You won't find FSF on Facebook • Hacker News Board

Re: You won't find FSF on Facebook

#121

Post by chalst » Thu, Mar 03, 2011, 3:51 PM UTC

tzs wrote: post #72

r00fus wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm making a guess that FSF (and EFF) would probably have preferred the most influential person to win, namely Julian Assange.

How is Assanage more influential? A lot of the opposition groups behind the mass uprisings sweeping the Arab world credit Facebook as a key tool for organizing their revolutions. Facebook is seriously changing people's lives on a large scale. Wikileaks has mostly provided diplomatic gossip, with a few things tossed in that will harm people, and a smaller number of things tossed in that will help people.

In Tunisie, at least, many people have said the Wikileaks exposure of Ben Ali's corruption were influential.

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/01/25/whispering_...

Re: You won't find FSF on Facebook

#122

Post by PakG1 » Thu, Mar 03, 2011, 6:51 PM UTC

ryanto wrote: post #4

This article is a joke, it's something I would expect to find on some tech/news gossip website. Is this what FSF has become? > so many sites — including TIME — use Facebook's user-tracking "Like" button, Zuckerberg is able to collect information about people who aren't even users of his site. These are precedents which hurt our ability to freely connect with each other. He has created a network that is first and fore…

Reminds me of a fun little post regarding Google:

http://whimsley.typepad.com/whimsley/2008/03/mr-googles-guid...

Fun quote from the post:

No (said Google). That's what I mean - you really don't understand. You see, I don't care if people come and look at these hen scratches or not. Maybe they will, maybe they won't. As long as I can sell a few advertisements on that page of my guidebook I really don't care. After all, what better praise for a Guidebook than to help people find out what's wrong with it? Just leave your manuscript with me. I'll look after it.

He held out his hand, imperious now. I felt disheveled after my long night. My brain was spinning. I could see no alternative. In a vain attempt to maintain some self-respect I drew myself up to my full height and pulled back my shoulders, adopting a bearing appropriate for my class. "All right Google. Here you go. Don't lose it now."

"Thank you sir. You can be sure I won't lose it. I never do lose anything you know."

I turned away from him and stumbled down the stairs. I had ended up giving him an order, and he had accepted it. Yet I could not shake the impression, even as he brought me a glass of sherry that evening in my sitting room, placing the silver tray beside me with deference, that Mr. Google - far from being a butler and travel guide - was more a master than a servant.

Re: You won't find FSF on Facebook

#123

Post by protomyth » Thu, Mar 03, 2011, 10:52 PM UTC

statictype wrote: post #103

protomyth wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You gotta wonder though, how many people are touched each day by the work of Zuckerberg versus the work of Assange.

If directly touching people's lives was any sort of criteria then I think Jonathan Ive or Steve Jobs ought to be a better candidate. Or Larry/Sergey.

I do believe Facebook has a tad bit more users than Apple products. I also get then feeling, just walking around the area, that people spend more time on Facebook than Google.

Re: You won't find FSF on Facebook

#124

Post by macgirvin » Sun, Mar 06, 2011, 9:00 AM UTC

hasenj wrote: post #26

ryanto wrote: post #4

This article is a joke, it's something I would expect to find on some tech/news gossip website. Is this what FSF has become? > so many sites — including TIME — use Facebook's user-tracking "Like" button, Zuckerberg is able to collect information about people who aren't even users of his site. These are precedents which hurt our ability to freely connect with each other. He has created a network that is first and fore…

> Is this what FSF has become? What do you mean? This is what FSF has always been like. They're shockingly zealots in defending absolute gpl-style freedom over all your digital goods. In all honesty I don't think a decentralized and "Free" facebook would work. The centralization is a feature that most people want; it's part of why it "just work" without you having to become a system (or a network) administrator. Imag…

In fact it's very much like email. You're just sending messages back and forth between people. Really, that's all it is. Most people won't leave Facebook - even if you delivered an electric shock every time they hit the FB website. It's where their friends are.

But there is room in the world for a decentralised and distributed social net. I wrote one (called Friendika). There are people who have a need for a social service of their own. There are online communities which still exist and where people send messages to each other and interact.

It is not whether or not they will replace Facebook. It is simply that Facebook doesn't cater to every social need of every organisation on the planet. Other services need to fill the gaps. One day some will realise that they are spending more time on network 'x' than on Facebook. In fact many of us are doing this today. At that point Facebook becomes irrelevant and loses its grip. Most people don't care who runs the servers. They also don't care if it is centralised or not. All they care about is communicating with people who matter. I would like to point out that girls who rejected you in high school that are now on your Facebook friend list - don't matter. If your mom is on Facebook - chances are that it is reluctantly and she'd much rather you just called her on the phone.