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Facebook Emails Could Show Zuckerberg Knew of Questionable Privacy Practices

wsj.com

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Re: Facebook Emails Could Show Zuckerberg Knew of Questionable Privacy Practices

#111

Post by camjohnson26 »

Barrin92 wrote: post #58
camjohnson26 wrote: post #18

Honestly I don’t see the problem, Facebook’s privacy stance has been well known for years. I don’t use their product much because of this, but friends and family couldn’t care less. Their response is that they don’t care if someone reads their messages or tailors ads to them and no matter how hard I try it won’t change their minds. If you don’t like their privacy stance just don’t use the product, it’s not like there…

obesity is one of primary public health concerns, with costs associated going into the tens if not hundreds of billions, affecting billions of people. Societies all over the globe try hard to tackle it, and you would have to make a very good case why you should not, or cannot police products that cause harm like this, we do it all the time. If Facebook is the new Coke I'm not sure you're making the point you're inten…

Yes they are both big problems, the point is that not every problem can be solved through regulation. Sedentary lifestyles are a big problem but that doesn’t mean we should pass a law forcing people to move a set amount every day. At some point people have to be given the freedom to be allowed to hurt themselves and society’s role should be to help them make the decision not to. Ideally this is done through education, not force.

Re: Facebook Emails Could Show Zuckerberg Knew of Questionable Privacy Practices

#112

Post by sonnyblarney »

The article is misrepresentative. This was way back in an era where fb had slightly more open apis.

Of course some people were going to exploit that and break fbs own policies.

Cambridge did that and broke fbs rules.

Once it became more obvious that 3rd parties would break the rules fb adjusted their policy and closed the loophole.

The open nature of the policy was known to everyone on the planet including the ftc at the time. If those policies were problematic why wouldnt someone at the ftc say something?

Those whose job it is to regulate just sit there and watch for a decade before doing anything?

As someone mentioned above this is a systematic issue and a problem with the business model.

This is not some sneaky thing fb did on the side or behind closed doors. The apis were there for the public and everyone to see the whole time. Though there wwtr a few voiced concerns there certainly was not outrage.

I have several problems with fb but this specific issue is being misrepresented.

Re: Facebook Emails Could Show Zuckerberg Knew of Questionable Privacy Practices

#113

Post by lixtra »

malloreon wrote: post #87

Stop taking away personal responsibility from the thousands of facebook employees, each of whom chooses to be evil every single day. None of these people are being forced to work there. They choose to. They are just as responsible.

In that case don’t spare the users of FB either. They could carry their content elsewhere but they chose to feed the monster even more.

Or - accept the fact that people consider a fair deal what seems to be exploitation to you. If you don’t believe that people are able to make a reasonable, conscious choice then the end of democracy has come (for you).

Re: Facebook Emails Could Show Zuckerberg Knew of Questionable Privacy Practices

#115

Post by mrnobody_67 »

peteretep wrote: post #89
mrnobody_67 wrote: post #54

He also openly ignores requests to testify in front of UK & Canadian parliamentary committees... Think about that for a minute. Someone who controls 3b people. Runs psychological experiments using AI. Bans accounts of people who violate corporate-created policies that weren't debated or voted on by the public. Violates FCC settlements. And then refuses to be held accountable - or answer questions- from first world, d…

> Someone who controls 3b people This bullshit hyperbole helps nobody

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/oct/02/facebook-...

They decide what news & ads get shown.

FB played a significant role in Brexit and US Presidential elections, enforcing filter bubbles, and running ads in violation of campaign finance laws (i.e. Russia).

Re: Facebook Emails Could Show Zuckerberg Knew of Questionable Privacy Practices

#116

Post by mrnobody_67 »

briandear wrote: post #103
mrnobody_67 wrote: post #54

He also openly ignores requests to testify in front of UK & Canadian parliamentary committees... Think about that for a minute. Someone who controls 3b people. Runs psychological experiments using AI. Bans accounts of people who violate corporate-created policies that weren't debated or voted on by the public. Violates FCC settlements. And then refuses to be held accountable - or answer questions- from first world, d…

So stop using Facebook. (I'm not defending Facebook's practices, but nothing is stopping you, your friends, or family from just not using Facebook/Insta/What's App anymore.) Is a banned account really something that should be subject to a public vote? That's ridiculous; that implies that Facebook is some kind of human right. It isn't. Stop using it if you don't like it.

