From an avid FB user who spent three hours a day to someone who has his account deactivated for more than a month, that is how much convinced i am that FB is nothing but utter garbage and i just had enough with it.
Reasons not to use Facebook
61–70 of 376 posts
Re: Reasons not to use Facebook
#62I honestly don't understand why people value Stallman's opinions on these matters so highly. I completely disagree with him on essentially everything he writes about these topics. Granted, he's an incredible programmer who contributed immensely to the development of our modern operating systems and the tools we use, and people here love to bring that up ("what - you DON'T KNOW WHO STALLMAN IS? SHAME? HOW DARE YOU CRI…
> Does this make his opinion on Facebook or privacy or freedom any more correct or valid? No.
And whose opinions are correct on the topic? Who should we listen to then?
Opinions are opionions and we can all evaluate them. Hopefully we can evaluate them objectively regardless who came up with them.
> he obviously fails to understand the entire point behind many of these companies.
He doesn't huh. Ok, if it is so obvious, can you list the things he doesn't understand.
> it's because it leads to a better working social network.
Granted, pretty much every single loss of privacy rule (or law) has been under the guise of "oh but this is good for you actually".
> _viable_ company that wants to provide a service that a consumer other than Stallman himself will use will "infringe" on those two idiotic requirements.
Really? Ok let's see, I launch my editor, I type in some code, then save it and compile. I just got a service provided to me by the authors of those programs and it might seem idiotic, but I value that service and value that I ran free software and didn't have to send my name to anyone to register that I did that.
Re: Reasons not to use Facebook
#63My problem with essays like this is that they don't address the more critical underlying point: most people don't recognize privacy as a human right, and most people don't realize why privacy is important and worth protecting. To most people, "if you've done nothing wrong, you have nothing to hide" sounds reasonable . That's the deeper problem at work here. With more people on board to why privacy matters, articles l…
> To most people, "if you've done nothing wrong, you have nothing to hide" sounds reasonable. So what's the correct position, and why?
There are many source online that refute the "nothing to hide" argument, and they can go into quite some details. Suffice it to say, you have a right to privacy. If you wish for something to stay private (for example, to protect yourself from harm) you have that right. Whilst in most free societies it's seldom required, there may come a time when tyranny takes over. If you've already given up your right to privacy, you'll find few protections left. History has many example of tyrants that, given the data mining capabilities of today, would have probably caused even more harm and suffering.
Re: Reasons not to use Facebook
#64At this point in the evolution in technology, I find that Stallman is increasingly irrelevant when his commentary is basically stating every basic point of the site and then saying its bad. Don't want to use your real name? Don't join a site where the goal is to publicly connect with people you know. Don't want your privacy violated, post only what you feel comfortable with. With every new step in the advance of tech…
> Don't join a site where the goal is to publicly connect
> with people you know.
That's all well and good until your child's school starts requiring you to do so to sign up for parent-teacher conferences, say.
There's all sorts of stuff being done via Facebook that really shouldn't be totally public but is because some _one_ person has decided to put it all out there, violating the privacy of all the other people involved.
Yes, this happened before Facebook. The difference is that Facebook actively tries to get people to do such things.
Re: Reasons not to use Facebook
#65I honestly don't understand why people value Stallman's opinions on these matters so highly. I completely disagree with him on essentially everything he writes about these topics. Granted, he's an incredible programmer who contributed immensely to the development of our modern operating systems and the tools we use, and people here love to bring that up ("what - you DON'T KNOW WHO STALLMAN IS? SHAME? HOW DARE YOU CRI…
Does this make his opinion on Facebook or privacy or freedom any more correct or valid? No.
Respect for Stallman's opinions derives not from his code, but from his consistency in adhering to his (extreme) principles and correctly seeing how those principles are affected by new developments in technology.
He's right about DRM because DRM, not because Emacs. Time will show what else he's right about. Living like Stallman does may not be practical, but that doesn't make him wrong.
Re: Reasons not to use Facebook
#66Re: Reasons not to use Facebook
#67My problem with essays like this is that they don't address the more critical underlying point: most people don't recognize privacy as a human right, and most people don't realize why privacy is important and worth protecting. To most people, "if you've done nothing wrong, you have nothing to hide" sounds reasonable . That's the deeper problem at work here. With more people on board to why privacy matters, articles l…
> To most people, "if you've done nothing wrong, you have nothing to hide" sounds reasonable. So what's the correct position, and why?
Right and wrong are subjective terms, plus perceptions of those terms will change.
Re: Reasons not to use Facebook
#68> if you talk about your friends in Facebook, you're ratting on them
This statement reveals the paranoid perspective behind this publication.
While there are many valid reasons why some people may not want to use Facebook, I think it's as interesting to wonder reasons why people would be so opposed to everyone using it.
I think had Stallman been less weird, he may feel differently about Facebook. For someone like him, any personal details visible to others is likely to result in harm to him.
When you don't fit, everything hurts, and it's easy to feel like all those institutions are evil. But that's just you Richard. For most people, Facebook isn't much of a threat.
Re: Reasons not to use Facebook
#69His opinion may seem ridiculous to many here, but the following has happened quite a few times before: 1. Stallman shares radical opinion 2. He's ridiculed for his outlandish claims 3. Some news breaks or things happen gradually 4. Now people say 'Stallman called it' or realize he was right all along
Some examples, please
Sorry I'm on mobile so I can give one:
Re: Reasons not to use Facebook
#70Considering that Zuckerberg is a great admire of China and apparently socialism[0], it doesn't come to me as a huge surprise that these "ethics" are guidelines for Facebook. “I’ve also bought copies of this book for my colleagues,” Zuckerberg was quoted as saying by a Chinese news website. “I want them to understand socialism with Chinese characteristics.” [0]: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2014/1…
If everybody read important books by people they disagreed with, we would all be better of.