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Facebook shares shoot up after strong Q4 earnings despite data breach

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Re: Facebook shares shoot up after strong Q4 earnings despite data breach

#221
post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ack sorry, my bad. It wasn't meant to be, but I see I have misintentionally done just that. What I meant to communnicate was "we shouldn't take these stats at face value and therefore assume the scandals have had no impact" but I made the mistake of phrasing it as if it were an assertion (not an interpretation I'm used to), being too pithy, and also using Zuckerberg's name rather than "social media"/"facebook". I did…

Thanks. Moderating HN has taught me that most of what looks like trolling is unintentional. Most of us consider our comments to be individual statements; we don't think of them as roots of the next possible subthread. But that's actually what matters for discussion quality.

That's a really good point I'd never considered.

It's very cool that on HN people sensibly and helpfully debated what I'd intended to say. Means I learn.

Re: Facebook shares shoot up after strong Q4 earnings despite data breach

#222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you for calling this out. The best way to think about Facebook is that it is a time filler. I don't know where I read it but an average FB session lasts around 75-90 seconds. People use it when they are in a line or when they are in an elevator. It is a great way to stay in touch with what your friends are doing or communicate with them. I find it very difficult to understand what is to hate about that. Sure th…

I'm sorry to say, but you sound like a product ad. You raise the data usage problem, but then just dismiss it and give a non-solution, knowing perfectly well the extensive Facebook tracking cannot be completely disabled since they even track people without accounts. > Also, it is time to #undeleteFacebook. You know you are missing it! No, it isn't and no, I'm really not. I don't need a "time filler". The mind needs s…

Do you know others tracks you as well? It is not only FB. Google does exactly the same tracking as FB regardless of whether you have an account. So are you applying the same principles of privacy there? Hell, even Twitter tracks you wherever it can regardless of your account.

It is all good to come here and spread hatred about FB. But if you have principled stand against privacy, you won't use any of the major services that are supported by ads. Stop using Google Search, Maps, GMail, Instagram, Whatsapp, Twitter & YouTube.

Re: Facebook shares shoot up after strong Q4 earnings despite data breach

#223
post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow, that’s the best take on this entire thing I’ve read. I’ve been saying much of this for months and I’m also not an active Facebook user. The market’s had a hard time deciding what to make of all the “scandals” but the past few headlines have had less and less of an effect on the stock. The TC article that came out yesterday had absolutely zero effect which surprised me a little and the news that they might receiv…

yeah, twitter users are notorious for how much they love jack and twitter

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Re: Facebook shares shoot up after strong Q4 earnings despite data breach

#224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sorry to say, but you sound like a product ad. You raise the data usage problem, but then just dismiss it and give a non-solution, knowing perfectly well the extensive Facebook tracking cannot be completely disabled since they even track people without accounts. > Also, it is time to #undeleteFacebook. You know you are missing it! No, it isn't and no, I'm really not. I don't need a "time filler". The mind needs s…

Do you know others tracks you as well? It is not only FB. Google does exactly the same tracking as FB regardless of whether you have an account. So are you applying the same principles of privacy there? Hell, even Twitter tracks you wherever it can regardless of your account. It is all good to come here and spread hatred about FB. But if you have principled stand against privacy, you won't use any of the major servic…

Yes, I do. I avoid anything made by Google as much as I can and I don't regularly use any of the mentioned services. I host my own mail server, use uMatrix and uBlock to block tracking, strongly prefer Firefox over Chromium and so on.

However, even if I wasn't doing all of that, it would make sense to reject any one of those, even if I wasn't rejecting them all. You have to start somewhere and Facebook is as good a place to start as any. The existence of many bad actors doesn't mean we should be paralyzed because we cannot achieve a perfect solution all at once.

Re: Facebook shares shoot up after strong Q4 earnings despite data breach

#225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you know others tracks you as well? It is not only FB. Google does exactly the same tracking as FB regardless of whether you have an account. So are you applying the same principles of privacy there? Hell, even Twitter tracks you wherever it can regardless of your account. It is all good to come here and spread hatred about FB. But if you have principled stand against privacy, you won't use any of the major servic…

Yes, I do. I avoid anything made by Google as much as I can and I don't regularly use any of the mentioned services. I host my own mail server, use uMatrix and uBlock to block tracking, strongly prefer Firefox over Chromium and so on. However, even if I wasn't doing all of that, it would make sense to reject any one of those, even if I wasn't rejecting them all. You have to start somewhere and Facebook is as good a p…

In that case, you are not using Facebook because you don't like their service. Not because you don't like their stand on privacy. Since, if it is the latter, then all of them are equally bad. Also, don't specifically call out Facebook in that they are tracking without your account since everyone does the same as well.

Re: Facebook shares shoot up after strong Q4 earnings despite data breach

#226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, I do. I avoid anything made by Google as much as I can and I don't regularly use any of the mentioned services. I host my own mail server, use uMatrix and uBlock to block tracking, strongly prefer Firefox over Chromium and so on. However, even if I wasn't doing all of that, it would make sense to reject any one of those, even if I wasn't rejecting them all. You have to start somewhere and Facebook is as good a p…

In that case, you are not using Facebook because you don't like their service. Not because you don't like their stand on privacy. Since, if it is the latter, then all of them are equally bad. Also, don't specifically call out Facebook in that they are tracking without your account since everyone does the same as well.

I strongly feel like I am not getting some part of your argument, because what you are saying feels like a non sequitur.

I do in fact refuse to use Facebook primarily because of their stance (and actions) related to privacy. I don't especially like their service either, but the service itself has its merits.

Not all internet actors are equally bad. The largest corporate actors with the currently largest internet presence are bad. This is an argument against using the services offered by those actors. Is there any point in trying to quantify which one is the worst? The seven services you named are all owned by three entities, with Facebook owning two on that list (WhatsApp and Instagram). That firmly ranks it as one of the worst.

I will certainly call out Facebook specifically in a thread specifically about Facebook. And again, even cutting out one of those is better than cutting out none since you have to start somewhere.

Re: Facebook shares shoot up after strong Q4 earnings despite data breach

#227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you attribute so little agency to people that becoming a heroin addict becomes someone else's responsibility (barring physical addiction in the womb or being shot up at gunpoint repeatedly) then there's little in this world that we can control anyways.

Your conclusion is entirely consistent with the facts. There is little in this world that we can control. It's really important to stop the bad actors from taking the little away from us.

Curiously, what is that little we can control? One could come up with an argument about how we control exactly zero in life. However even if it's true in a way, it might not be so useful to believe that since having that belief will lead to worse decisions (and a lot of psychology research shows that a belief that you don't have control is highly correlated with depression).
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