Yesterday's discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25441986
Facebook Takes Out Newspaper Ads to Attack Apple's Strengthening iOS Privacy
21–30 of 187 posts
Re: Facebook Takes Out Newspaper Ads to Attack Apple's Strengthening iOS Privacy
#22Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is getting harder and harder as Apple’s ecosystem becomes more comprehensive and more integrated. There are benefits of course but it’s pretty sticky. OTOH I dumped Facebook years ago and haven’t missed it for a second. WhatsApp has proven a lot harder to wean off of since my friends refuse to switch.
I understand wanting to get rid of FB, but whats your reason for whatsapp? Whatsapp is end to end encrypted, so they can't get access to your messages, no? Is it just that they are owned by FB, or do you have greater security / privacy concerns that I am missing?
I don't like having Facebook apps on my phone at all and I don't like them having the metadata on who I'm messaging and when.
Re: Facebook Takes Out Newspaper Ads to Attack Apple's Strengthening iOS Privacy
#23Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is getting harder and harder as Apple’s ecosystem becomes more comprehensive and more integrated. There are benefits of course but it’s pretty sticky. OTOH I dumped Facebook years ago and haven’t missed it for a second. WhatsApp has proven a lot harder to wean off of since my friends refuse to switch.
I understand wanting to get rid of FB, but whats your reason for whatsapp? Whatsapp is end to end encrypted, so they can't get access to your messages, no? Is it just that they are owned by FB, or do you have greater security / privacy concerns that I am missing?
Whatsapp contents are secure, but who you are talking to - what groups, what time, how often, is all valuable information.
If you are in a group with a lot of Facebook users that have elementary school kids but are otherwise unrelated, chances are you have one too. Facebook might even infer who you are, and your kids, even if you don’t have an account
Re: Facebook Takes Out Newspaper Ads to Attack Apple's Strengthening iOS Privacy
#24> But in today’s world, it’s kind of transparent whom Facebook is targeting here: old white politicians. Is the word "white" here really that important. Is is true that within this issue there is an adversarial relationship between races and people of different skin color?
Obviously the term is important to the author, else it wouldn't be there.
The author wants to emphasize that the target audience of the ad is very narrow. In the authors view, Facebook is not trying to target younger, more diverse politicians, but rather older, conservative politicians, who happen to be mostly white.
And in my opinion, the author is right and race is an important factor in this issue: There have been many reports that advertisers use Facebook to discriminate according to race, and minorities have rightfully complained loudly about that.
It's definitely telling that Facebook targets what we assume to be a very conservative, narrow audience, rather than using their own platforms to spread the message: if they showed the ad on Facebook itself, or on Instagram, it would reach a much wider and more diverse audience. But that's not what they are doing.
Re: Facebook Takes Out Newspaper Ads to Attack Apple's Strengthening iOS Privacy
#25Earlier quoted context omitted.
You can easily replace your apple products, but not your social network apps. all your friends have to switch, too
This is getting harder and harder as Apple’s ecosystem becomes more comprehensive and more integrated. There are benefits of course but it’s pretty sticky. OTOH I dumped Facebook years ago and haven’t missed it for a second. WhatsApp has proven a lot harder to wean off of since my friends refuse to switch.
Which is the reason a lot of people refuse to use the Apple ecosystem. I do own an iPad but I use it exclusively for web browsing, email and reading books.
The only Apple app I use is the default Books apps and that is it, and I couldn't be happier.
Using an Apple device without having to deal with Apple's ecosystem is amazing, I only wish they would let Chrome be Chrome, not a reskin of Safari...
Re: Facebook Takes Out Newspaper Ads to Attack Apple's Strengthening iOS Privacy
#26The hypocrisy is unbearable. Facebook is everything thats wrong with internet. A company that basically profits from people living out their worst instincts (xenophobia, misogyny, chauvinism, plain hate) and from fueling insecurities of vulnerable people (paranoia, body image issues, etc.). I recently switched to the IPhone after a decade of Android, mainly due to the much better privacy protection. I hope they go much further in that direction!
Re: Facebook Takes Out Newspaper Ads to Attack Apple's Strengthening iOS Privacy
#27I don't understand Facebook. If personalised ads stand to lose 60% of their value, why not switch to contextual ads?
Google is mainly contextual ads, with some personalisation mixed in I'd assume. If you're already on Facebooks platforms they know who you are, they have access to all the personal information that can be extracted from your Facebook account and activity. Shouldn't that be enough?
What I read this as, is that Facebooks own data isn't actually that good, and they need data from source that aren't Facebook in order to provide value to their ads platform. It's the same issue every time Facebook complains about regulation or increased desire for privacy, they always end up in a situation where they devalue their own products and technology.
Re: Facebook Takes Out Newspaper Ads to Attack Apple's Strengthening iOS Privacy
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
I understand wanting to get rid of FB, but whats your reason for whatsapp? Whatsapp is end to end encrypted, so they can't get access to your messages, no? Is it just that they are owned by FB, or do you have greater security / privacy concerns that I am missing?
Same boat here. I dumped WhatsApp mostly because it's owned by Facebook, which I consider a bit of a privacy risk by itself. On top of that, the app requests access to lots of permissions I don't understand the need for. Some examples: find accounts on the device, view WiFi connections, retrieve running apps, use biometric hardware.
I can see how the first two might be required.
"Find accounts on the device" is possibly required to connect to your account in order to get your contact list. "View WiFi connections" is possibly needed for getting internet connection.
I can't really see any possible use for the other two though.
I've only looked extremely shallowly at Android development, but I am aware that quite often you need to ask for some particular permission to get access to something that's not particularly obvious from the permission name.
Not trying to give Facebook a free ride here, I am well aware that there is a very high chance they want some of the permissions for "nefarious" purposes. I think companies should have some transparent way of publishing why they want a particular set of permissions.
I have seen companies showing a message along the lines of "we will be asking for we need to ask this for " and I do think more companies should do this.
Re: Facebook Takes Out Newspaper Ads to Attack Apple's Strengthening iOS Privacy
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
I understand wanting to get rid of FB, but whats your reason for whatsapp? Whatsapp is end to end encrypted, so they can't get access to your messages, no? Is it just that they are owned by FB, or do you have greater security / privacy concerns that I am missing?
Whatsapp contents are secure, but who you are talking to - what groups, what time, how often, is all valuable information. If you are in a group with a lot of Facebook users that have elementary school kids but are otherwise unrelated, chances are you have one too. Facebook might even infer who you are, and your kids, even if you don’t have an account
Not to mention that most users continuously sync their contact list, and with that info FB can create a much broader and more precise graph of all the network connections. Cross that with, say, political groups you're part of, and you're not only exposing yourself but everybody else who's close to you, regardless of them using either app.
Re: Facebook Takes Out Newspaper Ads to Attack Apple's Strengthening iOS Privacy
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
You can easily replace your apple products, but not your social network apps. all your friends have to switch, too
This is getting harder and harder as Apple’s ecosystem becomes more comprehensive and more integrated. There are benefits of course but it’s pretty sticky. OTOH I dumped Facebook years ago and haven’t missed it for a second. WhatsApp has proven a lot harder to wean off of since my friends refuse to switch.
Don't give them a choice.
I uninstalled WhatsApp two years back and just told everyone I use Signal. No big lecture on Facebook is evil, why you have to use Signal etc etc.
Most people are busy being told what apps to install every 2 hours by some one or the other so they are already conditioned to being told what to do. Many just installed without even a question, cause they get tired of using sms or email with me for everything.