I haven't had an account, ever. And don't use it.

Doesn't stop FB from creating a shadow account though, buying up my credit history, and tons of other data from 3rd party sources.

Re: Facebook Emails Could Show Zuckerberg Knew of Questionable Privacy Practices

#117

Post by na85 »

phry wrote: post #109
bongobongo wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A liberal constitutional democracy does not have any more ability to make you disappear than Facebook does. And repressive governments already use Facebook to disappear their people: >The Facebook posts were not from everyday internet users. Instead, they were from Myanmar military personnel who turned the social network into a tool for ethnic cleansing, according to former military officials, researchers and civilia…

> A liberal constitutional democracy does not have any more ability to make you disappear than Facebook does. oh for sure bud "The disappeared: Chicago police detain Americans at abuse-laden 'black site'" https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/feb/24/chicago-poli...

The US isn't a liberal constitutional democracy. It's an oligarchy with different laws for the rich and poor.

Re: Facebook Emails Could Show Zuckerberg Knew of Questionable Privacy Practices

#118

Post by malloreon »

lixtra wrote: post #113
malloreon wrote: post #87

Stop taking away personal responsibility from the thousands of facebook employees, each of whom chooses to be evil every single day. None of these people are being forced to work there. They choose to. They are just as responsible.

In that case don’t spare the users of FB either. They could carry their content elsewhere but they chose to feed the monster even more. Or - accept the fact that people consider a fair deal what seems to be exploitation to you. If you don’t believe that people are able to make a reasonable, conscious choice then the end of democracy has come (for you).

There is no alternative to facebook within orders of magnitude of network effects.

FB employees could use their experience and knowledge to work elsewhere.

Re: Facebook Emails Could Show Zuckerberg Knew of Questionable Privacy Practices

#119

Post by Barrin92 »

camjohnson26 wrote: post #111
Barrin92 wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

obesity is one of primary public health concerns, with costs associated going into the tens if not hundreds of billions, affecting billions of people. Societies all over the globe try hard to tackle it, and you would have to make a very good case why you should not, or cannot police products that cause harm like this, we do it all the time. If Facebook is the new Coke I'm not sure you're making the point you're inten…

Yes they are both big problems, the point is that not every problem can be solved through regulation. Sedentary lifestyles are a big problem but that doesn’t mean we should pass a law forcing people to move a set amount every day. At some point people have to be given the freedom to be allowed to hurt themselves and society’s role should be to help them make the decision not to. Ideally this is done through education…

I don't think anybody is advocating to force end users to do anything, but we can certainly regulate businesses who profit of harmful products.

Sugar taxes, smaller cupsizes, transparent information about the dangers of consumption, and so on are all fairly modest ways to set the right incentives.

And when it comes to companies behaving in irresponsible ways, for example if it turns out they ran disinformation campaigns, or hid important information about breaches from the public, then I think from time to time it's fair to bring out the hammer and hit them with substantial fines.

It can absolutely not be the case that Facebook violates user privacy, is aware of it up to the very top, and the next day the stock price soars by billions of dollars because evidently the market doesn't take our ability to correct this behaviour seriously.

Re: Facebook Emails Could Show Zuckerberg Knew of Questionable Privacy Practices

#120

Post by paulddraper »

bongobongo wrote: post #67
tehjoker wrote: post #17

Don't be fooled. Zuckerberg is the head of the organization and has both created and internalized the economic logic of his organization, but the problem is systemic. If you put in someone else, they'll have a different style and might do a few things slightly different, but the economic logic is the same. Spying on the population is profitable, so such operations must be expanded to the maximum possible extent. We c…

It never ceases to amaze me how people who are opposed to government surveillance by accountable liberal constitutional democracies are OK with surveillance by unaccountable private interests who lie all the time and do harm in order to make money.

Government has a exclusive monopoly on taxation and physical force.

Facebook is just some website.

There's not even a comparison.

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