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Facebook settles with FTC, under privacy watch for 20 years

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Re: Facebook settles with FTC, under privacy watch for 20 years

#51

Post by seiji »

freehunter wrote: post #7
nextparadigms wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember very well when the first one happened. It pissed me off because someone got to see some information I thought was private after I went to the trouble of going through Facebook's previous 50 privacy settings.

My family had a major falling out with my father, to the point where myself and my sister had a restraining order against him when I was 7 and she was 9. I haven't seen him or talked to him in 16 years. After Facebook deleted my privacy settings, I had a message from him sitting in my inbox the next day. My sister called me, crying, because she had gotten the same message. Both of our accounts were previously unsearc…

An article a few years ago talked about what privacy means to rich kids who have everything. Go to a $40k per year boarding school that mummy and daddy pay for? What do you have to hide? Not much.

Then the kids get older and decide "no secrets for anybody!" What's the harm in sharing your life? It's a net win. If you see James got a new turbo jet ski, won't you want to work harder to get one too? Sharing can save the world.

We can't seem to imagine a time when maybe you wanted to keep a secret. Maybe you're helping someone to not be found. Maybe you're helping someone through a bad time in their life. Then, with a profit-oriented privacy change, you end up in the parent's situation.

The world view of the people in charge aren't aligned with "normal." We'll see PR and lip service press releases, but steamrolling over normal people will continue.

Re: Facebook settles with FTC, under privacy watch for 20 years

#52

Post by jnorthrop »

grecy wrote: post #28
jnorthrop wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This sentence: "including giving consumers clear and prominent notice and obtaining consumers' express consent before their information is shared beyond the privacy settings they have established" was the killer to me. It forces FB to much more transparent about what it does with data and could have a significant shift in its revenue model.

> "...their information is shared beyond the privacy settings they have established" Face-palm. That's an oxymoron by definition.

Not really. If they provide clear and transparent notice to users on what they are doing with their data, then what they are doing is fine -- "caveat emptor."

Re: Facebook settles with FTC, under privacy watch for 20 years

#53

Post by dreamdu5t »

freehunter wrote: post #41
mgummelt wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Care to fill in the logical leap from your second to third lines?

Possibly something like "Corporations can get away with anything because they run the country and there's no turning back." Just a guess.

Facebook didn't break the law. So I'm not sure what people mean when they say "get away with anything."

Re: Facebook settles with FTC, under privacy watch for 20 years

#54

Post by Silhouette »

dreamdu5t wrote: post #23

Privacy policies aren't binding contracts or agreements. They're just stated policies. Why do people treat them like contracts?

Perhaps that is so in the US; I don't know.

In Europe, however, privacy policies play a significant legal role in terms of complying with privacy and data protection legislation.

Facebook has its international HQ in Europe and deals with personal data about EU citizens, and is thus subject to EU rules as well as US ones.

Re: Facebook settles with FTC, under privacy watch for 20 years

#55

Post by seiji »

johnthedebs wrote: post #12
arthurgibson wrote: post #10

Specifically, under the proposed settlement, Facebook is: "barred from making misrepresentations about the privacy or security of consumers' personal information;" Is this implying companies are allowed to lie? Seems redundant.

I think what it means is that, in this case, the FTC gets to watch and make sure Facebook complies. If they don't, they get penalized for it. FTA: The proposed order also contains standard record-keeping provisions to allow the FTC to monitor compliance with its order. and then further down: Each violation of such an order may result in a civil penalty of up to $16,000. I really hope that's up to $16,000 per person f…

The next site-wide privacy snafu will cost $11 trillion dollars.

Re: Facebook settles with FTC, under privacy watch for 20 years

#56

Post by hexis »

jpdoctor wrote: post #19
state_machine wrote: post #4

The best part is when you get to the footer and see: "Like the FTC on Facebook".

Utterly inexcusable. Someone (several someones really) at the FTC should lose their jobs over that. When O when will we get regulators with some distance from those they are regulating? (I'm looking at you SEC.)

"When O when will we get regulators with some distance from those they are regulating?"

Oh, that's an easy one.

Re: Facebook settles with FTC, under privacy watch for 20 years

#57

Post by jrockway »

jpdoctor wrote: post #19
state_machine wrote: post #4

The best part is when you get to the footer and see: "Like the FTC on Facebook".

Utterly inexcusable. Someone (several someones really) at the FTC should lose their jobs over that. When O when will we get regulators with some distance from those they are regulating? (I'm looking at you SEC.)

The government needs mindshare and advertises just like any other entity. Just like people use Facebook to tell people not to use Facebook, the FTC may buy or use services from companies they are taking legal action against. That's not an endorsement of the practices they are fighting against; it's simply how businesses work. Facebook is where the people are; if you want people to hear your message, you take the message to Facebook. It's especially relevant in this case since their work directly benefits Facebook's users, so it would not make much sense to not have their message heard there.

Also, they settled and all is good between the FTC and Facebook.

Re: Facebook settles with FTC, under privacy watch for 20 years

#58

Post by rhizome »

jnorthrop wrote: post #44
Silhouette wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The trouble is, it only "forces" Facebook to do anything if there will be meaningful sanctions if they don't. They've just been found, in a formal investigation, to have broken numerous fundamental privacy laws across several continents, and been punished with... absolutely nothing, as far as I can tell. All this has done is teach them that they are above the law and should feel free to continue doing whatever they l…

With this decision they are subject to 20 years of audits. It's not like they got off with just a warning.

Those "audits" will be toothless, and the only effect we'll ever see from them is the occasional headline. Read up on Microsoft since the late 90s or IBM since the early 80s, among many others.

The FTC's presence in FB's business decisions will only lend an air of legitimacy to what would otherwise cause problems with their users, and transforms FB's business model from "users are dumb fucks" to "Mom said I could."

Re: Facebook settles with FTC, under privacy watch for 20 years

#59

Post by rhizome »

grecy wrote: post #28
jnorthrop wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This sentence: "including giving consumers clear and prominent notice and obtaining consumers' express consent before their information is shared beyond the privacy settings they have established" was the killer to me. It forces FB to much more transparent about what it does with data and could have a significant shift in its revenue model.

> "...their information is shared beyond the privacy settings they have established" Face-palm. That's an oxymoron by definition.

No, it just means that changes to privacy that affect existing data should be announced beforehand. However, I doubt that they'll tell you which data will be affected.

Have fun scrolling through your entire FB history to update permissions!

Re: Facebook settles with FTC, under privacy watch for 20 years

#60

Post by MartinCron »

jpdoctor wrote: post #19
state_machine wrote: post #4

The best part is when you get to the footer and see: "Like the FTC on Facebook".

Utterly inexcusable. Someone (several someones really) at the FTC should lose their jobs over that. When O when will we get regulators with some distance from those they are regulating? (I'm looking at you SEC.)

Should government agencies who regulate telephone services not use telephones?
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