America, wake up and defriend Facebook.
Mark Zuckerberg needs an education.....in prison.
Congress needs to haul this spoiled rotten billionaire outlaw back to the witness stand and ask him some incriminating questions.
78
Short Facebook.
The problem is that too many of the congressional committee-people don't know the right questions to ask.
What a clique of capitalist, corporate crooks masquerading as Futurists, Libertarians,big thinkers etc. The Facebook commercials on TV are kind of hilarious. We were all overwhelmed by the technology and what it could do. Little did we know these guys were using the technology to gather as much info as possible,about every little thing we did online. And then they share it with each other and probably the Russians,Chinese and any one else who could pay the price. Sickening, but I finally accept there's no privacy left but I didn't know how these corporate colluders shared everything.
The sentence "Facebook acknowledged that some partners did store users’ data — including friends’ data — on their own servers" is what most people interpret the article to show. The sentence isn't really supported by anything else in the article, which makes me question the context of that statement.
What this article shows is that for some devices, the device allows the user to interact with Facebook without using a web browser to log into Facebook. For example, the example with BlackBerry Hub shows that the user can use the device's software to interact with Facebook as if the user were logged into the Facebook browser. They can get the data their friends share with them, including their friends' friends list. That doesn't mean that the device is providing that information back to the device manufacturer any more than the device sending your Facebook data back to the manufacturer when you're logged into Facebook via the device internet browser.
This also blends together several concepts from sources. Consider this paragraph for example:
[“You might think that Facebook or the device manufacturer is trustworthy,” said Serge Egelman, a privacy researcher at the University of California, Berkeley, who studies the security of mobile apps. “But the problem is that as more and more data is collected on the device — and if it can be accessed by apps on the device — it creates serious privacy and security risks.”]
TLDR: Questionable use of sources and blending of concepts.
3
Lacking the technical footing + lax critical reading = many of the comments here.
The APIs in question go back to a time when there were fewer common platforms across mobile devices, well beyond just Windows or Mac. Application developers are faced with taking the responsibility to create and maintain their product across multiple platforms. My application, I'm responsible. It’s another thing to also have to revise it when the underlying platform also updates to a newer version. API’s help here by pushing responsibility to the platform owner. Fast forward to the present. More standardization across these platforms, and less of a need for this set of APIs.
The purpose was not to sell users data. The purpose was to make the Facebook capability available on these other platforms. Getting onto these platforms in itself was the money maker.
The Times experiment with Blackberry Hub in itself doesn’t implicate Blackberry or Facebook with nefarious intent. At some point or another, maybe some users have okayed having their contacts list made available to an application on their device or uploaded to an online application. If a user wants to be able to access this other information through Blackberry Hub, okay. Is the information stored locally on your device? You’re probably okay with that. Is it stored on a server somewhere with restrictions on how it is to be used? Probably okay still.
Not everything is about selling your data to the Cambridge Analyticas of the world.
1
Fantastic lead photo of Zuckerberg facing photographers! It captures the spirit of the issue, but I wonder if Mark Z. gets it.
1
NOTHING COMES FOR FREE. IF YOU WANT TO HAVE "FRIENDS" --LOOK AT ME THIS IS THE PRICE. SURPRISED?? IF YES -- GROW UP. IF NOT-- AS I HAVE, MODERATE IF POSSIBLE.
As long as any third party company, whether application developers or device manufacturers, have access to user's data, there is no way to police that data once it reaches their servers, they can do whatever they want with it.
Facebook should not gives access of user’s data to any third party company.
2
I like how the graphic in this article turns into a great big 'all-seeing' eyeball. The caption fits this metaphor, too: "How One Phone Gains Access to Hundreds of Thousands of Facebook Accounts".
3
Argh!! I was a skeptic and stayed away from FB for years, but then caved. I did go in eyes open, figuring that no matter my privacy settings, anything I post is forever available. I cautiously grew to like it for the pictures I would otherwise never see of family and friends lives, and the feeling of staying somewhat in touch. I've grown increasingly disenchanted with it as a news source because there's so much crap in with the actual news. I notice more and more that checking FB leaves me feeling hollow and unsatisfied because with all this privacy stuff and the huge increase in sponsored content, I hardly see any of the cute pictures of kids that drew me in. This news is just another straw about to break my interest in social media. Ugh!
6
Of course, what was happening was Facebook was allowing these vendors to recreate the Facebook environment in their own web browesrs and apps. They were strictly limiting the way it could be used. This is a hysterical, hair on fire, article put together by people who clearly didn't do their homework. Period.
I dislike Facebook and don't trust them farther than I can throw Zuckerberg. But journalists need to get their facts straight and now blow up non-issues. There's more to go around in criticizing Facebook and what it has done to violate our privacy. But when you get this so wrong, all the Times does is weaken its credibility. And at a time when Trump is doing everything he can to weaken the press' credibility (at the behest of Putin) nothing good will come from this non-story.
1
This is not a non-issue. It's not a hysterical hair-on-fire article.
If a person did these things, it would be "identity theft" and they would be charged and possibly tried accordingly. If Facebook does it, it's just their business model.
Disgusting.
7
My Facebook account is fake. I use it to look at the Facebook pages of other people. I have a fake name, fake location, fake everything. Facebook is tracking all my fakery. Good. I get to spy on other people via Facebook while Facebook spies on my fakery.
(Don’t worry I’m not a stalker. A name from the past will pop into my head and I look them up and see what they’re doing. That’s the extent of it. Anyone can see what my fake person is up to if they want)
1
But all your fake lurking is connected to your very real IP address. You're fooling yourself if you think you're anonymous.
7
Sorry but that is just plain creepy.
Somebody's a liar, not a good liar, just a liar.
So why hand over your personal, private details to a liar who can sell them and tell you that he hasn't?
1
Zuckerberg and his FB are, to me anyway, a vile, self-serving and egregiously dishonest bunch of hooey.
Every time I look at the guy and that hideously emotionless blank stare of his- that shiftless little 'smirk', it gives me nightmares. Have never trusted this guy, never will, and it makes me wonder how on earth anyone else does.
8
Facebook, Massey Energy, Wells Fargo, ExxonMobil: four peas in a pod.
Why anyone expects tech corporations to act differently from oil, financial, coal, or weapons corporations is beyond me. Self-delusion rarely has a happy ending.
Vegetarians take special note: what Facebook sells is meat, you.
2
A couple of months ago, there was a spat between Cook and Zuckerberg about Facebook selling people's data willy nilly. I was wondering why Cook had to complain. After all Apple owns the iPhone platform and could restrict the access of apps to people's address book (similar to how they allow users to restrict access to app's geotracking ability). Now we know that there was quid pro quo - Facebook received access to address books and Apple received access to Facebook's data. Cook is either being naive or willfully blind to this.
2
i did not read this article however i know that the diligence i have to never sign onto or up with facebook confirms my bias weekly with this headline alone.
1
Well, people/ users are really dumb to share such personal information with any social media app in the first place. What is the need to give out such information correctly. We should just type DOB as 1/1/year etc.
3
I have most stuff on my facebook account set to private. Facebook is ok if you just use it as a tool and you are in control of it and it's not controlling you. I suspect that lots of the websites in the news feed is click bait to get advertising money, as I've had unwanted spam from people even though I use adblocker. I also don't like some of the stupid and animal exploitation things people do on facebook just so as to get noticed. Facebook seems to bring out the worst in ome people with facebook pages. I don't accept friends and just ignore any friend request. Best to just use it as a tool to find out whats on in your area or to sell stuff.
I googled my name and was surprised that no facebook posts came up in the google, so in some ways facebook isn't the real culprit but the whole internet system.
The "FACEBOOK–Cambridge Analytica Data Scandal" is just the tip of the iceberg folks. Mr. Zuckerberg and his team are into Datamining BIG TIME. FACEBOOK knew what Putin and the Russians were doing. A small portion of FACEBOOK'S profits come from offering standard marketing business models and strategies, the primary source of FACEBOOK's profits come from data mining. Using mathematical algorithm's they have amassed hundreds of thousand to millions of pieces of information on every user and they will and do sell it to the highest bidders, no questions asked. Their marketing message that they are about "CONNECTING PEOPLE" is a CON. If you got caught opening up and rifling through your neighbor or a close friend's mail and selling information to data miners you would be guilty of a Federal Crime. When I heard Mr. Zuckerberg say "FORGIVE ME" during the Hearings I wanted to vomit. He may have a different communication style but he is a CON MAN on par with the current POTUS. Ethics, morality and humanity are not concepts that mean much in his world... as long as the money keeps rolling in. I urge every one to seriously consider protecting their personal privacy and the privacy of others and get off FACEBOOK. I especially worry for the Millennial Generation. FACEBOOK has amassed huge amounts of personal information about millions of them and are and will continue to unethically profit from that data (much of it inaccurate) for decades.
3
Just wondering how many of Mark Z's Facebook"friends" might have put the photo heading this story up on FaceBook - he's sure generating lots of clicks, sitting there.
2
Huge con Mr Zuckerberg. Pretended to be innocuous but really you weren't. Disgusting.
