Live data from Hacker News

Making Control Simple

blog.facebook.com

41–50 of 69 posts

Re: Making Control Simple

#41
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Point taken. But has that stopped fusion researchers?

Man you are way out of your head. You are comparing Fusion research to Diaspora? There has been tangible research done on nuclear fusion, there is a road map, we known how they plan to do it, they are building reactors, they have 100s of scientists employed working on it. They may not be successful, they maybe horrible failures, it might never happen. But they are working on it. Its way way far from the black board a…

I had no choice but to upvote this, possibly the most categorical, flat-out statement that diaspora deserves more scrutiny than they're getting.

It's certainly possible they'll build a solid product, but for something of this magnitude, and with the amount of audacity they have within their ranks to accomplish something this monumental (especially coming close on $200,00), they haven't particularly sold their case to the technical crowd that what they're going to build wont turn into vaporware.

More pointedly, they haven't sold their case that diaspora will even be worth checking out.

Re: Making Control Simple

#42

Fair play to Facebook, they've done exactly what they said they would, and to the same timeline. I don't like the long preamble trying to justify themselves, but now that I can turn off Facebook Platform entirely, it's a small price to pay.

wouldn't it be great if instead, you could turn it on and it was turned off by default? give people a compelling reason to use a product (in this case to turn it on), or you have no product--period.

That's true...if only new computers shipped without an operating system, and operating systems didn't come with a browser installed, and you had to turn on every feature in every application or website that you signed up for. If only the world was "off" by default and I had to spend lots of time and energy trying to get things into a usable state, instead of having the settings set to usable levels by default.

You might disagree with the defaults they've chosen, but having everything "off" by default isn't a great world.

Re: Making Control Simple

#43
post #40

I want to point out, that this entire blog post is dedicated to being able to manage your profile accessibility in a more simplified manner, yet not a single link in the blog post takes users to the direct page in which they can make the changes being referenced. This matters because non-savvy users don't have the slightest of a clue where to edit their privacy settings. When Facebook rolled out their first major red…

Mark mentioned that they're going to put links to this in messaging on the home page, which is about as in-your-face as possible. Nonsavvy users aren't reading blog posts either.

Re: Making Control Simple

#44
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Facebook doesn't require you to make your data public to target ads to you. Advertisers don't ever see your actual data -- they target to demographics, and Facebook acts as the intermediary, displaying those ads to the appropriate users. Here's a related FAQ: http://www.facebook.com/help/?topic=privacyupdate

The more content is private the fewer pages of targeted advertising Facebook will serve. So if everything was private facebook would make less money. By tricking users into making more information public they get more hits and get more opportunities to 'share' your data with 3rd parties.

Which part of "Facebook doesn't require you to make your data public to target ads to you." are you disagreeing with?

Re: Making Control Simple

#45
post #25

I'm confused did they really change anything? Or just make the controls "simpler"? Are there still "only me" settings? (I got bored after reading the first few paragraphs of the history of Facebook)

Here you go: http://gigaom.com/2010/05/26/facebooks-new-privacy-settings-...

Re: Making Control Simple

#46

I wonder if anyone who deleted their profiles now want them back?

This doesn't really change much for me. I'm very happy to have given up my Facebook account. It's more a matter of trust for me, and Facebook ruined that. Their brand is forever tarnished in my eyes.

Re: Making Control Simple

#47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Their intentions are to make butt load of money. The only way they can do it is by selling users data one way or another. One of the main reasons I user facebook is to keep in touch with my friends and know what they are doing without having to do much. Big announcements or happenings are also passed on through facebook, nowadays, which is fine. However, this information is just between friends. Unless, they somehow…

Facebook doesn't require you to make your data public to target ads to you. Advertisers don't ever see your actual data -- they target to demographics, and Facebook acts as the intermediary, displaying those ads to the appropriate users. Here's a related FAQ: http://www.facebook.com/help/?topic=privacyupdate

So, are you saying that instant personalization was adding no value to their revenues? Making status updates public was in no-way an answer to twitter and generate a real-time news source? Linking interests to direct pages otherwise blank pages was making them no money? I know you work for FB, and it seems a lot of fb employees are following this thread and trying to generate a positive vibe. I am not against FB, but the way they have done things lately, it is almost impossible for me to believe that they wont do it again. I was one of those people who used to post things without thinking much on fb, and now I have completely stopped. Hopefully, every user will understand and would start treating it as a public forum.

Re: Making Control Simple

#48
post #40

I want to point out, that this entire blog post is dedicated to being able to manage your profile accessibility in a more simplified manner, yet not a single link in the blog post takes users to the direct page in which they can make the changes being referenced. This matters because non-savvy users don't have the slightest of a clue where to edit their privacy settings. When Facebook rolled out their first major red…

Also - for some of us - the change hasn't been rolled out yet.. I can only see the old privacy page.

Re: Making Control Simple

#50
post #26
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You really think a huge company full of lawyers and an entire office in DC dedicated to privacy & policy messed up because they were in a hurry? Trust me, there's not a single setting in the old design that wasn't vetted by a pile of lawyers and policy wonks.

I will give them the benefit of the doubt until someone proves that wrong. Right now, all you have is assumptions to rely on.

What I don't have to assume is that FaceBook has repeatedly made big privacy-impacting changes without consulting its users. This is the third major overreach/retreat. Three incidents is enough to realize that taking privacy seriously is not part of the company's DNA.
Post reply on HN