The Reuters link is crashing Fennec F-Droid, the version of Firefox without the tracking. Anyone know why?
New York governor orders probe into Facebook access to data from other apps
61–70 of 100 posts
Re: New York governor orders probe into Facebook access to data from other apps
#62I assume this is other apps using FBs analytics toolset? Where I can send a custom event with {email:dillondoyle@gmail.com, data: {likes_dogs: 1, likes_cats: 0}} or what they are mad about is {weight: 120, has_hiv:0} ? IDK seems silly to me or maybe I'm in too deep and can't see the forest for the trees.
I agree. It seems weird to go after the place that stores the data rather than those who collect it and send it over (the apps).
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Re: New York governor orders probe into Facebook access to data from other apps
#63Anyone else working in tech for the past few years having more frequent existential crises about what they have enabled?
I have never worked at FB, but I've worked at a few well known yet somewhat controversial companies (in fintech, marketplaces, etc.) that I sometimes feel uneasy about.
Re: New York governor orders probe into Facebook access to data from other apps
#64Anyone else working in tech for the past few years having more frequent existential crises about what they have enabled? I have never worked at FB, but I've worked at a few well known yet somewhat controversial companies (in fintech, marketplaces, etc.) that I sometimes feel uneasy about.
Took me several years past school just to get used to the ordinary level of dishonesty and scumminess that's common to pretty much all business, let alone the worse stuff. Sometimes I think my parents (and, to be fair, children's media) messed up by giving me such a keen sense of right and wrong. Enough otherwise-decent people (like, almost all of them) seem to just look at you like there's something wrong with you when you bring this stuff up that I caved, since the alternative seemed to be becoming a living-off-the-land recluse, or a monk or something.
But I still hate it. Still feel like I'm kind of ruined in some sense for not going the really, really hard route to avoid it all. Every day. Some jobs more than others, but even at the best I sometimes go home catching whiffs of something that make me think my soul must have stepped in some dog shit on the way.
Re: New York governor orders probe into Facebook access to data from other apps
#65Anyone else working in tech for the past few years having more frequent existential crises about what they have enabled? I have never worked at FB, but I've worked at a few well known yet somewhat controversial companies (in fintech, marketplaces, etc.) that I sometimes feel uneasy about.
here too. I'm trying to figure out which different field I could get into (even it means leaving Tech[0] totally) and do something that provides some kind of benefit for humanity and the future of my kids. It was foolish the way I felt in the 90ies thinking that Software and computing would be a net benefit.
there has to be a field which isn't just about data extraction, mass surveillance (or worse).
Re: New York governor orders probe into Facebook access to data from other apps
#66Anyone else working in tech for the past few years having more frequent existential crises about what they have enabled? I have never worked at FB, but I've worked at a few well known yet somewhat controversial companies (in fintech, marketplaces, etc.) that I sometimes feel uneasy about.
here too. I'm trying to figure out which different field I could get into (even it means leaving Tech[0] totally) and do something that provides some kind of benefit for humanity and the future of my kids. It was foolish the way I felt in the 90ies thinking that Software and computing would be a net benefit. there has to be a field which isn't just about data extraction, mass surveillance (or worse). [0] https://news…
> It was foolish the way I felt in the 90ies thinking that Software and computing would be a net benefit.
I'm so friggin' sick of looking at glowing rectangles (he wrote, looking at a glowing rectangle). Watching all the faffing about with software-enabled workflow insanity and other time-wasters across various industries (including dev itself) I'm even pretty skeptical of the benefits of all this crap.
I have a wholly unverified suspicion that computers and the Internet are very very beneficial in a tiny set of (often very important!) applications, and only potentially but not actually in practice beneficial in the vast majority of cases—and in fact often harmful—such that they're technically a big boon to the economy as a whole but in any particular instance you're likely to encounter are... usually not.
Re: New York governor orders probe into Facebook access to data from other apps
#67Anyone else working in tech for the past few years having more frequent existential crises about what they have enabled? I have never worked at FB, but I've worked at a few well known yet somewhat controversial companies (in fintech, marketplaces, etc.) that I sometimes feel uneasy about.
I worked for a bank, and did my small part to help bring about 2007-2008.
Later, I worked in advertising, helping increase consumption and creation of various plastic trash, sugar-rich concoctions, and other such stuff.
I worked for a company that helped pharmaceutical companies target advertising to people on Facebook and other social networks who were sharing their health issues.
In between, I worked on other stuff, which was not as unsavory, but most of the time it still felt like pushing lots of little squares into square holes, and so on.
Lately, I've decided to just work on my own projects, and not contribute my brainpower to destroying my own habitat.
I am much happier now.
Re: New York governor orders probe into Facebook access to data from other apps
#68Ever wonder why Facebook is giving everyone on earth so much free software and processing power? They seem to be making money, how do they do it? [10 minutes of deep thought] Ok, we get it. If someone offers you something of value for free, politely say "no thanks" and run the other way. Edit: If a for-profit company offers you something of value at no cost, you or someone else will end up paying for it later. Advert…
This rule would entail "run away from HN" (along with most of the rest of the internet)
Re: New York governor orders probe into Facebook access to data from other apps
#69Anyone else working in tech for the past few years having more frequent existential crises about what they have enabled? I have never worked at FB, but I've worked at a few well known yet somewhat controversial companies (in fintech, marketplaces, etc.) that I sometimes feel uneasy about.
Took me several years past school just to get used to the ordinary level of dishonesty and scumminess that's common to pretty much all business, let alone the worse stuff. Sometimes I think my parents (and, to be fair, children's media) messed up by giving me such a keen sense of right and wrong. Enough otherwise-decent people (like, almost all of them) seem to just look at you like there's something wrong with you w…
Don't lose hope. You will find your way.
Re: New York governor orders probe into Facebook access to data from other apps
#70Ever wonder why Facebook is giving everyone on earth so much free software and processing power? They seem to be making money, how do they do it? [10 minutes of deep thought] Ok, we get it. If someone offers you something of value for free, politely say "no thanks" and run the other way. Edit: If a for-profit company offers you something of value at no cost, you or someone else will end up paying for it later. Advert…
This rule would entail "run away from HN" (along with most of the rest of the internet)
I agree. But HN is advertising for ycombinator. It is a known quantity what ycombinator wants from this site, so the risk of "paying" some unseen and unfortunate price is small.