Facebook Is Giving Advertisers Access To Your Shadow Contact Information • Hacker News Board

Re: Facebook Is Giving Advertisers Access To Your Shadow Contact Information

#411

Post by vermilingua » Fri, Sep 28, 2018, 1:10 AM UTC

njarboe wrote: post #349

MaxBarraclough wrote: post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right, because Move fast and break stuff is their mantra. I'm surprised that articles doesn't even mention it. Perhaps Move fast and hurt people would be more honest. I think it's rather catchy.

It is probably still the mantra for people who work there, as corporate culture is slow to change, but Zuck changed it in 2014 to "Move Fast With Stable Infra"[1]. [1] https://mashable.com/2014/04/30/facebooks-new-mantra-move-fa...

"Move fast and break things" is probably still the mantra, as corporate culture is slow to change.

Oh the irony.

Re: Facebook Is Giving Advertisers Access To Your Shadow Contact Information

#412

Post by whoknowsnobody » Fri, Sep 28, 2018, 1:15 AM UTC

FabHK wrote: post #94

oneeyedpigeon wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Speaking as someone who hasn't used facebook in years, I think it's awkward trying to compare it with netflix/spotify. The latter are narrowly-focussed, with a clear target for recommendvertising - i.e. I am viewing a film or listening to music, the case for suggesting another is pretty good, and useful. That's very different from, for example, recommending a product to me when I'm viewing my friends' photos.

Also, one pays for Netflix, and there are no ads. They try to give you, the user/customer, a better experience, so that more users/customers sign up and pay. Needless to say, Facebook's goals and incentives are very different.

And you use Netflix to watch videos and Spotify to listen to Music, no problem in being offered other, personalised, videos and music.

But on Facebook people go for socialising, and not to get personalised ads.

Re: Facebook Is Giving Advertisers Access To Your Shadow Contact Information

#413

Post by ezoe » Fri, Sep 28, 2018, 1:23 AM UTC

amirmc wrote: post #55

ezoe wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you sure you didn't access it from the same IP address? There are so many fingerprints you are willingly sending to the public.

‘Willingly’? I think unwittingly is more likely.

It's your computer which store cookie and localStroage data to the local storage. It' your computer which execute JavaScript program to retrieve that data.

It's your choice to use the same IP address.

It's your will.

Re: Facebook Is Giving Advertisers Access To Your Shadow Contact Information

#414

Post by badwolf » Fri, Sep 28, 2018, 1:49 AM UTC

mmatear wrote: post #406

secfirstmd wrote: post #247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who has occasionally runs experiments with FB adverts for various types of business. I feel it's boiling point will be when people and organisations advertising on the platform really start to look deeply into the value for money they are getting on it. I can't tell you the amount of times I've seen organisations throw money at it in return for dubious clicks from markets they never targeted, bot like user…

My problem is how easy it is to "fake" advertising. As in I go to website browse and buy then I get ads after about said product. Is that counted as evidence of a successful add sale?

That's most likely poor retargeting setup

Re: Facebook Is Giving Advertisers Access To Your Shadow Contact Information

#415

Post by gukov » Fri, Sep 28, 2018, 1:52 AM UTC

njarboe wrote: post #353

NiekvdMaas wrote: post #346

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm in ad tech, and believe me: FB advertising works . The vast majority of their ad revenue is coming from experienced ad buyers that are spending immense amounts on direct response campaigns, not branding. If you want to see how things work, start a small ad campaign yourself of FB. It's all about ROI, attribution, cost per action, super detailed targeting, etc. It's the opposite of "throwing money at it hoping tha…

Exactly like this article states. You can give Facebook a list of phone numbers or email addresses and it will put your ad in front of only those people. Does anyone know how small a list you can target? List of one? List of one plus N number of dead email addresses? Therefore a list of one, but more expensive?

http://ghostinfluence.com/the-ultimate-retaliation-pranking-...