1
When I signed into an old Yahoo email account recently I was presented with a request to agree to a 'privacy' policy that included giving permission to share data from the "content of my emails" with Verizon, with whom I have no other relationship nor intend to! We are going to be finding out a lot more about how our data has been mined and sold to all kinds of previously unknown 3rd parties. I am preparing myself to have to radically change a lot of my online behavior and products I use because I won't agree to that invasion of my privacy. I'd rather pay for a few select services than continue to use 'free' ones that demand I give up so much of my privacy for the 'privilege'.
1
This new revelation is probably just the tip of the iceberg in terms of how people using Facebook had their personal information sold or used by third parties associated with Facebook!
1
With the recent discussion of possible DOJ (Dept of Justice) action in the proposed T Mobile/Sprint merger, market measures of concentration in this sector of the economy become key considerations for the DOJ. For ex, the HHI (Herfindahl-Hirschman Index) gauge measures market shares within economic sectors and has been used by the DOJ in considering whether proposed mergers would eliminate too many competitive alternatives or substitutes, for the products of the merged, larger corporation.
Such large, market-share dominant firms may yield too much pricing power and be such a large buyer of workers' talents that there are too few countervailing market forces to prevent them from earning windfall profits at consumers' and workers' expense.
Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway recently discussed "moats" or barriers to entry that help established firms protect very profitable economic niches from competitors with substitute products that otherwise would enter the market and reduce these exceptional profit opportunities.
In Europe, a key EU regulator of mergers and acquisitions, Margrethe Vestager, recently discussed how protection of users' and corporate data privacy rights should be considered in M&A activity. Synergies from data in play in M&A activity represent an increasingly valuable asset.
Also, in Europe, individuals have more options to opt out of data sharing agreements in order to protect their own privacy rights.
[6/4/18 M 4:21p Greenville NC]
1
This can't come as too big of a surprise. People seem to be far more interested in how many emojis their new phone software has then if it has: tracking, data acquisition, whatever capability . Time to wake up. This a new age and everything that is shiney and new is not always benign and even if you buy it, it may not be in your best interest. If you get your "news" from FB and assume they're going to do the right thing-better think again.
1
These tech companies need to have their noses smacked down a little. Last month a NYC radio talk show host said that he was in a store and stopped about ten feet away from a leather jacket that he looked at but never even touched. The next day when he connected with the internet there were advertisements for leather jackets being offered to him. It's getting scary folks.
1
Dont care what Facebook does with my data. If I list a phone number and a telemarketer calls me then shame on me. I use it to connect to old friends and people from High School. I do not think most people really are that worried about their data. What did you think they were going to do with it? People just thought it was free? That they were entitled to it for free because of their exceptionalism?
When I first connected to the internet, I got comfortable with the concept that there was no such thing as privacy. I think the key moment was when a friend showed my my house from a satellite picture, and I had always been very pleased that it would be hard for someone to track me down. It's over. Privacy is over, period. Once you accept that, you feel a lot better.
1
Delete your Facebook Account. It's the only way to stop this. Their business model is to sell your information. It will never stop.
1
After Google said "don't be evil", Facebook evidently recognized a large, underserved market. Facebook promised to reform and then broke those promises, repeatedly. Don't hold your breath for any criminal or regulatory action. It is time for 'we the products' to do the job ourselves.
Just delete Facebook and use email and texting to communicate with your family and real friends. It's not like you have to go all the way back to the old days of taking pen in hand and actually writing.
1
Nothing will change until Zuckerberg and his company are held liable for breaking the law. Or is his impunity yet more proof that the law doesn't apply to the rich?
2
An old latin saying states "si vis pacem, para bellum" (if you want peace, prepare for war);later modified to si vis pacem, evita bellum - if you want peace, avoid war. Botching the latin, we may now say " si vis privacy, evita Facebook". Basically, unless you want the whole world to know all the ins and outs of your life, stay away from social media. Until stringent regulations and hefty penalties are in place also this side of the atlantic, just say no. There is always email, SMS, phone calls and, best of all, simple face-to-face
Anyone who is still actively participating on Facebook is effectively abdicating their right to control their own personal information and data. Not sure what possible upside could make one rationalize this making sense unless you can't live without Aunt Mareen's prune cake recipe, crave the opinions of the uninformed or enjoy reading fake news from Russian trolls.
2
Zuckerberg is a barefaced liar. He's been selling my personal information (and, even worse, that of my friends) without my permission for years. Once the CA scandal broke I boycotted my FB account, but now I'm going to delete it altogether. Adios Big Brother.
2
Facebook officials should have been arrested for treason during our election letting Russians buy adds. They are only interested in making money and being the biggest. After this revelation I am still in favor of treason charges and close them down. Can you really trust them to be honest. I doubt it.
1
Someone should deface Facebook. Anti-americans.
HAHA I saw this coming and got off of Facebook years ago. Everyone said I was being "dramatic" and "paranoid."
2
And you were.
1
Once they start chipping all of us with brain-connected micro-supercomputers and chip-size cell phones, it's over.
1
Why are people surprised? This has been the deal all along. "You can use Facebook for free, and we'll sell all your data to 3rd parties." Who didn't know this?
3
I really don't understand why people continue to subject themselves to this duplicitous, self-serving entity.
2
If you are expecting or waiting for Congress to limit the psych-profiling business and affirm citizens right to privacy, you don't know Congress.
HAHA I saw all of this coming and left Facebook years ago. Everyone said I was being "dramatic" and "paranoid."
1
Tech companies need to be regulated on two fronts: (1) personal privacy as financial and health information regulations regarding personal data and (2) news organizations - just as the FCC regulates TV. They are not to be trusted in general (although Google has been acting quite responsibly with transparency). But there will always be people like Zuckerberg who has just completed his tour of lying to the US and European governments. Thank you NYT for this expose.
1
I thought Apple's leader was just scolding Mark Zuckerberg? Now they too have all the data? I'm confused. The truth is that these platforms are always going to outpace regulation (if there ever is any) and the average users' ability to understand the privacy impact. It's time to get out.
3
Facebook, Massey Energy, Wells Fargo, ExxonMobil: four peas in a pod.
Why anyone expects tech corporations to act differently from oil, financial, coal, or weapons corporations is beyond me. Self-delusion rarely has a happy ending.
3
I understand the impulse to smugly scold us all to "just delete Facebook." But the true problem is these mammoth, overvalued, unregulated companies. They need to be regulated with transparent, rigorous, enforceable rules that are very expensive to break.
6
I hope I didn't sound smug about deleting facebook, but I read about how this platform was created to be addictive and for me it was, so my choice to delete was as much about spending less time on a screen, as it was about the outrage of being a member of a company that cannot reel in hate groups, false political ads, and stealing people's data.
4
No, the problem is that the companies are monopolistic and collusive in their pillaging of our privacy. You want to still have social media and some privacy protections than you need to have competitive (not "free") markets. Unfortunately, our government and elected officials long ago abandoned their primary economic role in a Capitalistic economy -- to ensure competitive markets (via progressive taxation, strong and enforced anti-trust laws, educating the populace, etc.)
In the meantime, don't hold your breath on regulation. And even if there are some put in place: caveat emptor. Delete your account if you really want privacy for yourself and your circles.
3
I deleted the app too.
At one time...sure, it was great to have a platform where you can host a cyber-reunion with old classmates, share pictures of birthday parties, join a new group, etc.
But it has since become an empty time-waster for me. And what with the chaos launched around the planet, the threats to democratic institutions, etc., it's done.
The government will be forced to take it over, effectively making the platform our selected Big Brother.
FB won't be able to keep-up with the divisive posts, shares, etc. It's too easy, and too inexpensive for a hostile party to throw posts into cyberspace to see what sticks, so they can figure-out the algorithm.
It needs to be shut-down, but it's up to us to do it. We can't wait upon Congress...
2
It's fascinating how good the Internet is at manipulating people into revealing the most intimate details about themselves. Leaving aside financially damaging info and communications info, such as social security numbers and cell phone numbers. I implore millennials especially to start rethinking their usage of dating sites/apps. I briefly used OK Cupid, and would answer as many questions as I could stand to on any given night in hopes of getting more and better matches. Then at a certain point, maybe 5-6 days into the enterprise, as the questions got increasingly personal, I realized something: "These are things my BEST FRIENDS don't know about me. They are things my own MOTHER doesn't know about me. They are things people with whom I've had YEARS-LONG, SEXUAL relationships don't know about me. So why, oh WHY am I suddenly announcing all of this stuff to a bunch of strangers (and allowing it to be electronically preserved for later review by a bunch of other strangers, who can then sell the information to whomever they want, etc.)?"
So i got off of it. And guess what? I still find people to date.
Time to unplug, kids.
9
Facebook sells itself as place for family funny and the like. In reality it turned into a platform of hate speech. The charge that Cambridge Analytica was involved in brain washing as its founder thought he could do is false. But allowing unrestrained access to people and their personal data is a massive dangerous violation of privacy and is ripe for abuse.
2
Facebook has done some pretty ugly stuff in the past.
But if your whole story is based on the Blackberry Hub example, then you're very probably mistaken.
