Big brother is here, and his name is Facebook • Hacker News Board

Re: Big brother is here, and his name is Facebook

#191

Post by ryanwaggoner » Sun, Aug 13, 2017, 1:52 AM UTC

snarf21 wrote: post #187

ryanwaggoner wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

99% sounded like a made-up statistic, so I looked it up [1]. What do you know, it's more like 60% combined. What's the purpose of throwing out numbers like this? It only hurts whatever point you're trying to make. (Edited for tone) 1. http://www.adweek.com/digital/u-s-digital-advertising-will-m...

I apologize, I misremembered the statistic from an article I read months ago. They only account for 99%+ of the growth in the last year, according to this article. [ http://fortune.com/2017/04/26/google-facebook-digital-ads/ ]

Even that source is a real stretch to support your point. Yes, some analyst thinks it's close to 100%, but sounds like most experts don't agree.

Re: Big brother is here, and his name is Facebook

#192

Post by ryanwaggoner » Sun, Aug 13, 2017, 1:55 AM UTC

bobsgame wrote: post #190

ryanwaggoner wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is such a stupid argument. He was what, 20 years old? And FB was a tiny nothing at that point. And let's face it, he probably wasn't wrong to think that users were dumb to upload private data to some random POS website. I'm sure you never said anything at 20 on IM with a friend that could be used in isolation more than a decade later to show that you're an evil person, right?

Thanks for this.

I keep seeing HN users who clearly have an irrational hatred of Zuckerburg trot out this stupid quote as if it proves anything, let alone that he's some kind of megalomaniac. Just really annoys me. It always reeks of jealousy and sour grapes to me :)

Re: Big brother is here, and his name is Facebook

#193

Post by kerkeslager » Sun, Aug 13, 2017, 1:59 AM UTC

mattmanser wrote: post #163

mattlondon wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can go a long way to blocking a lot of these by using some alternatives: * Using DuckDuckGo ( https://duckduckgo.com/ ). It is really decent and has good desktop and mobile integration. * Using a browser like Brave ( https://www.brave.com/ ) that blocks trackers etc. Android app is superb. * Using a Maps replacement like OSM ( https://www.openstreetmap.org ) on desktop and OsmAnd on mobile ( https://play.google.c…

I've been trying to use DDG for the last 6 months. Ultimately I'd say 40% of my queries I now just force google with '!g' instead. I was quite bullish on it 6 months ago, but must admit that after 6 months, anything complex I !g straightaway.

This is taking "but it's so convenient to give up my privacy!" to a new level. Now it's "but if I don't give up my privacy can't micro-optimize my life!"?

For framework configuration questions just search Stack(Overflow|Exchange) directly. For local results append the name of your city.

Re: Big brother is here, and his name is Facebook

#194

Post by partiallypro » Sun, Aug 13, 2017, 2:06 AM UTC

Google knows far far more about you than Facebook. Facebook knows the information you want public or general information like usage. Google knows your darkest secrets. Sure, Facebook tracking pixels might track some of your shopping habits too; but Google has analytics everywhere, Adwords linked up, your search history, your browser history, your location history etc.

Re: Big brother is here, and his name is Facebook

#195

Post by saywatnow » Sun, Aug 13, 2017, 2:23 AM UTC

mattmanser wrote: post #176

StavrosK wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've had the opposite experience. I've been using it for many months and I only !g code searches or searches where DDG's results were disappointing, most of which end up disappointing on Google as well.

I find that hard to believe if you're a programmer, as any complex programming question !g is almost always better. As well as anything local. If you search for a fairly common venue name, google will always get you a much better result.

> I find it hard to believe if you're a programmer

Some people work better with reference documentation, books and their brain than SO "answers".

Google for "complex programming questions" is laughable and honestly a bit insulting to the profession.

Re: Big brother is here, and his name is Facebook

#196

Post by jsz0 » Sun, Aug 13, 2017, 2:24 AM UTC

aphextron wrote: post #30

Deimorz wrote: post #9

Personally, I think Google is just as terrifying, possibly more. As an example, just take a fairly normal life situation like going out for dinner with some friends, and think about how much of it goes "through" Google: --- One of your friends sends an email to 6 others, to ask if everyone's free for dinner on Friday. 5 of the 7 people involved use gmail or a google apps address. You've never heard of the restaurant…

The conclusion I've come to regarding Google is that you just have to accept it for now. The services that they provide are so above and beyond anything from any other provider that to not use them puts you at a great disadvantage. Google search is an order of magnitude above the competition. There is no serious alternative to Google maps. The level of integration that Google Calendar has with practically everything…

> The services that they provide are so above and beyond anything from any other provider that to not use them puts you at a great disadvantage.

Five years ago I would have agreed but at this point most of the advantages offered by Google's services are non-essential conveniences. Google's competition has caught up faster than they have added new 'must have' features.

Re: Big brother is here, and his name is Facebook

#197

Post by [deleted] » Sun, Aug 13, 2017, 2:41 AM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Big brother is here, and his name is Facebook

#198

Post by greedy_buffer » Sun, Aug 13, 2017, 2:56 AM UTC

Deimorz wrote: post #38

codyb wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's pretty incredible. Search history and e-mail alone almost certainly reveal staggering amounts of personal information about most people. I try to "spread" my data. Apple for maps/messaging/photos, Signal, DuckDuckGo, Gmail, and primarily private tab web surfing. I also use different browsers for different concerns. And of course ad blockers although I'm not sure I've installed them everywhere. With my lack of so…

It gets even more frightening if you realize that you're probably not even considering all of the "deeper" levels. Almost everything I listed in my comment was pretty surface-level stuff, where it's at least somewhat obvious that you're giving the data to them (some things like the analytics not so much, but still not really "hidden"). But now start thinking about some other things: - Are any of the sites you're usin…

For Google to collect data on their platform customers' layer 7 traffic would be a pretty big breach of trust (i .e. hacking if they were using HTTPS) If they are just collecting TCP data and selling it to third party marketers or building analytics profiles it would be a lot of work to reliably connect that to humans for little benefit, along with risk to their reputation.

Re: Big brother is here, and his name is Facebook

#199

Post by jsz0 » Sun, Aug 13, 2017, 2:57 AM UTC

kuschku wrote: post #155

aphextron wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The conclusion I've come to regarding Google is that you just have to accept it for now. The services that they provide are so above and beyond anything from any other provider that to not use them puts you at a great disadvantage. Google search is an order of magnitude above the competition. There is no serious alternative to Google maps. The level of integration that Google Calendar has with practically everything…

Here Maps is a serious competitor to Google maps, in many regiona being far superior. For Google calendar, almost any self hosted calendar service can easily compete with that. Email is also easy to run yourself, as is Google Photos. "Easy" meaning a task a CompSci student can accomplish during a summer or two of coding.

Apple Maps has also become a serious competitor. Apple is still playing catch-up in some ways but every year they keep closing the gap further. Almost every 'catch up' feature they have added is as good or better than Google's implementation. In the same time period Google Maps hasn't improved much and has taken some steps backwards in UI.

Re: Big brother is here, and his name is Facebook

#200

Post by greedy_buffer » Sun, Aug 13, 2017, 2:57 AM UTC

utbabya wrote: post #127

jfktrey wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It almost seems impossible to use the internet for even a day without having some usage information leaked to Google.

Even if you don't install any GApps, Android would still ping Google servers. I can't remember exactly since it was a while ago, but IIRC it was some hardcoded NTP server. Not much but still a heartbeat per GeoIP.

Not to mention the captive portal redirect URL