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Facebook’s Data Deals Are Under Criminal Investigation

nytimes.com

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Re: Facebook’s Data Deals Are Under Criminal Investigation

#201

Post by drjesusphd »

hodder wrote: post #186
Phlarp wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Zuck. 3-5 years at club fed.

Charged with what specifically under what precedent? The USA is (supposedly) a nation of law. If Zuck broke an existing law with precedent for those kind of terms then that would make sense. If you are simply angry at legislators for not protecting you with adequate law, your issue is not with Zuck. You are simply angry at him. If you simply want him "made an example of", I hope you think of the repercussions to lega…

Facebook is an unprecedented company with unprecedented access to users' private information that committed an unprecedented breach of contract. There's no reason why a judge should rely on precedent.

Re: Facebook’s Data Deals Are Under Criminal Investigation

#202

Post by Phlarp »

hodder wrote: post #186
Phlarp wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Zuck. 3-5 years at club fed.

Charged with what specifically under what precedent? The USA is (supposedly) a nation of law. If Zuck broke an existing law with precedent for those kind of terms then that would make sense. If you are simply angry at legislators for not protecting you with adequate law, your issue is not with Zuck. You are simply angry at him. If you simply want him "made an example of", I hope you think of the repercussions to lega…

Not at all. The article says "criminal investigation" but after some cursory discussion of a grand jury and EDNY they pivot to talking about the FTC and civil punishment.

I am not a lawyer, let alone a federal prosecutor. However, it does appear that actual federal prosecutors are suspicious enough that a crime took place to take it to a grand jury.

Re: Facebook’s Data Deals Are Under Criminal Investigation

#203

Post by hodder »

drjesusphd wrote: post #201
hodder wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Charged with what specifically under what precedent? The USA is (supposedly) a nation of law. If Zuck broke an existing law with precedent for those kind of terms then that would make sense. If you are simply angry at legislators for not protecting you with adequate law, your issue is not with Zuck. You are simply angry at him. If you simply want him "made an example of", I hope you think of the repercussions to lega…

Facebook is an unprecedented company with unprecedented access to users' private information that committed an unprecedented breach of contract. There's no reason why a judge should rely on precedent.

Judges use historical cases as guidance. To say there is no precedent is misguided. This would still be the case.

More importantly, judges do not pass legislation. They adjudicate law.

Re: Facebook’s Data Deals Are Under Criminal Investigation

#204

Post by flattone »

vesinisa wrote: post #175
_underfl0w_ wrote: post #174

Did anybody else catch this? > Apple was able to hide from Facebook users all indicators that its devices were even asking for data. I've seen a lot of discourse here seem to favor Apple over the big "G" but... this seems pretty shady. Anyone else know anything about this practice or what specifically they might've been referring to?

Apple fights the privacy battles on its users behalf only where it sees a PR benefit, like the high publicity FBI's iPhone encryption dispute a few years ago.

wprq: So which phone does a concerned person buy?

Re: Facebook’s Data Deals Are Under Criminal Investigation

#205

Post by unimpressive »

navigatesol wrote: post #184
dustinmoris wrote: post #172

> F.T.C. officials, who spent the past year investigating whether Facebook violated the 2011 agreement, are now weighing the sharing deals as they negotiate a possible multibillion-dollar fine. That would be the largest such penalty ever imposed by the trade regulator. A multibillion dollar fine? That's great, but even greater would be to put Facebook's exces behind bars. A CEO shouldn't walk away with a stuffed bank…

> but even greater would be to put Facebook's exces behind bars. What is with this place wanting to throw everyone in prison? Is there some thrill you get from seeing executives in an orange jumper? Fines can be far more beneficial to society. Make them pay in a way that actually helps other people.

People are exasperated with bad actors being allowed to set the common trust on fire with gasoline. For example, if this story were about a smaller dev they would probably be prosecuted for credit card fraud: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18995823. Fines so far have not caused that to stop, so now the mob is asking for blood. Try to take it as an indicator of how desperate and frustrated people are, rather than a fetish.

Re: Facebook’s Data Deals Are Under Criminal Investigation

#206

Post by Dahoon »

subfay wrote: post #148

OT: While I like how FB is recently struggling, I have to say that their open source contributions and the teams working on those are by far the best in this industry. I hope they keep up doing this great work despite all their problems.

Looking at code in Linux contributed by Googlers I don't see how what Facebook has made is better "by far". In my opinion it isn't better at all but that's just me.

Re: Facebook’s Data Deals Are Under Criminal Investigation

#207

Post by lotsofpulp »

dd36 wrote: post #106
bitxbit wrote: post #72

When are all the revelations going to end? It's been every few months for the past five years.

They’re a regular Wells Fargo.

Then they'll be perfectly fine in the long run. Maybe Warren Buffett can even get in on some shares at a discount.

Re: Facebook’s Data Deals Are Under Criminal Investigation

#208

Post by gibspaulding »

flattone wrote: post #204
vesinisa wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple fights the privacy battles on its users behalf only where it sees a PR benefit, like the high publicity FBI's iPhone encryption dispute a few years ago.

wprq: So which phone does a concerned person buy?

An old android phone that supports Lineage OS with no G-Apps. You've still got a closed baseband and random hardware blobs, but I'd say it is the best option at the moment.

Re: Facebook’s Data Deals Are Under Criminal Investigation

#209

Post by drjesusphd »

hodder wrote: post #203
drjesusphd wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Facebook is an unprecedented company with unprecedented access to users' private information that committed an unprecedented breach of contract. There's no reason why a judge should rely on precedent.

Judges use historical cases as guidance. To say there is no precedent is misguided. This would still be the case. More importantly, judges do not pass legislation. They adjudicate law.

Can you name a similar breach that happened in the past and was adjudicated by the court? If not, there is no judicial precedent, by definition.

Re: Facebook’s Data Deals Are Under Criminal Investigation

#210

Post by hackinthebochs »

navigatesol wrote: post #184
dustinmoris wrote: post #172

> F.T.C. officials, who spent the past year investigating whether Facebook violated the 2011 agreement, are now weighing the sharing deals as they negotiate a possible multibillion-dollar fine. That would be the largest such penalty ever imposed by the trade regulator. A multibillion dollar fine? That's great, but even greater would be to put Facebook's exces behind bars. A CEO shouldn't walk away with a stuffed bank…

> but even greater would be to put Facebook's exces behind bars. What is with this place wanting to throw everyone in prison? Is there some thrill you get from seeing executives in an orange jumper? Fines can be far more beneficial to society. Make them pay in a way that actually helps other people.

Moral indignation is the new chic
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