If you log into Facebook with the Blackberry Hub, the Hub will have access to what your Facebook account has access. That's the whole point. It acts like the Facebook app mostly. If you can see the names of 295,000 people using the FB website, you will probably see them with the Hub too. It doesn't automatically mean it will send anything to Blackberry though. As long as the information stays on the device, there's no problem as far as I'm concerned.
It doesn't mean the "device partners can retrieve Facebook users’ relationship status", it means the app itself "can retrieve Facebook users’ relationship status" among other things which is why you logged in to begin with. Otherwise just use the website.
If any of you used the "Internet Accounts" on a Mac to log into Facebook or Gmail you should understand. It's mostly the same as far as I understand it. You log into Gmail/Facebook/others in order to integrate email, contacts etc. into the system apps seamlessly. That doesn't necessarily mean Apple gets to see all your chats. This all depends on Apple (they say they don't snoop) and I assume that's what the contracts were for.
This entire story you portray looks misleading to me.
FB has been a mess since probably the beginning, but a lot of the things in this article don't look right.
1
Facebook is toast. The class action suits will be coming hot and heavy, and even Facebook does not have a big enough war chest to pay off those who have had their personal information used without consent.
2
Facebook is clearly not the only bad actor. Apple willing entered into partnerships for personal data sharing with other companies. Apple’s data may be encrypted, but that might serve Apple’s purposes, keep Apple users data out of the hands of Apple’s competition.
All my devices are made or licensed by Apple, but I have never believed that Apple is more protective of me than the other companies.
Apple = Facebook = Amazon = Microsoft = Samsung.
1
Sadly it isn't that FB would not like to comply with securing 'your' information and screening out fake accounts, they simply have not discovered a good way to do it. No matter how many times Zuck apologizes, FB is producing 'fixes' under the gun. In software development that doesn't work too well. FB has even resorted to putting up ads trying to reassure BART (CA metro system) riders that FB is 'working on it' and is filtering out spam/fake news or accounts. You won't see trending news anymore, fine - but the re-engineering of FB, which has been delivered worldwide, won't be easy. On top of that, people don't like going to some app and seeing unexpected changes as a side-effect of attempts to hide or obviate problems with the basic design of the thing.
1
Excellent reporting though not surprising. Facebook is a frightening company to me.
7
On the one hand, once you've decided to start using Facebook, you've essentially opened your own door toward surrendering privacy.
That said, with all that has been going on, and the billions of dollars made while democracies around the planet are in upheaval, I've deleted my Instagram account, I've deactivated Facebook, and now I'm going to delete the Facebook app altogether.
It's time to shut-down Big Brother.
My life proceeded along just fine before any of this even existed.
6
...and after I deleted my FaceBook app, my iPhone popped-up with a password confirmation from Apple.
Why would Apple care...?
I've tried to avoid giving out my cell phone number, never give "access" to my phone/friends list, but in vain. Even the "double step authentication", which seems like a good idea, still opens the floodgates of access which are hidden in the "terms and conditions" somewhere.
Shouldn't we start from a place of privacy? Otherwise, we give it all away and then are dismayed when we find out the secret uses to which we have subjected our "privacy".
3
If anyone ever thought publishing information on a site would be kept secret where you don't have access to the hardware storing the information, they were exceedingly naive from the get go. The fact that Facebook tried to pretend it would be is definitely duplicitous, but anyone who understands the internet and who these companies make their money should have known better. If you don't want people to find out about something, don't publish it online. Don't text it to someone. And don't call them. That has been true since the advent of the telephone. The safest is probably snail mail, but even then I wouldn't stake my life on it.
2
I have heard the USPS photographs everything we mail. I'd believe it.
1
Since Facebook won't regulate itself, the regulators must .
4
Sad that 99.99% of Facebook users have no choice but to continue to be monetized by Facebook, since there is no alternative. The 0.01% have deleted their accounts in protest, but that does not stop FB from continuing its vile ways and justify these practices in the name of "connecting the world"
8
HK, just ask yourself what part of your life no longer works if you leave Facebook.
I never joined, and my Facebooking family and friends still are willing to talk to me, or email me, or visit with me. Yes, I have to sometimes text the younger ones to read their email, but that's life. Without Facebook, maybe I don't see 100,000 extra photos people post, or read the latest incendiary opinion piece that Facebook promotes because its algorithms think it will keep me clicking. That's all good to me.
Think of Facebook as a more-invasive version of the useless all-news TV stations - and change the channel.
4
Yeah, the truth is no one "needs" Facebook, though. They've just been manipulated into believing that they do. It is not illegal to get off of Facebook. In the unlikely event that you were to be fired for not using Facebook, assuming you are good at what you do, you will find another job soon enough. Anyone who is really your "friend" would be more than happy to communicate with you in other ways, and anyone who can't be bothered to do so is not really your friend anyway, so no loss there.
4
Great analogy - a locksmith giving out keys to your home/dorm room/bathroom. We have multinational corporations and governments rummaging through our digital household, with sales personnel barging in through the open door trying to sell us something - indeed, they are rummaging through our own mind and thoughts in our own home. With smart-devices in our pocket they can follow us into the bathroom stall! No place is sacred.
I am surprised that businesses haven't sounded the alarm. All their connected employees are being tracked and followed with all data on them being accumulated. Isn't this wholesale industrial espionage?
6
How much of your personal data can and does Mark Zuckerberg use to make money off of? All of it.
Part ways with the slime-ball.
9
Facebooks Zuckerman and his executive followers have taken a strategy directly out of Orwells book 1984..........called DOUBLETHINK and DOUBLESPEAK .....where one "can be deceitful while conciously projecting complete truthfulness and while, simultaneously , telling carefully constructed lies"!
Unfortunately this self serving system of communication is currently in systemic use .......the POTUS,his cabinet and politicians in general(especially lawyers) commonly use this Orwellian form of "linguistic logic " to communicate..............allowing them "to deny objective reality and all the while,take into account the objective reality one denies" ........hence those elected to serve the people and protect American democracy and the constitution.....can operate and speak, allowing contradictory views and statements to sound coherent and true......with plausible deniability always in mind and available.
The invasion and co-opting of privacy and subtle political influence and power of Facebook,Google,Twitter,Amazon,Microsoft and corporations in general can thrive...........in this atmosphere of impersonal ,easily controlled,communication technology and slick and swiftly spread fake news and views.......technology leads the way into a brave new world.
4
Lets rename this "clever company"....
TWO-FACED-BOOK
Lets call them out for what they are, deceptive and confiscatory!
14
Wait you mean the "Terms of service" that you click the checkbox next to accept without even reading the 35 pages of small print legalese.........
Is a bad idea?
I mean it's not like the manufacturers know you pay zero attention to them and could include a line that says "and agree to 1 free night with your wife" and we would willfully click accept because we never even read them.........
4
This is an interesting and important article, but I am disappointed that the New York Times shows so little respect for it. The online edition has moving graphics that distract the reader. Graphics that increase comprehension help; motion for it's own sake damages.
I don't want to fault either the author or the artist. I believe the editors of the New York Times need to examine the newspaper's standards.
7
Shouldn't Zuckerberg be in jail?
9
He should. But we both know that that will never happen.
What do you expect?
Zuckerberg is allied with Putin and his stooge Trump.
Apple is in the pocket of Chairman Xi of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party.
2
Here we go again. time to move yourself and core group of friends that you actually interact with out of FB to a more privacy friendly network like ello or something else. just not FB.. seriously screw these guys.
3
If people have a right not to speak, then why do football players have to stand for the national anthem??
4
Aside from FB, it has been clear to me from the start that keeping devices and functions separate was a good security measure, along with automatically clearing history and cookies when exiting my browser, turning off devices when not in use to lessen the possibility of hacking and to clear memory. Inconvenient? Only to those who have become obsessed with being connected and having everything integrated, and the risk is not worth it unless one absolutely must have access to their emails on their phone - most do not. I have never accessed my email or web accounts or FB through my phone and never will. I would also never consider letting 'the community' know in real time that I was at such and such a place as others do, i.e., that I was not at home and it is a good time to rob me. Regarding FB, Zuckerburg was an obvious myopic naif at the beginning, and that is as dangerous as someone who is deliberately mining people's data. Yet, people did and continue to readily vomit their private information into FB, continue to take and save/upload nude pics, and then get 'upset' that such info/pics get passed around.
3
My respect for someone is inversely related to the amount of time they spend on Facebook
4
For those of you who never joined Facebook: Stop patting yourself on the back. Facebook has your personal information anyway - from friends of yours who ARE on Facebook and unwittingly gave your info to them via their smartphone (where you are listed under Contacts). You've been compromised just as much as the Facebookers among us. That's why this whole thing is so outrageous.
4
Facebook has information on you if you are *Facebook* friends with someone. If you've never been on Facebook, Zuckerberg et al could only get your info if your friends on the site actually listed your information manually into the site. Why would they?
1
@doglessinfidel - you are wrong. If you are on Facebook Messenger, for example, then Facebook has your entire phonebook. I actually checked this by downloaded my data (which you can now do in Settings). Facebook has the name and phone number of all my friends and relatives who have never opened a Facebook account. Same with you.
3
I can tell you don't know enough about FB, dear doglessinfidel. If you know ANYONE who has FB, that person's entire contact list (include yours) is sent to FB. Now FB has your info without you knowing it.
