9:30 PM UTC

He was very evasive about Facebook tracking users outside of their FB site and mobile apps. Kept saying he doesn't understand the question and "team will get back to you".

It's unfortunate no one (that I've seen) brought up the presence of the Like button and Facebook comments on a large portion of the web, which means Facebook knows pretty much most of the sites and pages you visit (even if the site you visit doesn't include any FB widgets, but the next one you click to does, since they also track the referrer header).

Re: Mark Zuckerberg testifies before Congress

#182

Post by kzrdude » Tue, Apr 10, 2018, 9:30 PM UTC

"What a story, only in America right?" [About facebook's origin]

Zuck: "Well, senator there are big Chinese internet compani.."

"The answer is yes, you're supposed to say yes".

So much about China. Only in America. The answer is mandatory, it's "Yes".

Re: Mark Zuckerberg testifies before Congress

#183

Post by tareqak » Tue, Apr 10, 2018, 9:31 PM UTC

tareqak wrote: post #110

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.

https://www.twitch.tv/washingtonpost is continuing to stream the testimony. Some of the questioning sounds tougher now, so it's a shame that markets are closed.

Re: Mark Zuckerberg testifies before Congress

#184

Post by 18pfsmt » Tue, Apr 10, 2018, 9:32 PM UTC

dusing wrote: post #165

Zimahl wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yet he only asked about conservative causes and people that were affected by Facebook policies. It gives the appearance that Facebook is only policing conservative content. I'm sure if one looked, you could find liberal causes and people that were policed as well.

Zuck had himself just said that people living in silicon valley are overwhelmingly left leaning. So when he says they have 20k back home policing content it would makes sense to assume those 20k people are included in the group Zuck summarizes as overwhelmingly left leaning. Worth asking about.

He also emphasized that the majority of their users are not speaking English or in the US, so their foreign workforce would not reflect the political views of SV nor the US.

Re: Mark Zuckerberg testifies before Congress

#185

Post by jonbarker » Tue, Apr 10, 2018, 9:33 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

Interesting take. I actually read that as a 'softball question' from one supporter of adtech 'free as in beer products' to another. As in, aren't these people who are outraged funny? How else could we create something for free? It was in effect a signal 'don't worry, this won't turn into any meaningful regulation affecting your bottom line.' Don't be duped by people who 'play dumb'. There are many examples of people who don't understand technology in Congress, I don't think this is one of them.

Re: Mark Zuckerberg testifies before Congress

#186

Post by 0x00000000 » Tue, Apr 10, 2018, 9:36 PM UTC

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"

I do not have the facebook app on my phone. I downloaded Instagram and it magically knew one of my email addresses (not the one used with my facebook account). I deleted it, mashed the keyboard for the new email address, declined syncing contacts, blocked the permission as well as every other permission, and lo and behold it still shows all of my facebook friends on instagram as suggestions. Fucking creepy.

Re: Mark Zuckerberg testifies before Congress

#187

Post by ygaf » Tue, Apr 10, 2018, 9:36 PM UTC

davvolun wrote: post #167

Anderkent wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Far left very much engages in hate speech. Kill all white people etc etc. You can try to true scotsman that, but you can do the same for the far right.

I feel fairly confident I don't need to use 'no true scotsman' to argue the fact that no one with a "D" after their name asking Zuckerberg a question today has ever said "Kill all white people." On the other hand, Cruz wasted our time, and more importantly, the time any other member of Congress would have had to ask something important, asking Zuckerberg about a Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day page that was deleted for…

>no one with a "D" after their name asking Zuckerberg a question today

I can't even see where the goalposts have gone.

Re: Mark Zuckerberg testifies before Congress

#188

Post by Slansitartop » Tue, Apr 10, 2018, 9:37 PM UTC

18pfsmt wrote: post #123

oh_sigh wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Does anybody know if any of these folow-ups make it into the Congressional Record at a later time?

Even if it is, most of the media bang would be him admitting to it on video.

Re: Mark Zuckerberg testifies before Congress

#189

Post by confounded » Tue, Apr 10, 2018, 9:38 PM UTC

grecy wrote: post #112

baalimago wrote: post #54

Mark Zuckerberg does not believe he has a monopoly. He believes there is an alternative to Facebook in the way that different car manufacturers have different competitors. Surely he can't mean this, right?

> Mark Zuckerberg does not believe he has a monopoly. I tend to agree with him. Facebook just happens to be the most popular Internet social network, right now , but there is nothing that makes it a monopoly. Anyone could replace it, there is nothing actively stopping them from doing so. I'm sure for decades the Ford Motor Company was thought of as a Monopoly... and then they went bankrupt, and that's just one compan…

All companies eventually go bankrupt, or change in some fundamental way.

By your definition, nothing can ever be a monopoly, can it?

Re: Mark Zuckerberg testifies before Congress

#190

Post by wuunderbar » Tue, Apr 10, 2018, 9:38 PM UTC

drexlspivey wrote: post #158

I call BS on actual deleting all user data when someone deletes his account. If some whistle blower proves otherwise is he liable for prosecution for perjury?

Define deleted. Do you mean the data itself is purged, or simply marked as deleted and rendered inaccessible?

If you mean purged, then do you also mean that it is zeroed off of the disk by a multiple low-level pass?

This would be hard to prosecute for perjury as the definition of "deleted" can be construed in many ways.