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Facebook Isn’t Sorry, It Just Wants Your Data

buzzfeednews.com

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Re: Facebook Isn’t Sorry, It Just Wants Your Data

#61

Post by paulcole »

fermienrico wrote: post #9

It’s very simple: As a consumer, we cannot trust any advertisement company. Their goals are in direct conflict with user privacy. In fact it’s not a wishful goal, it is their business model. Our attention is very expensive and everything is designed around us to grab us by the neck so to speak. Flashing ads, stories and feeds. I cannot, absolutely cannot, trust Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Adobe, Facebook, Visa, Amex,…

> So charge us for your service and stop forcing me to view ads, selling off my privacy into a giant bidding war of advertisers. Fuck advertisement.

Easy to say this if you have the money to pay for it which the vast majority of Americans do not.

Re: Facebook Isn’t Sorry, It Just Wants Your Data

#62

Post by truculent »

fortythirteen wrote: post #53

While the general conclusion is correct, this angst-ridden blog post posing as a news article wouldn't get past the most generous editor a few decades ago. It's sad that Buzzfeed News is considered a legitimate source by some.

> It's sad that Buzzfeed News is considered a legitimate source by some. I think it's fine to differentiate between their fluff and opinion pieces, and some genuinely excellent investigative reporting. Why do we need to simplify to "legitimate" or "not legitimate"?

Re: Facebook Isn’t Sorry, It Just Wants Your Data

#63

Post by Konnstann »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #49
pmiller2 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You left off Amazon from the “can’t trust” list. IMO they would be there even if they hadn’t recently started expanding into advertising, because their business model seems to be to expand existing operations until there’s a critical mass, then slither off into an adjacent sector and repeat. And, just to round out the list, Netflix looks like one that’s actually trustworthy. They don’t advertise, and the info they ha…

There are enormous amounts of product placement in Netflix's content.

There's an enormous amount of product placement in every form of televised media, that's how they fund movies and TV shows. Until the brand of soda a character drinks in the show i'm watching changes based on my recent purchasing history or Facebook posts, I'm gonna go ahead and say Netflix is pretty good about how they go about advertising.

Re: Facebook Isn’t Sorry, It Just Wants Your Data

#64

Post by aphextron »

Animats wrote: post #24

Maybe there's an opportunity here for someone to do to Facebook what Craigslist did to print newspapers. What people want is a way to keep in touch with their friends. But that's not a big revenue generator. So the "social networks" put in ads, "sponsored tweets", and other crap. Then users get fed up and leave. (Doubling down on ads as the number of users drops is called "pulling a Myspace"). A basic friends-only sy…

>A basic friends-only system isn't that expensive to run. A low-budget operation like Craigslist could do it with a modest staff. A low fee or infrequent ads could bring in enough revenue to keep it running.

The technical aspects of such a service are trivial. People try to build new social media sites every day. The problem is building up a network effect. Getting to the scale of Facebook may not ever be possible again for a small startup because the friction for switching services is so great. Until there is some massive technological leap like the internet again, there's really nothing compelling enough for the average person to bother.

Re: Facebook Isn’t Sorry, It Just Wants Your Data

#65

Post by jasode »

Animats wrote: post #24

Maybe there's an opportunity here for someone to do to Facebook what Craigslist did to print newspapers. What people want is a way to keep in touch with their friends. But that's not a big revenue generator. So the "social networks" put in ads, "sponsored tweets", and other crap. Then users get fed up and leave. (Doubling down on ads as the number of users drops is called "pulling a Myspace"). A basic friends-only sy…

>A basic friends-only system isn't that expensive to run.

The expense depends on what the baseline for "basic" is.

I believe today's average consumer would want basic features to include photos and video sharing. (This consumer expectation having been conditioned by previous $0/month social networks like Facebook.) Needless to say, this requires expensive datacenters with petabytes of harddrives. Rising storage infrastructure costs and was the #1 driver of Facebook costs in 2006. It may still be today. I don't know. I believe storage is still Snapchat's biggest cost component of Google Cloud payments.

So either run a text version of a social network or put storage limits to keep the social network "cheap" to run. My guess is that the typical non-HN type of user would prefer the ads so it's still $0 per month with the ability to share lots of baby photos.

Re: Facebook Isn’t Sorry, It Just Wants Your Data

#66

Post by JeanMarcS »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #49
pmiller2 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You left off Amazon from the “can’t trust” list. IMO they would be there even if they hadn’t recently started expanding into advertising, because their business model seems to be to expand existing operations until there’s a critical mass, then slither off into an adjacent sector and repeat. And, just to round out the list, Netflix looks like one that’s actually trustworthy. They don’t advertise, and the info they ha…

There are enormous amounts of product placement in Netflix's content.

And next, they’ll shoot shows with green boxes and green posters, and it will be filled with targeted brands on the fly.

I think that’s the next move as soon as the technology will be ready.

Re: Facebook Isn’t Sorry, It Just Wants Your Data

#67

Post by EGreg »

fermienrico wrote: post #9

It’s very simple: As a consumer, we cannot trust any advertisement company. Their goals are in direct conflict with user privacy. In fact it’s not a wishful goal, it is their business model. Our attention is very expensive and everything is designed around us to grab us by the neck so to speak. Flashing ads, stories and feeds. I cannot, absolutely cannot, trust Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Adobe, Facebook, Visa, Amex,…

The next big thing is open source infrastructure projects

https://qbix.com/blog/2017/08/20/centralization-and-open-sou...

Re: Facebook Isn’t Sorry, It Just Wants Your Data

#68

Post by fermienrico »

kroltan wrote: post #56
nbardy wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is Adobe in there? Are they really an ad company?

"Eat, drink, and breathe insights with Adobe Analytics." https://www.adobe.com/analytics/adobe-analytics.html

Wow, that is indelibly awful - "If you're ready to make a culture of data, where insights are like oxygen and everyone acts on them in real time, then Adobe Analytics is ready for you."

Who writes this stuff!?

Re: Facebook Isn’t Sorry, It Just Wants Your Data

#69

Post by falcolas »

noxToken wrote: post #38
jakelazaroff wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree in general, but what free ad-supported services do Adobe and Microsoft offer?

Adobe[0] has an entire analytics/tracking platform. Microsoft is likely about the telemetry stuff happening in Windows 10. They're not supported by ads, but the tracking baking into the OS is a non-starter for a lot of tech folks. [0]: https://www.adobe.com/analytics/adobe-analytics.html

Microsoft may not be directly supported by ads, but they're happy to show you ads in your purchased install of Windows 10 for other Microsoft products (Halo, One Drive, etc.)

EDIT: I'd be happier to hear why I'm incorrect in the place of downvotes.

Re: Facebook Isn’t Sorry, It Just Wants Your Data

#70

Post by werber »

pmiller2 wrote: post #46
fermienrico wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a good point about Amazon, I added it. Amazon has an incredible amount of data about my purchase history. I'll also add Amex, Visa, and MasterCard. Netflix - I am conflicted between the choice of giving up my privacy to provide better suggestions. How about I actively go research for a particular movie on my own? Why do I need AI telling me what to watch. Word of mouth is a fantastic way to get recommendations…

No matter what you do, even if you don’t rate anything, Netflix knows what you watch, and whether you finished it. I would bet that information alone is almost as strong a signal as what you rate.

I'd bet that is a much greater of indicator of your real taste (and what they can get you to binge) vs. the taste you want people to perceive you as having via ranking
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