Question is: Do you know anyone who has FB? if the answer is yes, does that person have YOUR info on their phone. If the answer is no, you're safe. If the answer is YES, then no, you are not safe.
2
For all of the allegedly new thinking of big tech, its really apparent that it's just a case of the emporer's new clothes. Just a new iteration of the same old capitalism, looking for new ways to evade regulation and ever-increasing streams of revenue. I think we have every right to complain about apps - it was just a few years ago that you actually bought software, or downloaded it once, rather than having to rent cloud services, the latter being much more compliant with data hacking. That was a choice forced on consumers by the tech industry, as cloud-hosting all services is the easiest way to co-opt user information.
So feel free to pick on FB, Google et al. They built the infrastructure that facilitates stealing and "sharing" user information, and have left we, the little users, with no other options, except to disengage.
So when someone talks about the "disruptive" power of data, you know what they mean now.
1
Which is why I don't display my life on Facebook or any other social media. If you want to protect your privacy, stay private -- or at least as private is humanly possible in the surveillance age.
10
Everyone who is picking on Facebook exclusively, please ask yourself how many "free" services you use online, how many of them are being filled with photos or other stuff from your life. How many "free" apps and games are snuggled onto your phone, with the phone's location tracking, detailed phone books, calendars, email, banking, etc...
Then ask yourself three questions:
1 - how do people giving stuff away for free make money?
2 - how many of the of the privacy policies/service terms have you read?
3 - how much are you paid for giving away so much about yourself and your families and friends?
3
I am an LA artist, and way older than a millennial. Social media platforms have created an amazing way for artists, and all creatives, to share what we make, build community, invite people to come to our exhibitions and performances, and tell our stories. When I was in my late teens/early 20s, before computers were a possibility for personal use, I lived and worked in Philly and NYC. Anyone who navigates a large urban environment knows you must be situationally aware. This means: don’t engage with strangers; travel with a purpose; don’t be obviously vulnerable; don’t go into sketchy areas and develop a spider sense for trouble. I see the internet as the same thing. Everyone on this forum is using the internet. In so doing, even if you aren’t on FB/IG, you have opened yourselves up to acute observation. Check your browser cache to see all of the data tracking cookies placed there by every site you visit. Yes, I think MZ should be punished harshly for his breach of trust, but I also think social media users need to be much smarter, more personally responsible and much more situationally aware. Think like a villain, then protect yourself accordingly. There are ways to do this, acquaint yourself with them. We can stop being passive with these tools & start curating how much of ourselves we let “the internet” have. If we eliminate social media, as some have suggested, artists & cultural producers everywhere would suffer. Killing the baby to clean the bath water is not the answer.
5
The only salvation may lay in the overwhelming volume of utterly trivial information.
1
Every article about Facebook states something to the effect that their actions were in accordance with their privacy policy. Based on all of the Facebook antics over the past several years, I think it is fair to say they neither have a privacy policy or its so ill defined that they can violate without repercussions. They also have done a poor job of taking down very offensive posts. I continue to use them less and post hardly ever.
1
For those who are bashing FB, here is an analogy. Capitalism, despite all of its shortcomings (some even says evils), triumphs over all other economic systems. Capitalism thrives because of greed, selfishness, materialistic and possessiveness. It is the same with FB because FB, like capitalism, taps into the lowest of human nature: vain, insecure, greed and want. Capitalism needs and fuels consumption. Hence, the need for FB as a perfect vehicle for tapping into the lowest denomination of human nature.
1
Facebook and the Trump organization seem to be on the same page. Both feel entitled to over-ride the decisions of others - even if they are not members (FB) or citizens (DT). Both FB and Trump believe they are above the law. Maybe FB should hire Rudy Giuliani to represent them as well?
3
Delete your Facebook account
5
Facebook is evil
6
Think this is bad?
Just wait till someone invents something that taps into your brain waves.
2
you mean Mark Zuckerberg would lie! DUH
3
Every time I read articles like this I am thankful that I never opened a Facebook account.
12
If you use Google or other search engines--guess what: Your data is still being tracked. Ever notice a little something called "Cookies" on almost every single website out there. Shop on Amazon or any other online retailer--same thing.
Smh. The internet is a vast highway which collects "signposts" for everyone--the sooner people realize this, the better. It should not be such a surprise.
3
Anyone is free to use Ghostery against tracking.
1
Facebook stole members’ email lists. Then sent “invitations” (as if from you) inviting people to join Facebook.
Too bad some court doesn’t force Facebook to do the opposite: send emails to all your “contacts” - urging them to dejoin Facebook or shun it, because it’s a thirsty corporation, sucking up everything from everyone, whether you agreed to it or not!
1
There's already a precedent in the mandated ads depicting the hazards of smoking tobacco.
2
Facebook. No morals. None.
5
Amorality seems to be the essence of the God's pet goldfish understanding of capitalism.
1
I agree this Facebook thing is/was/will be a problem and about everything everybody's saying, just....the timing does seem a bit odd. Zuckerberg and Sandberg were both saying stuff that indicated they might be interested in becoming involved in politics. Maybe they poo-pooed here and there, and maybe they also tested the waters. Does anyone else remember that? SUDDENLY, we're all shocked to learn Facebook is doing something we always knew they were doing and we are now questioning these business leaders' ethics. We try, attempt (and fail, but attempt), to hold our elected officials to account...why do we then always give businesses such a moral pass? Is it a given that they aren't expected to work in the public interest? Given the power of business interests in our country, isn't that the bigger problem here?
Facebook is just the tip of the unwarranted surveillance iceberg. The root of the problem is our corrupt and incompetent politicians who failed to pass a universal privacy law reinforcing freedom from unwarranted surveillance in the US.
10
Only a fool, would have put any meaningful information on a Facebook account listed under their own name, unless that info was already totally public.
A lot of people knew that Zuckerberg cheated his own partners in the early days of Facebook, and were smart enough to use a "Nom de Facebook" when adding information to a database that Zuck controlled.
That's why there are tons of of accounts on Facebook where people are using pseudonyms - it's not because they are all agents of Putin.
By the way, take a look at this page:
https://www.facebook.com/Putin-Vladimir-27275371642/
Who do you think really owns it?
1
If you think a "Nom de Facebook" makes you anonymous to Zuckerberg, et.al., think again about something called an IP address. The only people you are anonymous to are those looking at your page.
1
Facebook is the Donald Trump of the social media world. They're always doing unethical things to their customers and when caught, at first they lie, lie, lie. This goes back years... I shut down my account after they were caught doing unauthorized psychological experiments on Facebook users.
1
Hold on... there is absolutely no excusing Zuckerman, but didn't Apple's CEO (among others) just a few weeks ago express outrage about Facebook's data sharing re: Cambridge Analytica scandal? This just goes to show that all of the tech giants are in cahoots one way or the other. Why would Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Samsung or Blackberry get a pass here? Let's be fair in our criticism.
5
I had exactly the same thought as I read the article. FB clearly misled its users, and that includes me, about its privacy protections, but Apple, Amazon, etc are equally guilty. I am sure the European protections under their new law are imperfect, but they represent a big improvement over what is available here. The US should simply adopt the European legislation so that there is one standard and Americans get some protection. That action would lead to others following, getting us close to a global standard.
2
This is why I do not Facebook....
7
I'm so done with FB. I used to love it and I used it a lot. But all of the abuse that has imperiled our democracy, perhaps irreversibly, and decimated our privacy rights has left me *hating* this app. It's abundantly clear that Mark Zuckerberg is not sufficiently mature, responsible or honest to manage the digital behemoth that he created. His board needs to recognize that fact and take action to provide adult supervision, ideally by someone who elevates good corporate behavior over profits.
3
Facebook reminds me of some restaurant where you all have to eat out of the same pot and using lewft hand only.
1
FaceBook (and most other “social media”) is to socialization what cigarettes are to healthy living.
I figured out very early that Facebook was an addictive form of artificial stimulation for the vain. It was setup to drag everyone else in through their slipstream.
I also believe at some point, if we have any governance at all left in Washington D.C. Facebook is going to face a legal firestorm and they will claim critical data “can’t be found”. This company has thrived unmolested because the government and connected lobbyist can buy data from Facebook that they would never be allowed to collect on their own. Yet, people still believe Hillary’s emails are never going to turn up on a server somewhere. The internet is forever. Facebook has server farms full of your data- and they have it forever unless our government starts protecting us from these new robber barrons.
2
Facebook s evil.
1
Here's a very simple way of stopping Facebook from posting fake political adds and selling our data. Stop Using Facebook!
When their user base drops and ad revenues follow, Facebook will change very quickly.
4
Why anyone expects tech corporations to act differently from oil, financial, coal, or weapons corporations is beyond me. Self-delusion rarely has a happy ending. Facebook, Massey Energy, Wells Fargo, ExxonMobil: four peas in a pod.
2
Given, that Mark Zuckerberg and his staff are very smart tech people---was there no one in this company, no one, who at some point said to Zuckerberg or commented at a meeting, about the potential dangers of the Facebook platform? Something like.."you know, Mark, I know we are making a lot of money, but, I am somewhat concerned about how open our platform is to hacking." I know Mr. Zuckerberg in his apology tour, is offering a number of fixes to a platform that is leaking like a sieve, but, really, no one in his organization saw this coming?
