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Facebook Home destroys any notion of privacy

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Re: Facebook Home destroys any notion of privacy

#71

Post by monkeynotes »

badgar wrote: post #65

I don't think we should be too surprised with how FB will use the new data. I'm just wondering who Facebook is going to share this data with. I know a guy who works at one of Facebook's "partner companies" that pays gobs for FB user data. This partner company gets (as far as they can tell) fully-populated user data in Facebook's user dumps - way, way more information than they need or ask for. So the partner company…

I deleted my FB account when they IPO'd as I could then plainly see that the only worth in the company was user data and it would certainly be monetised as much as possible.

But 'deleting' an account probably doesn't do much more than remove the data from the immediate web services. My data has probably been sold to multiple 3rd parties by now.

Re: Facebook Home destroys any notion of privacy

#72

Post by ivankirigin »

tlrobinson wrote: post #62
ivankirigin wrote: post #60

The phone’s GPS can send constant information back to the Facebook servers, telling it your whereabouts at any time. I really hope someone can finally make something like Loopt work on smartphones. I can't believe we need to manually check in to see where friends are right now. FindMyFriends on iOS requires your apple password, and much like GameCenter, the social design is horrendous. Focusing just on the privacy si…

Highlight?

I get that they needed to drive engagement before they had ubiquity, but the interaction became about seeing people I didn't know. Like most social products, the experience changes when more people are on it. In my opinion, Facebook, Apple, Google, and device makers are the only companies that can solve this problem.

Re: Facebook Home destroys any notion of privacy

#73

Post by Executor »

saintx wrote: post #30

The problem with online privacy, is that people believe it exists.

That's why you need people to fight for it. Consider movements such as silent circle and megabox. At the very least, people should worry about blocking companies from abusing user data, removing Patriot Act, so on. Truth is, people have to give a shit.

Re: Facebook Home destroys any notion of privacy

#74

Post by badgar »

monkeynotes wrote: post #71
badgar wrote: post #65

I don't think we should be too surprised with how FB will use the new data. I'm just wondering who Facebook is going to share this data with. I know a guy who works at one of Facebook's "partner companies" that pays gobs for FB user data. This partner company gets (as far as they can tell) fully-populated user data in Facebook's user dumps - way, way more information than they need or ask for. So the partner company…

I deleted my FB account when they IPO'd as I could then plainly see that the only worth in the company was user data and it would certainly be monetised as much as possible. But 'deleting' an account probably doesn't do much more than remove the data from the immediate web services. My data has probably been sold to multiple 3rd parties by now.

> But 'deleting' an account probably doesn't do much more than remove the data from the immediate web services.

If you think they delete the data at all from anywhere you're out of your mind. Records are tombstoned, moved to cold(er) storage for efficiency and then not displayed. Certainly not deleted.

Re: Facebook Home destroys any notion of privacy

#75

Post by wvenable »

Zikes wrote: post #47
wvenable wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A launcher is just another app; it doesn't have any extra powers. It just happens be the app that is launched/restored when the home button is pressed -- that's it.

It also replaces the app drawer, which means when you click an app icon to launch an app -- from either the home screen or the app drawer -- FB Home can make a note of it and send that information to FB.

It'll only take someone with a network sniffer 5 seconds to discover if it does this and then there will be bad news about it for weeks.

More likely they just want people to spend more time using Facebook.

Re: Facebook Home destroys any notion of privacy

#76

Post by scott_meade »

Nursie wrote: post #42
unreal37 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you don't trust them, you wouldn't install this app. So... whats the issue? Nobody will be harmed by this.

"If you don't trust them, you wouldn't install this app. So... whats the issue?" Other people will install it without thinking about the implications. "Nobody will be harmed by this." What definition of 'harm' are we using? Because they've already shown that given access to people's address books they cause trouble.

It's interesting to consider if it's really your or my job to call on the government to "protect" other people that don't think about the implications. My answer would be sorry, but no.

Re: Facebook Home destroys any notion of privacy

#77

Post by Nursie »

scott_meade wrote: post #76
Nursie wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"If you don't trust them, you wouldn't install this app. So... whats the issue?" Other people will install it without thinking about the implications. "Nobody will be harmed by this." What definition of 'harm' are we using? Because they've already shown that given access to people's address books they cause trouble.

It's interesting to consider if it's really your or my job to call on the government to "protect" other people that don't think about the implications. My answer would be sorry, but no.

Who said anything about the government??

Re: Facebook Home destroys any notion of privacy

#78

Post by nsmartt »

CrazedGeek wrote: post #45
voxmatt wrote: post #40

I think the more obvious and immediate threat to privacy is that anyone can see the contents of your facebook stream right on the lock screen; and they can even interact with the contents without unlocking the phone.

Do we know if that's true if the phone is password protected? (Honest question, I haven't been able to watch the video.)

Even if this isn't true, your friends with unlocked phones could be leaking your otherwise private posts to anyone who sees their phone.

Re: Facebook Home destroys any notion of privacy

#79

Post by arindone »

rayiner wrote: post #25
jfernandez wrote: post #2

"This future is going to happen – and it is too late to debate. However, the problem is that Facebook is going to use all this data — not to improve our lives — but to target better marketing and advertising messages at us." A little sensationalized? It's most definitely a strong mix of both sides, not everyone at Facebook is "evil". Honestly I think most of us can agree Facebook on average is useful service that has…

I don't use the word "evil" pretty much for anybody, but I think the business model is at the very least screwed up. If it's a valuable service, why do they have to be so shady? I'd happily pay facebook $10/month or whatever (I can't imagine they make more than that on ads on me) to use their service. The problem is that they make it seem free, and people just don't understand the extent to which it tracks you. It's…

1) The constant refrain from many in the tech community of "I would pay to use service X and therefore having a paywall is a legitimate business model" frustrates me to no end, because it's such a "moderately wealthy tech person from the West" point of view held by those with the disposable income to spend on these services. If Facebook's mission is to "make the world more open and connected," it would be impossible to accomplish that if you're charging some rando in Uganda who is accessing Facebook on a 'feature' phone, or worse, the equivalent of their monthly or yearly income. Further, if you look at the political discourse in the middle east that is occurring predominantly on FB and Twitter, it would be ass-backward (and truly "evil") to charge these people to have that discourse.

2) Indeed the point you make about non-techie friends is relevant but you miss the point -- most people don't care about these issues if the result is an amazingly useful tool. So what if ads are correlated with usage: god-forbid you see something interesting that you may want to buy or is relevant to your tastes. And honestly it's no more true that FB 'gives' your data away any more than Google 'gives' away your Gmail/Gdrive/Picassa/etc. data.

Re: Facebook Home destroys any notion of privacy

#80

Post by zmmmmm »

I find this line extremely cynical:

> Facebook is going to use all this data — not to improve our lives — but to target better marketing and advertising messages at us

It's entirely possible that better targeted marketing and advertising can "improve" our lives. To state this outcome as a dire dystopian end point is making a huge cynical assumption about the motives of companies and commerce in general. I honestly believe that Facebook (and Google for that matter) actually want to improve our lives. I honestly believe that they think that they can introduce advertising in such a way that it's a win win for both parties, at least for a significant number of people.

That doesn't mean I'm naive about things, or even agree. But to see this assumption - that these companies are out to intentionally make our lives worse - written into editorial reporting as if it's a foregone conclusion, is disappointing.

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