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

Get Facebook WiFi for your business

facebook.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 293 posts

Re: Get Facebook WiFi for your business

#131

Post by bearjew »

Forget about logging in for wifi. This is a direct competitor to Nomi.

Facebook will now know whenever your MAC Address walks by a storefront with one of these routers, regardless if you have an account. For those who have installed the app (the majority of the country) FB will be able to match the MAC ID to your account.

In addition to simply foot traffic walking by the store, the router will track information on when you are actually in the store, how long you stayed there, and how frequently you visit.

Eventually those with FB on their phone will have ads pushed to them when they pass one of these routers. I imagine it wouldn't just be for stores with the routers but those within the immediate vicinity.

Of course none of the data collected will be shared with the storeowners until they are sold the ads by facebook.

Re: Get Facebook WiFi for your business

#132

Post by scelerat »

rattray wrote: post #119
carlob wrote: post #109

Real conversation happened to me in an ice cream shop with a home-brewed facebook captive portal in Cambridge, MA. me: Excuse me, is there a way to log into the wifi if you don't have a facebook account? clerk: No, we've had a lots people doing illegal stuff on our wifi, so we need to verify their identity. me: I understand, however I don't have a facebook account. Would you like to verify my identity with a photo id…

Why not make a fake Facebook account? I imagine it could be useful in a number of other similar situations. (This is a serious question - I imagine there are real reasons why not, I just can't think of any myself apart from inconvenience/general principle).

Fake names are contrary to Facebook's policy. Your account may get disabled.

https://www.facebook.com/help/www/112146705538576

Re: Get Facebook WiFi for your business

#133

Post by wattson12 »

dblacc wrote: post #93
bruceboughton wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't bet on it. Amazon knows exactly what I just bought and still shows me 100 different variations on it "recommended" for me.

I've often wondered why they do this. I see more variations of items I just purchased rather than accompanying/related items.

it works for a lot of cases, e.g. buy a book and get other books recommended, not so well for rarer purchases like laptops or phones.

Re: Get Facebook WiFi for your business

#134

Post by seszett »

MartinCron wrote: post #47
zuckerfap wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you honestly believe facebook won't look for and find ways to encroach on privacy more than currently available free wifi does? Their entire mission is to encroach on privacy, and now they've got you connecting to their wifi hotspots at the gynecologist's office.

now they've got you connecting to their wifi hotspots at the gynecologist's office Nobody is forcing you to check in at your gynecologist's office, which is something you can already do, if you're into that kind of oversharing

Actually, it might very well happen that these Wifi networks all have the same SSID, which would likely make most devices automatically connect to them.

Even if they don't, they only ever need one connection to link your device's MAC to your username, and then detect it without ever connecting.

Re: Get Facebook WiFi for your business

#135

Post by tedivm »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #126
herge wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sure your point utterly convinced the clerk being paid minimum wage at your ice cream shop of the errors of his employer. Would you have accepted it if the clerk explained to you that requiring a Facebook account is the most hassle-free way that ice cream shop has found, considering a) their technical expertise, b) the amount of time and money they need to invest and c) their average customer?

This is one of the things that really saddens me about the world we live in - we can't have nice things, because everything is being optimized for the average use case, and average people just don't care much about anything, especially quality.

Oh man, you mean we have to rely on 4G LTE connections instead of using the free wifi provided for us? My email may be marginally slower- I don't think I'll ever be able to enjoy ice cream again :-(

Re: Get Facebook WiFi for your business

#136

Post by seszett »

scelerat wrote: post #132
rattray wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not make a fake Facebook account? I imagine it could be useful in a number of other similar situations. (This is a serious question - I imagine there are real reasons why not, I just can't think of any myself apart from inconvenience/general principle).

Fake names are contrary to Facebook's policy. Your account may get disabled. https://www.facebook.com/help/www/112146705538576

Then just create another one when it gets disabled.

Re: Get Facebook WiFi for your business

#139

Post by gdilla »

rattray wrote: post #119
carlob wrote: post #109

Real conversation happened to me in an ice cream shop with a home-brewed facebook captive portal in Cambridge, MA. me: Excuse me, is there a way to log into the wifi if you don't have a facebook account? clerk: No, we've had a lots people doing illegal stuff on our wifi, so we need to verify their identity. me: I understand, however I don't have a facebook account. Would you like to verify my identity with a photo id…

Why not make a fake Facebook account? I imagine it could be useful in a number of other similar situations. (This is a serious question - I imagine there are real reasons why not, I just can't think of any myself apart from inconvenience/general principle).

I've had one for years, and he has real friends and everything. I use it for testing my own apps and signing up for other peoples apps I don't trust. But it's been a great help when there are services I want to use that require FB. Ya, against the rules, but I'm not the only one, and my fake users friends are real people who chat about politics and have liked some of the things my fake profile has liked.

Re: Get Facebook WiFi for your business

#140

Post by code_duck »

weixiyen wrote: post #128
rattray wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not make a fake Facebook account? I imagine it could be useful in a number of other similar situations. (This is a serious question - I imagine there are real reasons why not, I just can't think of any myself apart from inconvenience/general principle).

Because it's more satisfying to be a jerk towards someone who can do nothing about the situation, under the guise of principle.

How was that exchange with the clerk 'being a jerk'?
Post reply on HN