2
The entire business model of Facebook rests on invasion of privacy for profit.
13
And to think that, 14 years ago, the likes of Zuckerberg were painted as the face of the bright future of America...
5
All those people there, with all their cameras, to take the picture of a guy whose face looks like it's made out of plastic anyway? Talk about the futility of our lives, who can take seriously what Facebook or any other whatever they are possibly does anymore with all our pretend stuff. Personal Data, what my dog sheds is more real.
The New York Times just updated its privacy policy. Here's a brief excerpt from the current one:
"We have a legitimate interest in disclosing or transferring your personal information to a third party in the event of any reorganization, merger, sale, joint venture, assignment, transfer or other disposition of all or any portion of our business, assets or stock (including in connection with any bankruptcy or similar proceedings)."
8
Right---the naivety of people is mindboggling. "Oh, but I never do Facebook--that means my personal information is entirely private. Whew, I'm so gladI dodged a major breach of privacy. Aren't I the most wonderful, intelligent person in the universe." Nope.
Shun Facebook.
Put every possible privacy protection into place.
Go the extra mile and phone a friend. Decide when to meet. Privately!
We live now in a virtual Police State - except it’s Private Police. Never arresting you. Just following you everywhere, enticing you to memorialize your life, so they can make money off your “free publicity.”
If you go to church, just don’t join it. Be anonymous everywhere! Or else you become prey to others using you for their own ends.
I wish I could rejoin this country actually. But they’re following people, whether you join or agree to be followed.
We need a worldwide movement to liberate ourselves from this servitude.
None of this should be surprising to anyone. If you've seen "The Social Network"and watched what he did to his best friend and partner, none of this behaviour should shock anybody. He's an empty, corrupt, liar who'd sell his own mother's data to the russians if he could make a buck on it.
Have fun logging in!
2
Betrayal. Bold faced betrayal!
And sanctimony. I remember the ardor with which all these silicon valley companies (I am looking at you Apple,) refused to cooperate with the FBI when they wanted help cracking a terrorist's cell phone. Privacy! Privacy! they all yelled. And all the while they were stealing our most personal information and selling it for profit.
Bold faced betrayal!
5
No way! My mind is blown! Don't tell me store loyalty programs, credit companies, smart devices, and mobile device apps also collect and sell data. Say it ain't so!
2
Love that I can “like” comments here on Facebook.
5
It’s top late for apologies: Shun Facebook!
1
Following
All
Comers
Even
Breaking
Open
Our
Kleptocracy
If the NYT stores and sells my comment identity to the Trump Thought Police, I could be in serious trouble. Don't think I haven't thought about that. (I'm actually a little more concerned the TTP would come by this identification nefariously; I don't think the NYT would just give it up. I pay for a subscription, so the model should be different than that of FB.)
I don't use Facebook. Say my friend A___ is on FB talking to her daughter D___ and mentions me by name and discusses my thoughts on events of the day. Other of their FB threads could identify my address, age, photos of me, my family, my apartment, etc. Does all this result in a file on me, even though I have no direct FB connection?
I forget my Greek mythology. Was Pandora ever able to get all that bad stuff she had let out of the box back in? If I remember correctly, she wasn’t.
8
I wish that whenever Cambridge analytics is mentioned journalists would remind readers of the Bob Mercer, Libertarian, and its connection to the Republican Party.
1
Facebook was always too good to be true and a premiere example that nothing is for free. Face it, what started as a social idea has succumbed to greed.
Capitalism corrupts everything!!!
1
If you are still using FB you are not paying attention. Wake up!
8
Dear JP, I tried FB 4 times, and lasted about a week each time, I always felt like someone was looking in my windows.
I know I am not "safe"..
but , very glad I never got hooked on it...
MJ
2
Facebook working against their users who provide the content. Bad call for the company. Too greedy.
The sell YOU.
You're surprised. Really?
Reminding me to cancel facebook again.
Well, if a service is free, what you were expecting? Companies need money.
2
This revelation continues to support my reasons for deleting my account years ago. I'll never understand why I would want to tell all my friends and their friends what I had for dinner last night. There aren't enough spam filters out there to stop the mail I still continue to get from my deleted Facebook account.
The USA has virtually no digital privacy laws, which is why Facebook does what it does.
Facebook has a lot more to worry about with the much stricter privacy laws in the EU. And Facebook knows that.
1
Well over a century ago, the US government discovered it could regulate large unscrupulous and monopolistic companies which flagrantly deceive the public and repeatedly violate the public trust, like Facebook has been doing in our time (already when it was a small upstart company thriving by stealing ideas from elsewhere, and ever since).
In more recent decades, the Republican Party has wholesale forgotten the very concept of public service, the Democratic Party has lost all knowledge of spines and what they can be used for, and the mainstream US news media has completely succumbed to the myth that these two political albatrosses have some absolute Constitutional immortality, and that is unthinkable to even imagine replacing them with something else halfway functional, for a change.
1
There is no free lunch, you get nothing for nothing.
If you have a "free" service connecting with others of any nature, then you are paying with your data. Restrictions or no restrictions, that is the bottom line.
IF you want this kind of service without this devil's bargain, then create such a service and pay a monthly fee. Better still, create many such services that can compete with each other.
But we know this is not going to happen, and any change will be some tiny symbolic nonsense. Facebook and Google are powerful monopolies with lots of political clout, and politicians will sell their souls to get some of their money.
I have a plugin for my browser that tells me what sites are accessing my data when I m looking at a web page. It's pretty shocking: 10 to 50 or so marketing links on a page, and Facebook and Google share data that you don't see because it's from their server to other companies.
One cooking site I frequent "resells" your data every few seconds to additional marketing sites. In one half hour on their site you may be "sold" to several hundred marketing companies.
4
That includes the NYTimes. I have no other site open, but the Disconnect counter continues to climb. At 65 now, now 66 . . . I can't keep up.
2
Yet you continue to visit the site that resells your data. Must not be a big deal.
1
All this worry about Facebook. What about all the data your email provider has on you? How about your Internet Service Provider? Then there is Amazon, your drug store, your banks and credit card companies, as well as every retailer with whom you've signed up for a discount card. And what does FitBit (and companies selling similar product) do with all your data?
5
Truly frightening. What is somewhat different about Facebook is that most people don't use the site to conduct business like they do on the other sites you mention (banks, Amazon, etc.). While it's naive to think Facebook wouldn't be accessing and using data, it seems more sinister than, say, Amazon doing the same thing. At Amazon, we're buying an item, so we kind of expect that we'll get advertisements from other companies for similar products. At Facebook, it's creepy to think that it's using, i.e., personal photos of your baby to figure out how to market to you.
But whether it's "creepy" or not--the result is the same. For people to think they're somehow safe from privacy intrusions on the net if they don't use FB--that's ludicrous.
I am dismayed as anyone. I'd like to point out that I had joined Linked In some years back, to network about jobs, but when my friends all started receiving messages that I had advised them to join Linked In, I bolted. No company should say I told my friends "come on in, the water's fine." I left Linked In, never to return. Now I'm about to wrap up my Facebook career - I don't want to live in a dangerous neighborhood, even online. Fooey! I would like an Internet "Do Not Call List" which is truly effective. Enough is enough.
4
Reminder to tech startups (and bigger cos): this is one of many reasons you ought to have people on staff over the age of 30/40/50. When your whole staff consists of people hired right out of college, their friends of friends, or other people who are just really fun to hang out with... you get an echo chamber of people with very little real-world experience. Let's sell our customers' data to Verizon -- what could possibly go wrong??
11
Given that we are aware that the Russians are still working very hard to interfere in our elections, and given that Facebook cannot be trusted to even remotely approach any semblance of user privacy preferences, why is Facebook still available on the web, and still open for business? Why haven't they even been temporarily suspended pending complete understanding of what is actually going on out there in order to protect the integrity of our forthcoming Fall midterm elections? Why is Homeland Security just allowing business as usual with respect to these folks?
2
A short answer is that they have lobbyists and the government and local law enforcement can (and do) buy data from Facebook that they would not be allowed to collect on their own without probable cause and a search warrant.
$$$
I think there was connection both ways. I found that people whom I called/texted in connection with work showed up as suggested friends in facebook. So somehow facebook knew whom I was calling or texting on my iphone. I think all of these tech companies share our data with each other..
1
Just one more reason I'm glad I took FB OFF my phone - along with messenger...but the bigger question is why hasn't someone started a class action suit against FB? I would but I'm a mere artist and not a lawyer...
3
Let's hope European users of Facebook sue the company in accordance with the GDPR which went into effect on May 25, 2018. Make Facebook pay the fine of 4% of global income. Unfortunately American users have no recourse, other than the satisfaction of knowing that they basically agreed to Zuckerberg's handing over their personal information by simply using the application. I don't use Facebook. Thank you.
9
Many may not be too surprised by this revelation however we should still be very disturbed by its implications and still hold Facebook accountable. Let's not let companies get away with such behavior when there are violations of privacy and potentially even legislation. Too many dismiss this as simply caveat emptor which this is not. Friend data was shared and harvested even when they explicitly turned on privacy settings.
