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Get Facebook WiFi for your business

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Re: Get Facebook WiFi for your business

#141
post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you don't like it, don't buy a Facebook WiFi router. For our business use case, this is perfect.

... or don't go to a business that has purchased a Facebook WiFi router.

Imagine hotels using this for their "free in room internet". I would seek lodging elsewhere.

Re: Get Facebook WiFi for your business

#142
post #116
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…

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?

I think the point of the story is to illustrate that a Facebook account is not a useful way to validate a customer's identity.

Re: Get Facebook WiFi for your business

#143

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

It's a FAKE NAME. If it's disabled, just make a new one. Hell, you could make a new account every time you log on with a random bang-on-the-keyboard password, what's the difference?

Re: Get Facebook WiFi for your business

#144
post #2

And so Facebook encroaches upon the physical world to anchor itself -- storefront businesses will come to rely on Facebook to sell personalized ads. I wouldn't be surprised if Facebook gets to access data about who purchases what and when. If you don't think Google will be doing the same thing with LTE-enabled cars, think again. Their partnership with automakers is no small challenge, and the data gathering opportuni…

brjohnson, not sure why your interesting comment was deleted, but here it is.

>Google can know that most Honda Civic drivers in Chicago (for example) park next to McDonald's, and that their phones traveled inside the restaurant This is already in beta testing.

http://marketingland.com/google-quietly-testing-offline-stor...

>Google is beta-testing a program that uses smartphone location data to determine when consumers visit stores, according to agency executives briefed on the program by Google employees. Google then connects these store visits to Google searches conducted on smartphones in an attempt to prove that its mobile ads do, in fact, work. Google is reportedly using location in the background (on Android and iOS) and its database of business locations (my guess) to determine when people visit stores.

>Disabling location reporting also disables Google Now features tied to location, which may be undesirable.

It also explains why they killed Skyhook. http://www.theverge.com/2011/05/12/google-android-skyhook-la...

Re: Get Facebook WiFi for your business

#145
post #92
post #2

And so Facebook encroaches upon the physical world to anchor itself -- storefront businesses will come to rely on Facebook to sell personalized ads. I wouldn't be surprised if Facebook gets to access data about who purchases what and when. If you don't think Google will be doing the same thing with LTE-enabled cars, think again. Their partnership with automakers is no small challenge, and the data gathering opportuni…

And so Facebook encroaches upon the physical world to anchor itself Not sure if you intended to sound so pessimistic but surely that's only a good thing? From a business perspective, this is an incredibly clever service. From a users perspective, this is an incredibly useful service. Everyone seems to forget that Facebook users are not the consumer, they are the product being sold. If, by using this service, Facebook…

Unfortunately looking isn't all that's going on. The advertiser can collect data about web browsing habits which I like to keep private. And some ads can actually hurt you: http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/05/tech/yahoo-malware-attack/

Getting served data from someone you didn't choose to send you data is never a good thing.

Re: Get Facebook WiFi for your business

#147
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…

The clerk must not be familiar with Facebook's "Real Name" policy. I think that asking a store clerk is probably never going to get you anywhere though. They are the least likely people to be involved with technical decisions. That's something that would be better taken up with the business owner. What's sad is that the business owner would probably be willing to sacrifice your business for the perceived benefit that…

The irony is rather that the excuse they provide is that they want to verify people's identity to prevent abuse, but then openly recommend using a fake identity to log on.

Re: Get Facebook WiFi for your business

#148
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.

It's not even for the average, because too many people are far too stupid for that and things suddenly have to be 'for everyone'. Someone with a 100 IQ and a modicum of common sense can deal with such things as an options menu, despite what google/apple/increasingly MS think.

Re: Get Facebook WiFi for your business

#149
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…

Where is this, Toscanini? I don't think the guy running the register and dipping the ice cream has the ability to override whatever settings the tech guy put into the router for the owner in the first place but can't you just walk down the street to the free Starbucks?

These are their terms, why does everyone have to argue with others about free services provided?

Re: Get Facebook WiFi for your business

#150

Wow. Given that the default FB setting is "HTTPS off", you might as well just pass around a note with your FB login + password to everybody else in the business.

Facebook has been https by default since July 2013. https://www.facebook.com/notes/facebook-engineering/secure-b...
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