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I appeared on CNN this morning to talk about why I'm not buying Facebook (CISPA)

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Re: I appeared on CNN this morning to talk about why I'm not buying Facebook (CISPA)

#61
post #24

kn0thing is a stellar spokesperson for the hacker community. I am curious though, how did this (you becoming a go to commentator for tech) end up happening?

Thank you. Well, before the SOPA/PIPA frenzy of MSNBC, CNN, CNBC, Fox, and Bloomberg... I became a 'regular' tech correspondent on Bloomberg after moving to NY and appearing on a panel moderated by Margaret Brennan. She invited me to appear and they kept inviting me back (they liked the combo of 'good on air' and 'actually did it'). http://search1.bloomberg.com/search/?content_type=video&... To their credit, Bloomber…

I know Brennan's a wahoo, the first time I saw you two on air together it almost seemed like you guys knew each other from college it was so...comfortable.

Re: I appeared on CNN this morning to talk about why I'm not buying Facebook (CISPA)

#62
Great interview, but I feel there was a missed opportunity when the interviewer asked about Zuckerberg's comment "we don't build services to make money, we make money to build great services."

The panel acted as if that were an iconoclastic, even blasphemous thing to say. That attitude, that only focusing on quarterly results and "building shareholder value," is of course just the attitude that has gotten the business world in so much trouble. There have been some great articles of late exploding the myth of "shareholder value," from Steve Denning's brilliant Forbes article "The Dumbest Idea in the World" http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2011/11/28/maximizi... to James Allworth at the Harvard Business Review talking about Steve Jobs and the Innovator's Dilemma: http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2011/10/steve_jobs_solved_the_innova...

I thought kn0thing had a great answer when he described that as part of the ethos of "builder culture," to be sure. If only the panel had taken a moment to ask themselves whether that approach might actually lead to stronger profits and stronger companies overall, such as one of the best examples around, Apple.

Re: I appeared on CNN this morning to talk about why I'm not buying Facebook (CISPA)

#63

Great interview, but I feel there was a missed opportunity when the interviewer asked about Zuckerberg's comment "we don't build services to make money, we make money to build great services." The panel acted as if that were an iconoclastic, even blasphemous thing to say. That attitude, that only focusing on quarterly results and "building shareholder value," is of course just the attitude that has gotten the busines…

The kind of discussion you (and I) would have liked to see doesn't happen on CNN.

Re: I appeared on CNN this morning to talk about why I'm not buying Facebook (CISPA)

#64

Very eloquent knOthing, keep keeping it real on the big media stage. Not sure if I will follow your stock tips though.

Thank you! Hehe. Admittedly, fb is probably going to keep crushing it - I just wish they weren't crushing our open internet, too.

Im curious if reddit will make any information public on any requests for user information by the government. Something like http://www.google.com/transparencyreport/ would be nice for a site that is as open as reddit.

Re: I appeared on CNN this morning to talk about why I'm not buying Facebook (CISPA)

#65
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A couple of responses to that which might change your reasoning (let me know!): * CISPA is opt-in, so if Facebook doesn't want to share information with the government, CISPA isn't going to change its obligations. * If Facebook wants to share information with the MPAA and RIAA, its Terms of Service already enable it to do so, explicitly. * CISPA itself has gone through multiple successive drafts to eliminate the perc…

Thanks for taking the time to provide some excellent responses. I don't mean to insult your patience, but I don't think I could say it any better than chernevik did http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3939974 . He really got down to my issues with this bill. * There doesn't seem to be a need for it. Was there a situation where justice was not served but would have been/ could be after CISPA? * I just don't trust it,…

> There is a term for this type of legislative process

In sales and negotiation circles, it's known as the foot-in-the-door technique:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foot-in-the-door_technique

Re: I appeared on CNN this morning to talk about why I'm not buying Facebook (CISPA)

#66

Very eloquent knOthing, keep keeping it real on the big media stage. Not sure if I will follow your stock tips though.

Thank you! Hehe. Admittedly, fb is probably going to keep crushing it - I just wish they weren't crushing our open internet, too.

While I agree, they're such a huge target, and so reviled amongst open types like yourself, I tend to take the more conservative angle on them: If they were really so insidious, there'd be more smoking guns. More scary activities.

As it stands, Facebook does what it does pretty well: gives people a place to communicate with each other. The walls of their interactions have a lot of holes, and you hear them complain, and you certainly see Facebook toe the line, but I think they've mastered that sport, especially as they approach 1 billion users.

Re: I appeared on CNN this morning to talk about why I'm not buying Facebook (CISPA)

#67
post #53

Surprising that no one corrected her about "Zuckerberg owning 57% of the company", but I guess it's a) not that important and b) rude to correct the host. (I think he only has about 28% but controls 57% of the voting stock).

I was going to make the same comment but before I made it I "CTRL+F" 57 and found your comment.

Re: I appeared on CNN this morning to talk about why I'm not buying Facebook (CISPA)

#68
post #6

How do you go about buying Facebook stocks as a Canadian?

Most banks (CIBC, RBC and TD) have their investment vehicles. Be prepared to pay as much as $40 commission per trade + 1-3 cent per stock. Look into this option if you already use online banking and like to keep your investment aligned with everything else. otherwise, look at discount brokerages like Questtrade(Toronto based) and eTrade to execute orders. $9 per trad.

Or Interactive Brokers for around ~$1 per trade. I think they are a Canadian company too, not just someone who offers Canadian accounts.

Re: I appeared on CNN this morning to talk about why I'm not buying Facebook (CISPA)

#69
post #53

Surprising that no one corrected her about "Zuckerberg owning 57% of the company", but I guess it's a) not that important and b) rude to correct the host. (I think he only has about 28% but controls 57% of the voting stock).

"...and the rest would be up for sale"

I don't think she understands how IPOs work.

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