Leaving FB.

[dgaddis]

Elon Musk To Facebook: Mmm ... K, Bye : The Two-Way : NPR

I don't buy the 'never heard of it' for one second tho.

[vertical_doug]

Live TV - Bloomberg

the ex-cambridge analytica employee Wylie is giving live testimony in front of a UK committee.

[ides1056]

I heard someone who knows talking about the privacy settings on fbook. Said they were "just buttons- they don't do anything."

Wylie's comment about the new colonialism was the takeaway for me.

[bcm119]

I heard someone who knows talking about the privacy settings on fbook. Said they were "just buttons- they don't do anything."

Wylie's comment about the new colonialism was the takeaway for me.

The buttons may not do anything as they relate to your content being a permanent part of facebook's internal data. But they certainly work for limiting access to other users such as your boss, ex, prospective employers, etc.

It's also important to distinguish between data about demographics/political views associated with a geographic unit (city, zip code, congressional district etc), and data associated with uniquely identifiable individuals. The data facebook sold to Cambridge was likely linked to geographic units, but not individuals.

I blame social media for a lot of our problems. But many of the overreactions to the Facebook scandals are rooted in a misunderstanding of the nuts and bolts of the data gathered.

[Marin]

The data facebook sold to Cambridge was likely linked to geographic units, but not individuals..

No they sent the users ads targeted at their personality traits from "Big 5" psych tests the users had done.

[ericpmoss]

It should be no surprise, but there are more players than just Cambridge Analytica. There is also i360 (Koch Brothers) and Data Trust (Karl Rove). Expect to hear more about them.

[bironi]

I'll get back to you via my staff. I'm a maniquin powered by ai. My handle is HAL.

[Blue Jays]

Mark Zuckerberg put himself and his company in a bad light via his poor testimony to the senators.
My view of him and Facebook has worsened based upon what I saw of his remarks today. Very evasive.

[bcm119]

I've had the opposite impression. The senators have largely asked him useless questions, and many of them sound like questions rooted in conspiracy theories from their constituents. This was supposed to be about a data breach, and they've asked him hundreds of inane questions about how the privacy settings work (most don't know) and other points unrelated to Cambridge. Ted Cruz asked about political bias in the news feed. The few questions that made him uneasy were about making mistakes many companies have made in the past (and not been required to testify in front of congress).

I am shocked that these senators didn't sit down with their kids or grand kids and learn the basics of Facebook before wasting hours of time going over the basics in a senate hearing.

And it's pretty eye opening to see how little our law makers understand about technology and data in general. No wonder tech is an unregulated industry. It explains why places like the SF bay area have become so unaffordable for anyone outside the tech industry-- it's an industry that is basically the wild west and uncoupled from the rest of the economy. The inequality it's driving is staggering.

Yesterday was the best argument for term limits I've ever seen. We need representatives who understand data and the new economy.

[false_aesthetic]

Oh god term limits would be amazing and mandatory retirement ... 65 years old.

Salary should be capped at 2x the living wage for the area that is represented and health insurance should reflect that salary

[Saab2000]

Listening to US Senate hearings is just plain and simple painful. I tried to listen yesterday during my drive home from work and couldn't make it through more than a couple minutes, during which I heard Mark Zuckerberg say very little. Mostly I heard Senator Orin Hatch blather about nothing but occasionally heap praise upon himself. This is non-partisan. Listening to senators of the other party is just as bad.

Congresspeople (of both parties) are ridiculous to listen to most of the time.

Regarding FB, I've been slowly unfriending people and it's very liberating. Trying to get down to a true core group of close, lifelong friends but even some of those only post political stuff, which virtually everyone hates by now. They like what they post, just like senators seem to love the words that come out of their mouths.

[dgaddis]

...They like what they post...

If they're actually "liking" their own posts, unfriend them. You don't need people like that in your life. No one does.

[Saab2000]

If they're actually "liking" their own posts, unfriend them. You don't need people like that in your life. No one does.

No, they're not actually "Liking" their own posts, but they constantly post the same stuff, be it liberal or conservative slanted content. They're not going to change any minds with any of it. I've certainly unfollowed people for this kind of garbage. We're all adults and can do our own research.

[Scott G.]

Sen Durbin: 'Mr. Zuckerberg, would you be comfortable sharing with us the name of the hotel you stayed in last night?'
The Zuck: hem haw ahh, mmm 'No.'
Sen. Durbin: 'I think that may be what this is all about. Your right to privacy.'

Sending the Senator a cookie, gave me chuckle.

[mjbabcock]

Sen Durbin: 'Mr. Zuckerberg, would you be comfortable sharing with us the name of the hotel you stayed in last night?'
The Zuck: hem haw ahh, mmm 'No.'
Sen. Durbin: 'I think that may be what this is all about. Your right to privacy.'

Sending the Senator a cookie, gave me chuckle.

If Zuckerberg was looking to be anything but contrite, he should have responded..."Well, if I did want to share that, I could have posted it on Facebook, but no one makes me share that, so I decided not to. We don't MAKE anyone share anything."

[bcm119]

If Zuckerberg was looking to be anything but contrite, he should have responded..."Well, if I did want to share that, I could have posted it on Facebook, but no one makes me share that, so I decided not to. We don't MAKE anyone share anything."

"And if I did choose to share it on facebook, and knew how to use the privacy settings, I could choose to share it with the whole world, or just my friends, or just a few of my friends, or maybe just my wife."

[steve garro]

"And if I did choose to share it on facebook, and knew how to use the privacy settings, I could choose to share it with the whole world, or just my friends, or just a few of my friends, or maybe just my wife."

Bingo.



- Garro.

[false_aesthetic]

You know what I miss the most about FB? The photos of fish + happy dogs and whale sharks.

Really, I just miss vacationing vicariously through Garro.

[dgaddis]

"And if I did choose to share it on facebook, and knew how to use the privacy settings, I could choose to share it with the whole world, or just my friends, or just a few of my friends, or maybe just my wife."

Exactly. Sorta.

Even if he shared it with only his wife, FB is still adding that bit of data to his profile to help with ad targeting. I could see sending my wife a message on Messenger "I'm in Atlanta staying at XXX" and then seeing ads for stuff to do in Atlanta.

[bcm119]

Exactly. Sorta.

Even if he shared it with only his wife, FB is still adding that bit of data to his profile to help with ad targeting. I could see sending my wife a message on Messenger "I'm in Atlanta staying at XXX" and then seeing ads for stuff to do in Atlanta.

True. There is metadata attached to your account every time you do anything. But that metadata is not shared or sold outside facebook, it is simply used to direct ads to you. Advertisers do not "know" you are visiting atlanta per se, but your account might be added to the subset of accounts targeted by any advertiser wishing to reach people visiting xxx hotel atlanta. Like Zuckerberg keeps repeating in vain, the details matter.