Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Meta workers can opt out of being tracked at work up to 30 min

bbc.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

111–120 of 799 posts

Re: Meta workers can opt out of being tracked at work up to 30 min

#111

Post by azinman2 »

JKCalhoun wrote: post #69
fullshark wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My single minded focus is getting my finances in order so I don't need to work in this industry (financial independence) past 50. It's just getting worse and worse in terms of the open contempt for employees from the top down with no end in sight. Once you reach 50 it's just luck of the draw whether or not you are in the annual culling of the senior folks. There's no excuse anymore for being ignorant of how this indu…

Maybe the opposite at Apple? I was told by another engineer (paraphrasing), "They can't lay you off past age 50 without expecting an age-discrimination lawsuit. They'd prefer to give you nothing to do and you leave on your own."

But your performance reviews don’t have anything to do with age, so I don’t see how that could be.

Re: Meta workers can opt out of being tracked at work up to 30 min

#112

Post by eecc »

Forgeties79 wrote: post #92
LiquidSky wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems like that'd just discourage people from going above and beyond at work. Why do more than the bare minimum to avoid being fired if nothing else you do counts?

>Look, we want you to express yourself, okay? Now if you feel that the bare minimum is enough, then okay. But some people choose to wear more and we encourage that, okay? You do want to express yourself, don't you? (This is from Office Space for those who don’t know. Hilarious scene with Jennifer Aniston)

The Flair scene? Oh seriously than got me so much vicarious embarrassment, I feel uneasy just at the thought of it.

Re: Meta workers can opt out of being tracked at work up to 30 min

#113

Post by rybosworld »

LucidLynx wrote: post #22

I have a serious question to anyone working at Meta and reading this: HOW can you still work at this company!? Why don't you quit this very toxic company, and start working at another place or even on your own? I genuinely don't understand... Let just Meta die!

People always answer this question with money. But if we think of it as a version of the prisoner dilemma (Meta is one prisoner, the employee is the other), the right move is probably to work somewhere else for a lower salary. By working for Meta, they are defecting against you (openly screen recording you to train your AI replacement). Choosing to work somewhere else would be like you defecting against Meta.

Extremely simplified example. Ignore inflation, raises, etc.

Which choice is better?

- $400k/yr for 5 years followed by a layoff, with the possibility that the thing you've helped Meta build rolls out everywhere, and there are next to no job opportunities

- $200k/yr for the rest of your career, and employment opportunities don't dry up because you didn't help build the thing meant to replace you

Re: Meta workers can opt out of being tracked at work up to 30 min

#114

Post by __MatrixMan__ »

new_account_104 wrote: post #43
LucidLynx wrote: post #22

I have a serious question to anyone working at Meta and reading this: HOW can you still work at this company!? Why don't you quit this very toxic company, and start working at another place or even on your own? I genuinely don't understand... Let just Meta die!

You need to be more cruel if you actually want these people to quit. Make them fear for their professional and personal reputations. Make them embarassed to show their face or state their place of employment. We need to treat these people like Nazis.

We need to make Nazis fear for their personal safety.

We need to make engineers who work in surveillance or advertising ashamed enough to avoid putting that work on their resume.

I think that's a pretty big difference.

Re: Meta workers can opt out of being tracked at work up to 30 min

#115

Post by caymanjim »

crispyambulance wrote: post #20

It's always been hard to know the extent of how draconian tracking actually is (IT pros tend to not talk about it much). In the US, there's the expectation that when you use an employer-provided device that any and all activity on it can be fully monitored/recorded and used against the employee for any reason. In practice, however, few people worry about reasonable amounts web-surfing, being on hacker-news or doing l…

> In the US, there's the expectation that when you use an employer-provided device that any and all activity on it can be fully monitored/recorded

I don't expect this. I know that some companies install spyware on their devices, but I don't expect it, I don't accept it, and if they did it without disclosing it I'd be furious. I understand they're allowed to do it. I'd never work anywhere that did.

