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Facebook Is Using You

nytimes.com

11–20 of 66 posts

Re: Facebook Is Using You

#12
post #2

First, the headline doesn't represent the content very well. It should be Others May Use Data They Glean About You From Facebook. Secondly, I guess there's a fine line between "stereotyping" and statistics, isn't there? Thirdly, the author looks at some of the worst offenses of this type of mining and seems to extrapolate it as the norm. FUD mongering.

Statistics teaches us that there is not a fine line at any boundary; there is wide fuzzy gradient.

Re: Facebook Is Using You

#13
The simplest opt-in/out I think would be satisfactory would be to limit the amount of data they can associate with me to an arbitrary time period (six months sounds about right).

I think there has to be a price to pay from the data aggregator side if they want information associated with my 'real' identity.

Re: Facebook Is Using You

#15
post #11

I wonder if Facebook would ever consider charging people to only to get rid of the ads.

That's more complicated than just using Adblock and is bad PR in the message it sends. If you mean charging to not "use" your data at all, that is an ill-formed concept, given the nature of the business as a sharing service. No friend recs? No featured suggestions? What about using data you give to a friend that they choose to give to facebook -- that there is all your data

Re: Facebook Is Using You

#16
I think the article's main point succeeds on the merits: while we have a variety of statutory and regulatory mechanisms in place to make sure that things like credit reports are compiled in a fair manner we have no such mechanisms for the likes of LexisNexis, ChoicePoint, Facebook, Google, etc., etc.

I don't think its unreasonable to want some assurances that my creepy neighbor can't purchase my web history or FB data. Less facetiously, at the very least, I should be informed when an adverse decision has been based upon this information and should have a chance to review it periodically.

Re: Facebook Is Using You

#18
Question: why isn't my data's copyright owned by me? I should have the same rights over my data (my searches, my browsing history, relationships, etc.) as an artist has over his creations. And they (companies that use this information or trade in it) should have to pay me to use it.

Re: Facebook Is Using You

#19
post #4

This is what Freedombox is for (also Diaspora). Freedombox is one of the few projects I make time to contribute to. I'm surprised it isn't one of the more popular projects among this community. Anyway, here are some links and background if you aren't familiar with it. From http://freedomboxfoundation.org and http://freedomboxfoundation.org/learn What is FreedomBox? Email and telecommunications that protects privacy a…

I follow a few high profile tech news source, but I never heard of Freedombox.

One major worry I have about decentralized systems is crackers. It's hard enough to secure centralized systems using proprietary code behind firewalls managed by an army of experts. How can a decentralized system possibly avoid becoming a 0day distributed botnet?

Re: Facebook Is Using You

#20
post #18

Question: why isn't my data's copyright owned by me? I should have the same rights over my data (my searches, my browsing history, relationships, etc.) as an artist has over his creations. And they (companies that use this information or trade in it) should have to pay me to use it.

they do just not in a monetary form, but by letting you use their services for free. it cost more to run, for example Facebook site, than $1.
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