The EU may be our only hope in seriously curbing abuse. In listening to the congressional hearings I was stuck by how technically illiterate most of congress appeared to be based on their questions.
7
I'm no defender of FB, but most people do much more on Google than FB and all of that data (if, perhaps different kinds of data) is also shared with device makers (notably, NOT JUST PHONES).
Better reporting from the NYT would be on the larger problem of unauthorized, unwitting release of personal data by corporate actors, not just a single bad actor.
8
We need a modern-day Teddy Roosevelt to go after all these ethically challenged companies, including bankers who just get fined for criminal behavior.
Break them up.
They are our modern-day monopolies that need to be broken up and regulated, for the good of all Americans.
18
The US corporate directorship is more interlocked now than ever before.
1
After many years of sharing impressions, information and family pictures on FB, I recently deleted my account. (After days of research of trying to figure out how to permanently delete it). There was a part of me who knew they would be sharing my information with corporate America. But, agreeing to collect data and sell information with the intentions of getting this current president elected is a sin I cannot forgive.
13
After reading this article I deleted my FB account also. I still use G+ and Twitter, but at Google notifies users about data. I appreciate that I can hide myself if I don't open my account to the public. In fact they will notify another user if the account is hidden and they must contact that person to become friends and see their feed.
2
The solution is the same as with unwanted robocalls, stop electing legislators that are owned by businesses.
34
Awaiting another "my bad" from Zuckerberg. Maybe he'll throw in "thoughts and prayers" this time around, plus a reminder that this all started with a few crazy kids in a dorm room. I always tear up on that one.
15
Sadly, the dark side of the force was always there, but now it's much easier to see
I was appalled at Zuckerberg's meeting with FB shareholders after his congressional hearings, His smirk was palpable. He knows full well how he turned what many thought was a benign fun tool to tell everyone what they had for dinner into a real "spygate" machine designed to manipulate us at every turn, even our voting decisions,
No, the "fixes" aren't enough. Zuck needs a real slap across the face and the rest of us should carefully consider whether all that "fun" on FB is worth it,
16
I'm afraid you are correct.
1
And to think that Zuckerberg's name was peddled last year as a potential presidential candidate for 2020 is outright scary. Just imagine, a president of the US of A with almost total mind control over his subjects. Forget about 1984, Orwell had no idea what could be possible.
8
Orwell's nightmare is North Korea's reality.
Do Facebook readers read dystopian novels? Were they all born post-1984? Do they really believe that when you post photographs, preferences, autobiographical sketches and other yarns on an online forum controlled by a company that makes wads of money that they are just "sharing" with friends and not with advertisers, government officials and other agencies of profit and power? Do they really believe that they are somehow immune to the nefarious forces of manipulation?
My mother always told me that if you tell one person it is not a secret. But when you tell hundreds of people, it is not even private. Has Facebook become so powerful a tool for individuals and companies that it is too powerful to fail and individuals just resign themselves to it flaws and all?
And do we really need Facebook? Can you have a face and a story without it? Is there no competitor out there who can create an online forum and protect your privacy? Did Huxley and Orwell warn us in vain? Or did they fail to realize the real reason we comply? Vanity. In an era where fame is supreme and the number of friends matter more than the quality, we have allowed vanity to oppress us. And as long as vanity reigns, Facebook will too.
In an era where fame reigns, we sacrifice our privacy and blame it on the Russians. But the Russians just read Psychology Today and knew our Achilles Heel. We all wanted to be the Apprentice even if humiliated because at least we were on TV.
15
Liz, you nailed it. Immaturity, insecurity, and vanity. Probably a healthy dose of ignorance as well. I guess it is bliss. And it's not just the youngsters.
1
Seems like this pattern of deceit is merely another reflection of the evolution of corporate capitalism from quality through innovation to any combination of mediocrity and efficiency that stokes profitability.
12
Give and take are words with meaning.
I took my child to school but before entering someone took him.
I gave to the school a set of pencils. The school gave them to needy students.
FB took information and gave (?) it to others.
Love to see the contracts between all these new 'deep' quasi-government agencies all of whom are making billions based on government supported research and development.
Their arrogance is nonstop, perhaps only exceeded by toupee so-called president Trump.
If the government did anything close to this (i. e. shared Social Security, Medicare, toupee Trump's tax returns, etc.) with the real 'deep' government there would be an outcry from the right. But this is commerce in the (ironically called) "private" sector and is not to be touched.
The answer is clear: pass an act to value these companies and the value of the government research and development that made it possible for them to
be successful and tax each at 50% of that amount. In that act also require that any information release first requires an authorization (with a copy) be sent using the USPS to each person and returned with a notarized stamp. Lacking that signed and notarized authorization no (as in no) information in any form or collected in the aggregate may be used in any by the sender for any purpose except as required by federal law. The request for any authorization must be accompanied by a certified check (no less than $100) to cover the recipients' time and notary expense.
7
I would add that each authorization request be separately sent and returned so that it does not get confused as a blanket authorization. In addition, any violation should require a transfer of 5% of the stock to the federal government which can sell them to reduce the federal debt or better to support a separate government agency to monitor these vultures.
"Dozens of companies got access to the data of users’ friends without their explicit consent... after Facebook said it would no longer share such information."
Take Facebook to court, fine them so it hurts, and make them admit guilt.
17
And this is why I've deleted my (inactive) Facebook account. They have consistently lied over the years and are apparently still doing so. I refuse to participate in any way.
10
It has been said many times before, and it goes back many years before that: don't provide personal information to anyone. Millions of people, world-wide did not take heed to this advice, and today they are paying he price. Nothing is free, and anything on the web that you get for free, including all apps, will come back to bite you. Facebook is going to be the revelation of the year, and I hope we are listening to what they have done by taking personal information and selling it for millions of dollars.
3
The privacy issue is interesting but it's a side show. Please read Lanier's new book: "Ten Arguments for deleting your social media accounts right now". FB's evil is their AI which is designed to keep the user engaged. An engaged user buys stuff. How does it keep us engaged? It serves up ever more distorted versions of reality.
12
While I am not defending Facebook or accepting their definition of how the transfer of data between the FB app and the respective phone OS sits in the context of the FTC consent degree and related user privacy agreement, it is a bit disingenuous to cite Apple and Samsung in the subhead and then provide one example of a legitimate privacy concern attributed to Blackberry. Furthermore, the Blackberry example is specific to an app and a phone which is over five years old. Sorry, you may be on to something much bigger, but you should have dug a little bit deeper before hitting the publish button.
2
I closed my Facebook account after the 2012 election. I knew it would just lead to bad things, plus it had ruined my view of many people I had no idea were fools until they started exposing who they really are on FB. The concerns about Facebook and also the insidious Google have been around for years. My wife wont listen to me, just like so many people...she still uses Facebook and Google's Chrome browser despite my warnings, I stopped using Google's browser, except on rare occasion, years ago. Any non-Leftist still using Facebook, Google or Twitter deserves any issue they encounter, you have been warned and didn't listen. You can live without them just fine. None of them are a "right" you have in life, asking the government to regulate them is not a conservative or Libertarian thing to do. You have a choice to NOT use the services.
3
“You might think that Facebook or the device manufacturer is trustworthy,” said Serge Egelman, a privacy researcher at the University of California, Berkeley...
Who on earth would think that?
5
I have no facebook acct. Don't want one...never will. Anybody who trusts 'big data' deserves what you get.
6
Facebook tracks people who don't have an acct. The company stated this in testimony before Congress.
http://www.newsweek.com/facebook-tracking-you-even-if-you-dont-have-acco...
2
Oh, Zuck! You've assembled the best minds in tech and this gang still can't shoot straight. Will it be another apology tour or pre-recorded message to save us all the time and bother? After abetting the Russians in their many attempts to circumvent our free/fair elections and turning over user data too outside research groups Facebook's credibility is still the gold standard in silicone valley. Keep up the good work!
Facebook is the new cigarette. Seemed cool at first but addictive and dangerous. How many people here defend it, can't imagine being without it? And yet, it cost you (and all of us by default) the right to privacy, first of all, and the expectation of authentic, healthy social encounters, not digitally retouched ones. It costs young people their lives through bullying, police regularly scan through looking for perps (or imagined perps to be), it makes the promotion of false information not just possible but easy and effective, it interferes with presidential elections, and so on. FB is central to the current digital media driven lifestyle which changed our culture in too many negative ways.
“Every piece of content that you share on Facebook you own,” he testified. ”You have complete control over who sees it and how you share it.” ???? Then let people permanently delete their accounts without FB storing them. And yeah, stop selling information to third parties. Until FB does that, it's all a lie. And even if it does that, it's still all of the above.
10
Who has more issues with telling the truth, Zuckerberg or Trump? Are these just power and money hungry individuals? Or symptoms of our society, symptoms that we are enabling with our blind, careless behavior?
2
What’s new here? This is what Facebook does. Get off Facebook. Talk to real people, with your mouth. Smile once in awhile. Get a life.
16
I'm beginning to think Zuckerberg is a sociopath: he displays no true remorse or shame, has poor judgment, absence of conscience, disregards the safety/well-being of others, and he seems to find it easy to be evasive - and when he's not being evasive, he tells outright lies. He seems to find lying very easy to do, while he is allergic to taking genuine responsibility.