Re: Meta workers can opt out of being tracked at work up to 30 min

#116

Post by grogers »

everdrive wrote: post #17

I don't work for Meta, but how many more years do I need to work in tech? I'm in my 40s and my kids are young. I've already set up 529s for them, and am paying for some expensive home upgrades. Maybe when that is finished and I've built up a buffer I can switch industries for the last 5-10 years of my working life. Curious if anyone here has any similar plans.

Today is my last day at my current employer. After some time off, I'm considering several different options. I have enough saved that retirement is probably doable, although last time I took extended time off I got bored much quicker than I expected. I'm also considering retraining for a different field but that seems kinda daunting, and no certain bet either. I was thinking of doing some open source contributions to test the waters on whether I really want to give up software dev or not. I might do part time work just for something to do and for decent health care. Luckily working in tech has been very lucrative, so there are plenty of options on the table.

Re: Meta workers can opt out of being tracked at work up to 30 min

#117

Post by eecc »

apimade wrote: post #100
crispyambulance wrote: post #20

It's always been hard to know the extent of how draconian tracking actually is (IT pros tend to not talk about it much). In the US, there's the expectation that when you use an employer-provided device that any and all activity on it can be fully monitored/recorded and used against the employee for any reason. In practice, however, few people worry about reasonable amounts web-surfing, being on hacker-news or doing l…

What you’re concerned about doesn’t stop at the employer. Anyone with access to data being processed about you may have incentives that align similarly with your employer’s use case. Advertisers, Internet service providers, phone manufacturers, social networks, tech platform providers, schools, families, spouses, nosy neighbours, nosy governments. The scale at which you can build a summary about someone is astonishin…

Well, at the risk implying intention and thus anthropomorphizing Larry... you know sharks don't eat, they simply consume food, like a fire consumes wood, this is what Larry Ellison advocates for:

"Citizens will be on their best behavior, because we’re constantly recording and reporting everything that is going on"

Re: Meta workers can opt out of being tracked at work up to 30 min

#118

Post by yojo »

yodsanklai wrote: post #93
LucidLynx wrote: post #22

I have a serious question to anyone working at Meta and reading this: HOW can you still work at this company!? Why don't you quit this very toxic company, and start working at another place or even on your own? I genuinely don't understand... Let just Meta die!

There are tons of good reasons to work for Meta. You can work on interesting projects, build your resume and network, work on interesting engineering problems, learn from other people, and of course, they pay very well. People do need to support their family, secure their retirement and so on... Is it perfect? certainly not. Is the company toxic? where do you draw the line? how much are you willing to compromise give…

Meta is straight evil. It undermines the institutions of democracy and it negatively impacts its users mental health, all in service of selling your data to advertisers so they can better goad unnecessary consumption.

If I learn you work at Meta, I will judge you as at best lacking a moral compass and treat you appropriately.

Apple has problems, but is a lot closer to morally neutral. Ditto for Netflix.

Amazon has hollowed out local retail/is also bad for society, though not on Meta’s scale. But you sell your soul more cheaply there.

Re: Meta workers can opt out of being tracked at work up to 30 min

#119

Post by sevenzero »

everdrive wrote: post #17

I don't work for Meta, but how many more years do I need to work in tech? I'm in my 40s and my kids are young. I've already set up 529s for them, and am paying for some expensive home upgrades. Maybe when that is finished and I've built up a buffer I can switch industries for the last 5-10 years of my working life. Curious if anyone here has any similar plans.

Idk I calculated through my financial needs after retirement for 13 years (67-80) which would be around 400k€ and calculated through my savings I'll accumulate until then, if I keep up my current saving rate. I'll end up saving around 270k€ so ultimately I decided fuck it, Ill just take jobs where I can live comfortably right now and hope for the best in retirement. I take jobs that are fun to me. I have 37 years until retirement and will never be able to afford a house or whatever so I can switch industries whenever I feel like doing so.

Re: Meta workers can opt out of being tracked at work up to 30 min

#120

Post by georgeburdell »

LucidLynx wrote: post #22

I have a serious question to anyone working at Meta and reading this: HOW can you still work at this company!? Why don't you quit this very toxic company, and start working at another place or even on your own? I genuinely don't understand... Let just Meta die!

Maybe you should be asking that question on 1.3 acres and not here
Post reply on HN