Re: Facebook Is Giving Advertisers Access To Your Shadow Contact Information

#416

Post by bogomipz » Fri, Sep 28, 2018, 1:58 AM UTC

igravious wrote: post #369

bogomipz wrote: post #331

And yet in April Mark Zuckerberg told the US Congress that he wasn't "familiar" with shadow profiles[1]: Lujan: Facebook has detailed profiles on people who have never signed up for Facebook, yes or no? Zuckerberg: Congressman, in general we collect data on people who have not signed up for Facebook for security purposes to prevent the kind of scraping you were just referring to [reverse searches based on public info…

Quelle surprise. I bet plausible deniability is that they call them by a different name internally. Information brokers are so sketchy – it makes me so sad that the coolest tech companies are also some of the sketchiest. Do you remember back when the internet and web were all so full of promise? Instead we got tech behemoths that would put Standard Oil and AT&T in their day to shame.

I wouldn't count FB to be among the "coolest" tech companies. Maybe 10 years ago they had some cachet but today it's just Mega Corp.

Re: Facebook Is Giving Advertisers Access To Your Shadow Contact Information

#417

Post by wolco » Fri, Sep 28, 2018, 2:14 AM UTC

y04nn wrote: post #371

NiekvdMaas wrote: post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you hinting that FB advertisers are throwing 50 billion (expected 2018 revenue) at ads that are poorly performing? Obviously that is not correct, the result of all this detailed targeting is campaigns that are performing very well for experienced marketeers.

FB is making sure you can't calculate the ROI of a campaign. Marketers are putting money in FB because they think this is where they can the most accurately target people. https://adage.com/article/digital/p-g-decided-facebook-ad-ta... https://www.forbes.com/sites/joannmuller/2012/05/15/gm-says-...

By spending x amount per week and by measuring signups/purchases/leads marketers are tracking roi.

Re: Facebook Is Giving Advertisers Access To Your Shadow Contact Information

#418

Post by bogomipz » Fri, Sep 28, 2018, 2:19 AM UTC

sbr464 wrote: post #408

bogomipz wrote: post #368

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>"...they'll no longer use 2FA #'s for ads..." What are 2FA numbers in the context of ads?

I'm assuming it's meant that a user connects their phone to secure their account, but FB is also using it for marketing etc.

Ah I see, so the same 2FA just repurposed for things it wasn't intended to do. Thanks.

Re: Facebook Is Giving Advertisers Access To Your Shadow Contact Information

#419

Post by msabalau » Fri, Sep 28, 2018, 2:29 AM UTC

AJ007 wrote: post #316

gonmf wrote: post #261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think platforms like Facebook depend on being "cool" over some demographic. Then other demographics adopt it, time passes, other demographics grow tired of the same old Facebook look their parents also used, and Facebook starts to die. We've seen this as well with other social networks like hi5, myspace, that once dominated entire continents as the preferred social website. Of course they are smart and competent pe…

It is an anti-network effect. The early adaptors are cool, the late adaptors are not. In Facebook's case, the early adaptors are now old people posting photos of their children. The users aged to irrelevance. There definitely was a big difference between MySpace and the other social networks. Facebook ran well and worked. People forget the total shit show MySpace was in the middle of 2008. The site ran terribly, was…

Facebook adopters were never cool. It began as a place for uptight Ivy bratlings, then grew by being more square and "safer" than Myspace.

Nevertheless, your larger point holds, Facebook users are even less cool now than they were before.

Re: Facebook Is Giving Advertisers Access To Your Shadow Contact Information

#420

Post by duckMuppet » Fri, Sep 28, 2018, 3:47 AM UTC

pdeuchler wrote: post #389

adpirz wrote: post #239

What's facebook's boiling point? My guess is they'll respond, they'll no longer use 2FA #'s for ads, the damage will have been done, and 99% of the population won't know any of it occurred. We'll repeat this cycle when a fresh revelation occurs months from now, as facebook continues to test how much they can leverage for more ad revenue. But none of it is actually slowing FB down. Its biggest dip in value came from d…

A reminder that if you work for Facebook you are fully complicit. Especially if you're an engineer, there should be no shortage of jobs available to you at this time. There is no excuse to work for a company that's sole focus is exploitation of its users.

This is an asinine, Deference to authority, nanny state garbage take..

No-one is forced to give all their info to fb. Better yet, no one is forced to use fb.. Of your using these services, and you give all your info to them, that's on you, not engineers just earning a check.