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Facebook privacy challenge attracts 25,000 users

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Facebook privacy challenge attracts 25,000 users

#3
Among the allegations are that Facebook broke EU privacy laws by introducing:

Graph Search - a facility allowing users to find out about other members' activities on the social network

External website tracking - monitoring members through the Like buttons embedded into third-party webpages

Big data analysis - the ability to gain insights into Facebook members' by data-crunching the billions of interactions people have with the site every year

Those arguments don't seem very compelling. The internet is driven by ads. Companies which don't optimize their ad pipeline tend to die. The best way to optimize your ad pipeline is to collect data and then act on it.

Where is the line between optimizing an ad pipeline and violating privacy?

Re: Facebook privacy challenge attracts 25,000 users

#4

Among the allegations are that Facebook broke EU privacy laws by introducing: Graph Search - a facility allowing users to find out about other members' activities on the social network External website tracking - monitoring members through the Like buttons embedded into third-party webpages Big data analysis - the ability to gain insights into Facebook members' by data-crunching the billions of interactions people ha…

Most websites need to use cookies in order to optimize the ad pipeline. In the EU, you need a user's permission to collect cookies. All they need to do is list all the intended ways they will use the personal data. I'm guessing that Facebook didn't list these uses when it was signing up users for the first time.

Re: Facebook privacy challenge attracts 25,000 users

#7

Among the allegations are that Facebook broke EU privacy laws by introducing: Graph Search - a facility allowing users to find out about other members' activities on the social network External website tracking - monitoring members through the Like buttons embedded into third-party webpages Big data analysis - the ability to gain insights into Facebook members' by data-crunching the billions of interactions people ha…

> Where is the line between optimizing an ad pipeline and violating privacy?

Right at the start.

Of course, the allegation was that Facebook broke privacy laws, and not just that they violated people's privacy, so your response is a total non sequitur: you're talking about how it's good business to violate privacy, which doesn't address at all whether it's good business to break the law, nor whether these laws draw a meaningful boundary.

Unless you meant that anything which is in the business' interest to do shouldn't be illegal for it...?

Re: Facebook privacy challenge attracts 25,000 users

#8

It should be at least 2 million people to teach Facebook a lesson.

People get what they sign up for - Everyone knows that facebook is a powerhouse of private data and yet they still continue to use it.

If you don't like how FB handles your data, don't use it.

Re: Facebook privacy challenge attracts 25,000 users

#9

Among the allegations are that Facebook broke EU privacy laws by introducing: Graph Search - a facility allowing users to find out about other members' activities on the social network External website tracking - monitoring members through the Like buttons embedded into third-party webpages Big data analysis - the ability to gain insights into Facebook members' by data-crunching the billions of interactions people ha…

> Those arguments don't seem very compelling. The internet is driven by ads.

So what? If your business model depends on breaking the law, you really need to revisit that business model. Or are you suggesting that the "right to profit from advertising" trumps the individual's right to privacy?

There are plenty of ways to do effective marketing and analytics that provide the desired insights, connect customers with the right brands, and don't violate any data protection laws. If Facebook is failing to do that then they just need to work at it harder.

Re: Facebook privacy challenge attracts 25,000 users

#10

It should be at least 2 million people to teach Facebook a lesson.

People get what they sign up for - Everyone knows that facebook is a powerhouse of private data and yet they still continue to use it. If you don't like how FB handles your data, don't use it.

I'd say everyone is a bit high, people that post on HN for sure and most technical users but I doubt that the average facebook user knows or cares about any of that.
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