His main concerns seem to be (a) being in control, and (b) being rich. He's getting more Trump-like by the minute.
I'm very, very glad I never created a facebook account!
4
Facebook can track you even if you never had an account.
http://www.newsweek.com/facebook-tracking-you-even-if-you-dont-have-acco...
1
@KR: I use anti-tracking software, and I recommend it to everyone.
Further, whatever FB "knows" about me, it's certainly far less than if I'd created a FB account & voluntarily turned over my personal data to them. They have no knowledge of my family, my job, my friends, my hobbies; they have none of my photos. I don't use instagram, snapchat, twitter or any other social media either.
And since my work involves doing independent research for third-parties, FB would find my "data" to be very confusing. Within any given day, I may be asked to research multiple types of rare diseases, to search historical photos, or to track down various details for the author of a novel. That would add up to quite an odd - and utterly incorrect - profile of me!
1
@KR: Also I don't use a smartphone of any type; I have the most primitive flip-phone ever made and it's on a pre-paid plan, and that works just fine!
1
This company has participated in the heist of our democracy--and has done damage to the stability of other countries. It is a greedy profit-driven amoral enterprise. Already, Facebook has shown that it is unable to prevent malicious manipulative "news" articles that are dividing democrats in California. It has only provided a platform to con artists and organizations and countries that want to throw elections. Shut down your account---don't participate in the disgusting scam. Facebook is not the least bit interested in your wellbeing and your friendships. In no way is it interested in helping you keep in touch with your buddies. That's a ruse. Don't be a sucker.
11
I think it's gone from, "get a life" to "why are you still doing this?" I always figured big brother would have to come take it from us. Now it seems we gleefully give it up like sheep. Shameful.
13
Privacy is mostly dead. What makes that so scary is that we now have people in governments, including ours, who will use our info to track us, and if it suits their needs, round us up, prosecute, or intimidate us. Now, the Scandinavians are embracing chip technology that will allow them to pass their hand over a scanner to pay for stuff, start their cars, etc. They will have to strap me down and insert one by force on this geezer. And probably, they will.
3
Remember Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In "Fickle Finger of Fate"?
Facebook gets it in spades. Liars. Privacy invaders of the highest degree. Co-conspirators with other tech giants to invade OUR lives to make money.
The Con Don and his Robber Baron brethren, BIG corporations, BIG manufacturers, BIG investors with no social conscience, BIG tech and complicit lawmakers and media all get the "Fickle Finger of Fate".
Break them all up. Regulate the greed out of them.
NOW is the time - while some of us are still alive and have private lives.
The New York Times could start the trend by taking down their facebook page until WE get OUR privacy back.
6
Thus leaving Facebook becomes a matter not only of self protection but also social responsibility.
4
Amen!
The most generous interpretation of Facebook's business plan is that it is a giant data gathering platform for advertisers. It uses the account set up and free posting of personal information and chat as a way to gather data on your personal likes and dislikes as well as all of your friends. This data is packaged, analyzed and sold. There have been rumors about the web for years that advertisers were not the primary drivers behind Facebook, that various government agencies are the ones who wanted the data on large numbers of people. Advertisers were a way to pay for Facebook's operations.
Which ever is true, a Facebook subscriber is giving Facebook permission to collect and sell, whatever the user puts on their site and all of its links. You are opening your life to complete strangers. At a minimum they are making huge amounts of money off of you and you are getting a way to post cute cat pictures.
1
Nothing short of total prohibition on the collection of data - by corps AND government will do, and violations should be a criminal act, as well as including a private right of action. The new laws can include "opt-in" procedures for those who chose to sell their data.
2
This is apparently the price we pay for "connectivity."
Rule to live by: Don't ever give your real birthday or phone number to any on-line service. Once you give it to them, you can't get it back, and they are absolutely going to sell your information to whomever will pay for it.
3
Precisely! And once you have given it, sign up to other services and provide as many false birth dates as you can. That's the only way I can see to confuse identity thieves.
Congress' main function-to raise money for its members-is never going to take on these cash barrels on the West coast. And the one thing we learned from Zuckerberg's Commerce Committee performance: there is a knowledge gap about technology in Congress. Aged Congressmen should have stepped aside and let digital savvy professionals ask the questions.
Or we should follow lockstep the European Union's regulatory lead.
4
Through all the revelations of FB’s loose control over private data, I have been bemused by FB users who express shock over the practice. Just how did they think that FB provided links to people, products and news that seemed to match their preferences? A FB divining rod? A digital ouija board? The whole FB business plan was based on luring billions of people to divulge private information, which would then be shared with everyone and every company on the planet.
Why has this been so popular? Are we so starved for relationships that we have to bare our souls to find a ‘friend’? Would you go to a party, or a meeting, or speak to coworkers at the office and tell them your most personal and private secrets, in hopes that they will be your ‘friend’? Zuckerberg’s genius was that he seems to have tapped into the basic arrested social development of the human species in the late 20th century, and provided a crutch that enriched him beyond belief.
7
I made a contribution to a smal loan being offered by a micro-finance charity to a buiness person in a developing country. A few months later the charity notified me that the loan had been paid back, and that I had a credit that could be used to support another person, or I could ask to be repaid.
I brieflyy visited the charity’s website but did not make a decision to use my credit.
The follwing day my Facebook page included an invitation to me to return to the charity’s site and use my credit to support someone elses’s business.
Facebook knows, therefore, that I went to the charity website, contributed to a small business loan in a developing country, the loan was paid back, I have a crredit with the charity, that I recently visited the charity’s webite but did not decide whether to reallocate my credit to another loan recepient or ask for a refund.
This is far more broad and bothersome than having a clickstream profie that records things like my preference of coffee beans.
15
I have some news for you: Amazon is doing the same thing and - guess what - it is using the NYT to advertise its best guess of what you might want to buy next right here on these pages. That's called targeted advertising.
Your charity is probably doing exactly the same thing. That is why Facebook knew about your contribution. The charity is sharing your data with Facebook so you are always reminded when you are NOT logged into the charity's website.
4
Along those same lines.... Saturday I walked into a new hotel in town to check out the lobby. I looked, walked around and walked out. Time spent? 10 minutes? The next day there was a message on my phone asking me to rate my impression of the hotel. Simply having my phone in my handbag when I walked into a place was enough.
Yes, I've since turned off Location and I've known for a long time that Google really is Big Brother but this time I was thoroughly unnerved. Even started wondering if I can do without the texting which is so useful for my business...
maybe I can go back to the old dumb flip-phone that I liked so much. Fat chance.Whatever the personal solution, it is not as easy as "just say no".
To those commenters here who have never used a smart device, who don't use any social media... easy for you to say. I don't Facebook though I do have a page that I never look at. And my settings are so locked down (or so I thought) that I am the only one who could see anything if anything were there. So I thought... until this article.
The scope of this thing is breathtaking and there is no end in sight.
1
I always have location turned off. It only takes a sec or two to turn on if I need it.
Don't just blame Facebook, blame on people for using Facebook like the whole world needs to know their cooking, sleeping, reading and vacationing schedules. People who use "FREE FACEBOOK" services should not complain that their personal data has been sold or compromised when they themselves will voluntarily open the door for everyone to take a look at their lives. If you don't like it, don't use it. If you want to use it, use smartly.
4
After decades of paranoia about government surveillance on American citizens, it's interesting that the largest privacy intrusion in history was done by the world's most profitable private company.
That's the American way.
21
I have every setting on the most restrictive it can be. I no longer post or "like". My FB days are numbered. With one or two exceptions, I no longer comment on sites. Some friends and I have even gone back to snail mail letters and notes.
2
I finally deleted my account after seeing this story. When the other scandal broke a few months ago (not their first) I got alternate contact info from people who I would otherwise not be able to communicate with easily. Then I just settled back into the mindless groove of having it, fearful that I'd miss the engagement. It really is a false sense of community and I guess all I needed was one more disclosure of Facebook's unethical practices to cut the cord.
11
Why is anyone shocked? Facebook is a business designed to make money. Since they do not charge users, where does everyone think Facebook's immense profits come from? Of course they sell user's data, that is their core business. If you don't like it, get off Facebook! There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.
2
I had concerns about Facebook from the beginning because of their 'hands-off' approach to oversight and sketchy details about what they do with your information. I deactivated my account in July 2016, because in the run up to the election it was obvious something there was an issue with the platform. And indeed, as we now know, misinformation was rampant and users were being played. After the Cambridge Analytica scandal broke a few months ago; I deleted my long dormant account and have no plans to return to the social network. There are plenty of ways to stay connected with important people in your life. They are not only more meaningful - but they're less prone to exploitation!
5
Your account may be deleted, but be assured: They kept your data!!!
2
Two Questions:
1) Who's the biggest corporation in the world that steals and exploits your personal data? ANSWER: The US government.
2) So who stands to profit the most by dragging Facebook before Congress in order to draw everyone's attention to Facebook and away from its own crimes? ANSWER: The US government.
1
This eventually should end in a big class action lawsuit where FB will have to pay billions to its users.
