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Stallman: "Facebook is an international parasitism project."

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Re: Stallman: "Facebook is an international parasitism project."

#241

Post by getsat »

9999 wrote: post #172
mikeash wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see privacy, but how do you give up free speech?

Can you post a picture with nudity in it? No? There you go.

WTF?

Freedom of speech is freedom from censorship by the government. Even that has restrictions, though. You can't incite violence against other people or cause other people to come to harm through your speech (yelling "Fire!" in a theatre being the canonical example).

You're agreeing to Facebook's Terms of Service when you use their site. You are agreeing not to upload that kind of content when you sign up.

Re: Stallman: "Facebook is an international parasitism project."

#243

Post by danbmil99 »

I'm not so concerned about the privacy issues because I don't put much of my life there. For me FB is just crap UI/UX, everything about it seems non-intuitive and goes against my grain, and I cannot use it as an effective tool for what I want to do with my social network.

Epiphany: maybe these two things are related?

Re: Stallman: "Facebook is an international parasitism project."

#244

Post by tambourine_man »

coffeemug wrote: post #149
noduerme wrote: post #10

When I was a kid, my parents sent me to camp, even though all I wanted to do was sit home and write text adventures in BASIC. I hated camp. I hated the kids, and the counselors, and most of all I hated how everyone acted like if you didn't like it, if you weren't having fun, then there was something messed up about you . Facebook = camp. The most oppressive and authoritarian thing about it is, at root, that most peop…

There is a world of difference between citizens complaining how their governments are corrupt, and husbands complaining how their wives boss them around. The former is a macro problem - if you're unhappy there's very little you can do to make a difference, you really need everyone to get behind your cause but because of weird behavioral science quirks this happens very rarely. The latter is a micro problem - learn to…

Look, our adult society is pretty good at accepting behavioral outliers

Boy, do we disagree. Never before has political correctness and "fitting in" been so exalted. In fact Facebook is a direct consequence of this behavior.

Consider that many people don't see Facebook as a privacy issue once they've weighed everything carefully and not because they're idiots.

Not idiots, but completely ignorant as to what they are agreeing with and giving up on.

Re: Stallman: "Facebook is an international parasitism project."

#245

Post by grepherder »

kelnos wrote: post #208
Tichy wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"carefully select privacy settings (which are quite extensive)" That's ridiculous. Maybe you'll try a couple of times to keep up with their changes, but eventually you'll just give up. Besides, they will constantly tempt you to share more (that is how they grow).

Then that's your own fault. I check my privacy settings every couple months, or when I hear about or see large changes to the interface or offering getting rolled out. I've been on Facebook since April 2004, only a few months after they launched, so clearly I haven't eventually given up. Using the "View As" feature and looking at your profile page while logged out is a good idea too. If you care about your privacy an…

I can see how it's his own fault from a practical viewpoint, but really? Considering opt-in vs. opt-out, status quo bias and all that? I think he has (people have) a right to criticise at least.

Re: Stallman: "Facebook is an international parasitism project."

#246

Post by kaiwen1 »

The problem is not Facebook per se. It is that the human condition is such that FB appeals to us in vast disproportion from its value. The collective time spent on FB is travesty to our species. It's not the only one to be sure, but to the extent that people can avoid Facebook they and we are better off. Facebook is not benefiting society. It has harming it.

Re: Stallman: "Facebook is an international parasitism project."

#247

Post by fusiongyro »

noduerme wrote: post #10

When I was a kid, my parents sent me to camp, even though all I wanted to do was sit home and write text adventures in BASIC. I hated camp. I hated the kids, and the counselors, and most of all I hated how everyone acted like if you didn't like it, if you weren't having fun, then there was something messed up about you . Facebook = camp. The most oppressive and authoritarian thing about it is, at root, that most peop…

I think your metaphor is apt for my experience. I have burned my FB account, in part for ideological reasons and in part for a rather mundane reason. Posting something online just doesn't seem to "count" in my mind; knowing a friend had read a post on there didn't diminish the tremendous urge to tell them whatever news I had. I didn't like that most of my social interactions were being replaced with flaccid "did you see what I posted?/yeah, I did" exchanges.

I tried Google Plus for about two days, until I realized I would wind up wasting a lot of my life curating these "circles." I just don't find "digital friendship management" to be a killer app in my life.

Re: Stallman: "Facebook is an international parasitism project."

#248

Post by jfoster »

robertpateii wrote: post #211
jfoster wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't have any serious concerns about privacy because of Facebook, but I do want to point out an aspect where Facebook's privacy controls don't apply. If someone takes a photo of you, they can upload it to Facebook. If they tag you, you can remove the tag. The photo will be there regardless of whether you accept/remove any tagging, and it will be outside the jurisdiction of your privacy controls. The uploader contr…

What you say is true, but it would still be true if Facebook didn't exist. It will always be true because Internet.

Facebook brings this to the surface. On an Internet without a Facebook-like service, someone may occasionally find a photo of themselves more widely published than they would like. On an Internet with Facebook it happens far more frequently.

Re: Stallman: "Facebook is an international parasitism project."

#249

Post by bfrs »

charlieok wrote: post #167
coffeemug wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a world of difference between citizens complaining how their governments are corrupt, and husbands complaining how their wives boss them around. The former is a macro problem - if you're unhappy there's very little you can do to make a difference, you really need everyone to get behind your cause but because of weird behavioral science quirks this happens very rarely. The latter is a micro problem - learn to…

You tried camping and it was awesome. It was fun getting a group together and having a lot of interaction with them. Working on projects together, sharing gossip at meals and in tents, going on day trips and coming back with pictures and stories. Great stuff. People who spend time camping together share a bond and become potential lifelong friends. When camping was new, relatively few people went camping. The most ex…

I don't mind going to Mark's camp, but its huge size sometimes frightens me. What if a black swan event happens to it? Say a stupid virus penetrates and wipes it out? A more distributed social network, like the failed Diaspora project, might be less vulnerable to such an attack.

stupid in this sense: http://www.searchlores.org/realicra/basiclawsofhumanstupidit...

Re: Stallman: "Facebook is an international parasitism project."

#250

Post by skrish »

kelnos wrote: post #208
Tichy wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"carefully select privacy settings (which are quite extensive)" That's ridiculous. Maybe you'll try a couple of times to keep up with their changes, but eventually you'll just give up. Besides, they will constantly tempt you to share more (that is how they grow).

Then that's your own fault. I check my privacy settings every couple months, or when I hear about or see large changes to the interface or offering getting rolled out. I've been on Facebook since April 2004, only a few months after they launched, so clearly I haven't eventually given up. Using the "View As" feature and looking at your profile page while logged out is a good idea too. If you care about your privacy an…

"Then that's your own fault". I think that is where we disagree.

With any other service when such changes are made you are required to opt-in. I tried to manage privacy via Facebook and just gave up as even the options to make certain areas private went away and I have lost track. I have just given up.

I agree with your point that IF you still want to be on Facebook this is a mandatory activity (& yet quite difficult as options just go away!).

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