Facebook’s global lobbying against data privacy laws • Hacker News Board

Re: Facebook’s global lobbying against data privacy laws

#11

Post by NeedMoreTea » Sat, Mar 02, 2019, 4:34 PM UTC

joering2 wrote: post #7

annadane wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It should be shocking, though. Comments like this don't contribute anything to the discussion and I would argue they're actually harmful because they make people complacent. If Facebook continually assures us that privacy is important in their discourse, but then on a practical level does what they can to destroy it, that's a big scandal and they should be raked across the coals for it. Edit: typo

That's MO of all large corporation. Take Monsato for example - beautiful website full of happy parents with smiling children and message: "we love you and food quality is important". Behind the scenes: bankrupt farmers by spreading your own copyrighted seeds on their ground and try to patent human genes.

Right, so you're saying it's a symptom of a systemic issue.

Sounds like we're well overdue for an adjustment in laws to ensure that such things cannot go unchecked. Perhaps it's also a sign that globalisation wasn't an exclusively good development as it's tended to make corporations above nations and government. I wonder how we can dramatically rein in all of them so that it's rather more equitable.

Re: Facebook’s global lobbying against data privacy laws

#12

Post by NeedMoreTea » Sat, Mar 02, 2019, 4:37 PM UTC

Ultramanoid wrote: post #8

At least they didn't succeed in derailing the passing of the GDPR. That's certainly encouraging and I guess the only piece of good news from the article. The rest paints a pretty depressing picture.

The amount of worry they showed in the two articles about GDPR reassures that it was adequate. So long as it's enforced adequately.

Re: Facebook’s global lobbying against data privacy laws

#13

Post by fromalex » Sat, Mar 02, 2019, 4:40 PM UTC

[flagged]

Re: Facebook’s global lobbying against data privacy laws

#14

Post by prophesi » Sat, Mar 02, 2019, 4:43 PM UTC

annadane wrote: post #9

joering2 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's MO of all large corporation. Take Monsato for example - beautiful website full of happy parents with smiling children and message: "we love you and food quality is important". Behind the scenes: bankrupt farmers by spreading your own copyrighted seeds on their ground and try to patent human genes.

Right. I would love to be a fly on the wall and see where things go wrong. Do the happy smiley PR people never talk to the actual figureheads making the corrupt decisions? Are they being held at gunpoint to say these glowing things about the company? etc etc etc. I think Zuckerberg and Sandberg may not even be trying to be "evil" - maybe they are, I have no clue - they're "just" trying to grow their company in order…

If someone quits due to a moral conflict, that just leaves the job open for someone with a lower moral standard. And a $100k salary job is a $100k salary job.

Plus, almost by definition, you have to put the blinders on to work in public relations.

Re: Facebook’s global lobbying against data privacy laws

#15

Post by luckylion » Sat, Mar 02, 2019, 4:44 PM UTC

annadane wrote: post #5

TwoNineA wrote: post #4

Shocking. Megacorp who makes its money by dataminding people is lobbying against privacy.

It should be shocking, though. Comments like this don't contribute anything to the discussion and I would argue they're actually harmful because they make people complacent. If Facebook continually assures us that privacy is important in their discourse, but then on a practical level does what they can to destroy it, that's a big scandal and they should be raked across the coals for it. Edit: typo

Should it really be "shocking" as in "surprising and bad"? I appears to me that one would have to be willfully ignorant to not be aware that FB & Co are very likely lobbying against privacy laws.

Having it confirmed should make you angry, but it shouldn't come as a surprise.

Re: Facebook’s global lobbying against data privacy laws

#16

Post by thoreaway » Sat, Mar 02, 2019, 4:46 PM UTC

mc89 wrote: post #10

It's been a while since a Trump or Brexit type unexpected/unpredicted event that Facebook influenced has happened. As in nothing at a national scale. Does this mean the architecture is getting better? Or are we going to get hit by more randomness soon?

[flagged]

Re: Facebook’s global lobbying against data privacy laws

#17

Post by annadane » Sat, Mar 02, 2019, 4:49 PM UTC

luckylion wrote: post #15

annadane wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It should be shocking, though. Comments like this don't contribute anything to the discussion and I would argue they're actually harmful because they make people complacent. If Facebook continually assures us that privacy is important in their discourse, but then on a practical level does what they can to destroy it, that's a big scandal and they should be raked across the coals for it. Edit: typo

Should it really be "shocking" as in "surprising and bad"? I appears to me that one would have to be willfully ignorant to not be aware that FB & Co are very likely lobbying against privacy laws. Having it confirmed should make you angry, but it shouldn't come as a surprise.

It depends where you come from. Not everyone is aware of the extent of lobbying. And, it may be - not necessarily - that FB does it more than other companies. These are all details that may get fleshed out in time

Re: Facebook’s global lobbying against data privacy laws

#18

Post by gumby » Sat, Mar 02, 2019, 4:51 PM UTC

annadane wrote: post #5

TwoNineA wrote: post #4

Shocking. Megacorp who makes its money by dataminding people is lobbying against privacy.

It should be shocking, though. Comments like this don't contribute anything to the discussion and I would argue they're actually harmful because they make people complacent. If Facebook continually assures us that privacy is important in their discourse, but then on a practical level does what they can to destroy it, that's a big scandal and they should be raked across the coals for it. Edit: typo

I upvoted that comment (admittedly only because it appeared greyed).

> Comments like this don't contribute anything to the discussion...

While flip, it makes a good point: this is a kind of “dog bites man” topic. Such topics can still be usefully addressed, (and the article is a good one) but the outrage should be at the effectiveness (if any) and perhaps techniques rather than the action at all (which unfortunately is the subject of the article title).

> and I would argue they're actually harmful because they make people complacent.

The brevity of the comment is indeed cynical, but it sparled a good comment from you as well as provoking thought on my part of “what makes a discussion like this relevant”

Re: Facebook’s global lobbying against data privacy laws

#19

Post by annadane » Sat, Mar 02, 2019, 4:52 PM UTC

gumby wrote: post #18

annadane wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It should be shocking, though. Comments like this don't contribute anything to the discussion and I would argue they're actually harmful because they make people complacent. If Facebook continually assures us that privacy is important in their discourse, but then on a practical level does what they can to destroy it, that's a big scandal and they should be raked across the coals for it. Edit: typo

I upvoted that comment (admittedly only because it appeared greyed). > Comments like this don't contribute anything to the discussion... While flip, it makes a good point: this is a kind of “dog bites man” topic. Such topics can still be usefully addressed, (and the article is a good one) but the outrage should be at the effectiveness (if any) and perhaps techniques rather than the action at all (which unfortunately…

That's fair.

Re: Facebook’s global lobbying against data privacy laws

#20

Post by cabalamat » Sat, Mar 02, 2019, 5:05 PM UTC

Some people, particularly on the left, are unconcerned about political censorship by Facebook, Google, Twitter, etc, figuring that they will only censor people the left don't like.

But what when Facebook etc start censoring people who want big corporations to pay more tax or respect privacy? They are very likely to do this eventually (even if they are not doing so now), particularly in subtle ways like giving content less visibility, because doing so helps them achieve their objectives.