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What amazes me even more is that almost all of those people are screaming an shouting and are entering the ID the next day and forget about it.
This is a smart move by Facebook; they already sit on the worlds largest data trove (user profiles with likes, family member info, network info, tagged pictures, etc. etc.), and now they add the last part of the user verification step...
How is this smart? (Not disagreeing, just requesting more info.)
With each passing day, I look less and less like a lunatic for avoiding facebook (and its ilk) like the plague. You should try it.
People think those who don't use Facebook are lunatics? Why?
In a discussion we once had in class, I mentioned that an option that hadn't been listed besides Facebook, Google+, Diaspora, etc was "none of the above". I got bewildered stares of disbelief in return.
This is the page about verifying your account: https://www.facebook.com/help/385569904840341 Facebook accepts any government-issued ID that contains name and date of birth. Examples include: Birth certificate, Driver’s license, Passport, Marriage certificate, Official name change paperwork, Personal or vehicle insurance card, Non-driver's government ID (ex. disability, SNAP or national ID card), Green card, residence…
Back before facebook went gigantic people used social networks with avatar like display pics & put up loads of fake data.
Two comments on this: We started http://www.nymrights.org to combat issues like this. One of our long term goals is to get companies to adopt policies preventing data demands like this unless sufficient protections (read, laws) are in place. (if you're a company debating adopting such a policy, I'd love to chat!) Second, if you're European, check out the European Court of Human Rights, which offers protection against…
How would you formulate such a law? What does Germany's Telemedia Act actually say? I can refuse to let you into my house if you won't show me your passport. If you don't have a passport, then I can just refuse to let you in no matter what. How does that change if I'm running a business? Or a web-site? Surely it would be better to focus on supply rather than demand. If government ID is mandatory for everyone (e.g. Ge…
The Telemedia Act specifically allows use of non-government-issued ID online. This has been the subject of a big lawsuit with Facebook: http://fusion.net/modern_life/story/german-state-fine-facebo...
Regarding the second set of questions, that's the big question right now. IANAL, but the "my house" is a domicile related context. While Facebook is not a domicile, they are a company, and a company can set their own policies. The challenge is that the people using Facebook aren't really employees, and they are using it like a public forum, which it isn't. There are a lot of social issues revolving around this. There's also the 3rd party doctrine to take into account (which incidentally is how NSA is justifying a lot of their monitoring).
In terms of government ID being mandatory, you have two issues: one, that while many countries do have a national ID, the US does not. Second, if you require an ID for a website, then you run into all kinds of issues: data retention, access privilege, fraud problems, etc. South Korea had a related law which they abandoned in 2012 after several years, and China just adopted one.
So the general answer is "it's complicated, it's a discussion much longer than a hnn thread offers, and nobody really knows yet." Hope that helped :)
This is a smart move by Facebook; they already sit on the worlds largest data trove (user profiles with likes, family member info, network info, tagged pictures, etc. etc.), and now they add the last part of the user verification step...
How is this smart? (Not disagreeing, just requesting more info.)
Reducing false accounts and such increases valuation of the data they sit on. When you buy a database of people on the black market it either comes in cheap truckloads of unverified data or expensive chest of verified detailed accounts.
This is a smart move by Facebook; they already sit on the worlds largest data trove (user profiles with likes, family member info, network info, tagged pictures, etc. etc.), and now they add the last part of the user verification step...
On the downside it does incur a social cost to do this.
Facebook's brand is more and more thought of negatively and associated more with a bad reputation with how they use their data. At its core the usage is optional and they're testing the waters further and further offshore.
There could come a time user's just don't want to use it anymore or more readily move to an alternative that pops up some day.
The social experience comes from viewing our friends picture's and knowing what they're up to, this is at the core of why we like facebook. Getting our government ID's doesn't help enhance this experience and the social cost of it is way more than the benefits in my opinion.
With each passing day, I look less and less like a lunatic for avoiding facebook (and its ilk) like the plague. You should try it.
People think those who don't use Facebook are lunatics? Why?
I hate facebook's privacy implications, I sympathize with his views. But facebook, the platform, is actually useful to me so I continue to use until a better alternative comes out.
Not as bad as Paypal with their requirement that you provide proof of SSN to unfreeze your funds that were frozen for no apparent legitimate reason.