Reasons not to use Facebook • Hacker News Board

Re: Reasons not to use Facebook

#31

Post by abdias » Sat, Mar 14, 2015, 6:30 AM UTC

jacobolus wrote: post #28

abdias wrote: post #20

Considering that Zuckerberg is a great admire of China and apparently socialism[0], it doesn't come to me as a huge surprise that these "ethics" are guidelines for Facebook. “I’ve also bought copies of this book for my colleagues,” Zuckerberg was quoted as saying by a Chinese news website. “I want them to understand socialism with Chinese characteristics.” [0]: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2014/1…

I’m no fan of Zuckerberg or the CCP, but that’s ridiculous. Hosting a Chinese official at the Facebook office and telling a Chinese news site that he gave some copies of the Chinese president’s new book to his colleagues isn’t any kind of useful evidence about Zuckerberg’s personal political beliefs or Facebook’s governing principles.

It wasn't presented as evidence for any claim. "Apparently" isn't a claim.

The correlations between the ideology and what happens with Facebook is synonymous though, so it's neither far fetched. But I guess you need to have some historic understanding to see that (and that's a little too broad to present in a comment field).

(edit: for admin: I up-voted this post and got an "user mismatch" error as response page - perhaps something the devs want to look into).

Re: Reasons not to use Facebook

#32

Post by dingaling » Sat, Mar 14, 2015, 6:36 AM UTC

TwoBit wrote: post #19

Sanddancer wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Being able to search and find people by the names they actually use on a day to day basis is actually a feature I value very highly in a social network. Being able to hide from abusive people in one's past is actually a feature I value very highly in a social network. I know a number of people -- transpeople, people from other countries, people who just don't like their given name -- who don't use their "real" name i…

Because it's your legal name?

The UK, for one, does not have the concept of a 'legal name'. Your name is whatever you choose to call yourself.

Even a deed poll has no official weight, it's just a statement of a name you have chosen. Hence 'poll' instead of 'certificate'.

Re: Reasons not to use Facebook

#33

Post by Frondo » Sat, Mar 14, 2015, 6:41 AM UTC

My problem with essays like this is that they don't address the more critical underlying point: most people don't recognize privacy as a human right, and most people don't realize why privacy is important and worth protecting.

To most people, "if you've done nothing wrong, you have nothing to hide" sounds reasonable.

That's the deeper problem at work here. With more people on board to why privacy matters, articles like this will be more of an "oh, yeah!" instead of a "so what?" kind of thing.

Re: Reasons not to use Facebook

#34

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Mar 14, 2015, 6:42 AM UTC

gaadd33 wrote: post #7

> Algorithmic filtering can affect history, not just hide history. Facebook's filtering algorithm suppressed news about the thug riot in Ferguson until after it became national news. Calling all of the protestors in Ferguson "thugs" seems pretty off base. I'm surprised he characterized everyone there like that when his previous few points seemed to be in favor of the ability to protest the government. I guess he only…

[deleted]

Re: Reasons not to use Facebook

#35

Post by tree_of_item » Sat, Mar 14, 2015, 6:42 AM UTC

gaadd33 wrote: post #7

> Algorithmic filtering can affect history, not just hide history. Facebook's filtering algorithm suppressed news about the thug riot in Ferguson until after it became national news. Calling all of the protestors in Ferguson "thugs" seems pretty off base. I'm surprised he characterized everyone there like that when his previous few points seemed to be in favor of the ability to protest the government. I guess he only…

You misunderstood, he's calling the cops thugs, not the protestors. If you read the rest of his website you will see that he refers to police as "thugs" regularly:

> US citizens: call on Obama to curb militarization of thugs.

> Everyone, call on Pasco to fire and prosecute the killer thugs

> "Flood Wall Street" protesters have been acquitted of charges; the thugs' order for them to disperse was ruled unconstitutional.

> It is good that they were acquitted, but there must be some penalty for thugs that violate protesters' rights.

and so on.

Re: Reasons not to use Facebook

#36

Post by zghst » Sat, Mar 14, 2015, 6:43 AM UTC

gaadd33 wrote: post #7

> Algorithmic filtering can affect history, not just hide history. Facebook's filtering algorithm suppressed news about the thug riot in Ferguson until after it became national news. Calling all of the protestors in Ferguson "thugs" seems pretty off base. I'm surprised he characterized everyone there like that when his previous few points seemed to be in favor of the ability to protest the government. I guess he only…

I am appalled with how much people get away with and maintain their innocence.

Re: Reasons not to use Facebook

#37

Post by zghst » Sat, Mar 14, 2015, 6:44 AM UTC

abdias wrote: post #20

Considering that Zuckerberg is a great admire of China and apparently socialism[0], it doesn't come to me as a huge surprise that these "ethics" are guidelines for Facebook. “I’ve also bought copies of this book for my colleagues,” Zuckerberg was quoted as saying by a Chinese news website. “I want them to understand socialism with Chinese characteristics.” [0]: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2014/1…

I can be disgusted at this can I?

Re: Reasons not to use Facebook

#38

Post by Fdndjxjxr » Sat, Mar 14, 2015, 6:44 AM UTC

gaadd33 wrote: post #7

> Algorithmic filtering can affect history, not just hide history. Facebook's filtering algorithm suppressed news about the thug riot in Ferguson until after it became national news. Calling all of the protestors in Ferguson "thugs" seems pretty off base. I'm surprised he characterized everyone there like that when his previous few points seemed to be in favor of the ability to protest the government. I guess he only…

Stallman always refers to police as thugs. In essence he is saying that the police were responsible for what happened. His political notes are actually quite good:

https://www.stallman.org/archives/2015-jan-apr.html

Re: Reasons not to use Facebook

#39

Post by vvpan » Sat, Mar 14, 2015, 6:47 AM UTC

abdias wrote: post #20

Considering that Zuckerberg is a great admire of China and apparently socialism[0], it doesn't come to me as a huge surprise that these "ethics" are guidelines for Facebook. “I’ve also bought copies of this book for my colleagues,” Zuckerberg was quoted as saying by a Chinese news website. “I want them to understand socialism with Chinese characteristics.” [0]: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2014/1…

You say "socialism" like it's a bad thing.

Re: Reasons not to use Facebook

#40

Post by yuhong » Sat, Mar 14, 2015, 6:47 AM UTC

PebblesHD wrote: post #2

At this point in the evolution in technology, I find that Stallman is increasingly irrelevant when his commentary is basically stating every basic point of the site and then saying its bad. Don't want to use your real name? Don't join a site where the goal is to publicly connect with people you know. Don't want your privacy violated, post only what you feel comfortable with. With every new step in the advance of tech…

Personally I am not for real name policies, but I do believe that these problems should be fixed properly if possible, which is why I consider employee gagging the worst part of the Google+ nymwars for example.