What I want to know is who are the people at Facebook that actually think they can get away with such shenanigans, when all of the media's attention is on them? Are they really that oblivious?
The ones who have gotten away with it so far to the tune of billions of users and dollars? The ones counting on a short media-public memory and attention span, and to all of our misfortune, they may be right.
If you want that to change, it’s going to take more than transient outrage.
I've said it before, but it's shocking that Facebook has escaped regulation thus far. They have 1,860,000,000 monthly active users. What other business has this many customers (or "product") AND can profoundly impact its users happiness... AND goes unregulated?
Twitter, Snap, Instagram, Uber, Palantir, and pretty much every SV unicorn which exists because the law is slow to react and they’re running at full tilt? This seems like the accepted playbook in SV, and until recently it was lauded on this site and elsewhere.
What amazes me is that there's so little regard for privacy amongst legislators (and by extension their constituents, I suppose) that these behemoth companies have escaped so far.
This fact alone should be reason enough to leave Facebook for good. Facebook's goal is to be the middleman for all communication, and why the hell would you trust a corporation that can blacklist you from all of their platforms with a snap of a finger?
I've never accepted any of Facebook's offerings, because I don't find their terms of service acceptable. But I'm an idiosyncratic exception (certainly not alone here on HN, but statistically speaking rare).
Ask any of the millions and millions of people who built their online lives around Facebook's offerings (including Whatsapp and Instagram) though, and you'll likely get a variety of answers along these lines:
Some say all this stuff doesn't impact them (I have nothing to hide, and don't do anything illegal).
Some say they have no alternative (I need Whatsapp, because if I stop using it I'll miss all important messages about my kids' sports training schedule/birthday parties/extracurricular activities/scout troop/school committees — this is currently true for parents of young children in the Netherlands).
Some are afraid of losing contact with those who choose to do everything on Facebook.
Some are simply addicted to social media (well, not many will give you that as an answer truthfully, but it's certainly a factor).
Some feel that a behemoth like Facebook should be regulated by the government, and trust that someone else will protect their interests (i.e., they treat Facebook and its subsidiaries like a an unavoidable utility, and don't feel that they have a choice in the matter).
It's time to regulate Facebook (and the other social networks, like Twitter, Google Mail, Youtube, Whatsapp), like telcos in Germany.
For example, unless I commit crimes using my internet/phone uplink or stay behind more than 75€ on payment, my provider has no right to terminate my account given the importance for communications.
Facebook, Twitter and friends can decide to terminate my public handles and cut me off from communication with anyone without any legal way of recourse. This is not OK given their importance to modern communication.
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[ 3.1 ms ] story [ 61.9 ms ] threadhttps://www.facebook.com/account/delete
What I want to know is who are the people at Facebook that actually think they can get away with such shenanigans, when all of the media's attention is on them? Are they really that oblivious?
If you want that to change, it’s going to take more than transient outrage.
That’s how.
What amazes me is that there's so little regard for privacy amongst legislators (and by extension their constituents, I suppose) that these behemoth companies have escaped so far.
Ask any of the millions and millions of people who built their online lives around Facebook's offerings (including Whatsapp and Instagram) though, and you'll likely get a variety of answers along these lines:
Some say all this stuff doesn't impact them (I have nothing to hide, and don't do anything illegal).
Some say they have no alternative (I need Whatsapp, because if I stop using it I'll miss all important messages about my kids' sports training schedule/birthday parties/extracurricular activities/scout troop/school committees — this is currently true for parents of young children in the Netherlands).
Some are afraid of losing contact with those who choose to do everything on Facebook.
Some are simply addicted to social media (well, not many will give you that as an answer truthfully, but it's certainly a factor).
Some feel that a behemoth like Facebook should be regulated by the government, and trust that someone else will protect their interests (i.e., they treat Facebook and its subsidiaries like a an unavoidable utility, and don't feel that they have a choice in the matter).
There has been zero mentions of Facebook, Cambridge Analytica or any related news.
Yeah no, whistleblowing doesn't absolve you from the bad stuff you did.
For example, unless I commit crimes using my internet/phone uplink or stay behind more than 75€ on payment, my provider has no right to terminate my account given the importance for communications.
Facebook, Twitter and friends can decide to terminate my public handles and cut me off from communication with anyone without any legal way of recourse. This is not OK given their importance to modern communication.