11
The problem isn't merely Facebook, the problem is data mining by any entity without limits. There is a huge difference between the information that an individual offers up freely to a company, and all of the other potential information that it takes with impunity and without specific permission Allowing someone to visit your home doesn't give them permission to go through all of your cabinets and closets, and then tell everyone they know about said content for profit. In the olden days, there used to be a joke about having a party and that one boorish person that used to snoop through your bathroom cabinet. Now its' like if you want to go to any party, you're unknowingly agreeing to allow anyone to look in your underwear drawer and read your texts. No one should be allowed to take your private information and use it for profit without specific permission. And allowing a company to see your data shouldn't allow them to take it and sell it. Worse yet, tracking your around the internet and watching all of your other usage. We had the fourth amendment to protect us from unreasonable search and seizure by the government, and now it seems like we need something similar for private companies who don't seem to have an ethical limit to their behavior.
8
It would be interesting if democratic FB users could turn it of for a day , a week or a month. I could . I don't use it that much. Why ? Because FB more than likely brought us Trump. To be honest I will probably never forgive FB for this but they could try to win back some level of respect.
They could do this by donating $ 100 million to civic causes that are somewhat apolitical. LIke: The League of Women Voters , efforts to neutralize gerrymandering, eliminating restrictive Voter ID laws, Black Lives Matter, Protecting schools from gun violence, Check that: make it $250 million.
Unfortunately sooner or later citizens will start voting with their money. Just like the Kochs.
7
Facebook is running an uncontrolled experiment on world culture, and in the United States there is no public oversight and no consequences for promises broken. When and how will this end?
14
In your simple two sentence comment you clearly identified the root cause of the problem when you wrote "no consequences".
2
When is this going to stop? It is criminal. It may not have been done "maliciously", but that still does not make it right. This was done without any users consent, and for profit. I do not believe gathering sensitive information about people and then selling it is wrong, and the people responsible should be punished; criminally and especially financially.
2
Did you think that Facebook was a non-profit company? How else has Zuckerberg made his millions but from data mining.
1
I meant to write.. I "do" believe it is wrong. It was a typo.
What concerns me is that even if you aren't a Facebook user, Facebook still makes a dossier on you, and you have no way of deleting it or telling Facebook not to compile data on you. I would love for their to be laws with teeth that would forbid that practice, and for those of us not using Facebook, to delete the data Facebook has collected on us, and to forbid them from ever compiling data on us.
61
Europe now has a law to do exactly that.
11
The problem is some people are compelled to share everything, and not just their own business. I have never used Facebook, yet a few times I’ve been tempted to set up an account to see what others are posting. The idea lasted as long as the few seconds I spent wondering if I should have had kids! Still no!
Facebook needs to be eliminated plain and simple. It can never be "fixed" especially with the master of betrayal Zuckerborg at the helm. The other tech companies betray us as well but as long as they give away our info to a police state they will be protected at our cost. It seems almost every country now hates it's citizens..
15
We should not be surprised. Facebook's business model is PREDICATED on gathering and selling information to advertisers, third parties. THAT is how they make money.
5
Yes, yes, yes! Why don't people understand this simple fact?
2
I quit Facebook soon after I joined about ten years ago because of all the fine print, ads, etc. I feel very smug about that. As I wallow in my smugness, I reflect on all the other digital services that run, bidden or not bidden, on and behind my desktop and phone. This is Capitalism, folks, as in, how can our personal lives also be capitalized? Facebook probably engaged in this behavior because it is generally assumed in the digital world that all our information is free for whoever is best at rooting it out. I wonder what the free-marketers think? Libertarians probably think this increases liberty.
2
I never joined. I didn't even have to read the fine-print, it was clear from the beginning what their business model had to be. Come on!
3
It's becoming really blatant how intrusive they are with our data. How does google connect the dots from my work computer gmail to youtube to my home tv? I'm not signed in to youtube on my tv--downright creepy.
And fb has shoved its way into messenger by slowing down all the other apps and multiple "primary" requests to be the main app. It's not the advertisements, it's the spun web into their algorithmic entrapment that I don't appreciate.
5
You can use TOR to browse the web. I know there is a misconception that TOR is there only for illegitimate deviant dark web purposes, but that's not true. If you don't want to be tracked, and in the wake of these ever new revelations lots of people may consider that a near necessity, that's probably the most practical way to do it. You will have to wipe your computer, too, though, or browse from within a sandbox, since as long as you have any other "free" services running there, they may still be able to siphon off your data.
It comes down to convenience: Allow yourself to be tracked and monitored and your navigation through the web is a breeze, or make it a lot more work by covering your tracks.
2
Facebooks lies? What a shock. In Europe the “sainted” Zuckerberg evaded question after question just like any politician or rapacious capitalist who is offended that the little people would DARE TO QUESTION HIM!
11
It's all worth it -- Facebook selling my purloined data -- just to see those cute pictures of cats.
1
By now it should be obvious to everyone thatr Mr. Zuckerberg is an unholy combination of Eddie Hasskell and Don Trump.
\
He is making the rounds of these government mandated mea culpa sessions with a snear on his face and a satisfied grin knowing that, even if everybody knows he is a liar and a crook there's nothing thy're goping to do about. The US established that precedent lopng ago.
The man and his company exist to do whatever they wish and sneer at the world for being such suckers, people who don't even belong on the same planet.
39
Agreed, he's a successful Martin Shkreli. Sick of him and his lies and doublespeak.
I have nothing to hide, but I object to creeps like Zuckerberg and other cunning, greedy abusers of Capitalism taking advantage of us.
Lock "Sugarmountain" up for a good while.
6
The only people that have nothing to hide are either blissfully naive or dead.
2
So did Samsung pass info from my phone to Facebook even if I don't have a Facebook account? And if so did Facebook sell me?
We should just make them give us a list of who they share our data with
18
The need to regulate social media is blatantly obvious after the latest revelations about facebook. The current conversation should include what are a private citizen's right of privacy, and if that right includes what information is contained on one's cellphone. Also what exactly is a violation of one's rights, such as social media platforms like facebook. Maybe we should look at the European model and how they define and protect these rights.
3
Glad to see that it's the beginning of the end for Facebook, with the new report regarding the teenage bracket. How many users were victimized?
20
Anyone naive enough to believe that any commercial website like Facebook (essentially an advertising company) or search engine like Google exists to "give" you "stuff" for free deserves what they get, ie their identity "stolen". Its sad that the everything is "free" mindset is really that pervasive in American Society, but after decades of the Government/Big Business/Media triumvirate brainwashing the populace (at the behest of the Elites) its no surprise that the weak minded among us see reality in that way. Zuckerberg is an Ad man pure and simple, and promoting rampant consumerism especially among the gullible, the young and the elderly.
22
Agreed, in addition, I don’t understand people who upload their genetic profiles into ancestry websites. Even if the company promises 100% privacy, if they sell the new owner may decide not to honor it. If the company is hacked DNA profiles could be sold to insurers who could use it deny health insurance coverage. If a number of people in a family decide to do the same, insurers can use the available information to speculate what someone’s genetic profile might look like.
As a nurse I will never have a DNA test done unless it is needed to determine the best treatment options for me. HIPAA provides some protection but even hospital EMRs have been hacked.
Facebook's television ad produced to recover its reputation and trust among users is part of a larger disinformation campaign to protect shareholders and executives - and thousands of it programmers who took part in the ongoing data theft operation. Too bad prosecutors are focused on a single client - Russia - instead of the enabling company and the surveillance technology that collects, packages and distributes personal information to the highest bidder to achieve its corporate objectives. Awful company run by a foul and pestilent congregation of criminals.
9
Never used Facebook, never will. Zuckerberg and his evil twin, Lean In’s Sanberg have always given me the creeps.
65
BTW, where has Miss Wonderful, Sheryl Sandberg, been thru all the bad blood about FBs skeevieness? Responsible for architecting FBs "monetization" of everything personal, some would say she has been hiding in the bathroom, trying to wash the blood off her hands.
1
Class action lawsuit, anyone? I'm in.
101
yup it’s about that time
1
Wonderful idea. As far as I can tell, Facebook's TOS don't include an arbitration clause.
1
I think we agreed to arbitration if we signed up.
Until recently, most of us had drunk the FB Kool-Aid, willing to see it as this friendly platform created for us to communicate with people. It's anything but that. I'll stop short of calling Mark Zuckerberg evil, but will say he is cunning and a great deal of his behavior that has come to light of late is seriously questionable from an ethical point of view.
It's really time for some serious government regulation of social media. FB and other social media have begun to invade our privacy to a level TV and radio can't, but unlike the way the FCC regulates TV and radio, social media is almost unregulated. Times have changed, and regulatory agencies need to step up and address these new threats.
10
Zuckerberg should be held criminally liable on this. He broke the law by invading the privacy of tens of millions of Americans and other countries. He should be charged with crime.
84
He is no more a criminal than all those phone calls I get trying to sell me stuff. If there was crime there are how many state attorney generals who could have brought charges?
2
He lied to Congress.
Wow another story about FB violating privacy policy. Can't say I'm surprised. The NYT should do some digging on the subject of user data when people close their accounts. What happens to it? I work with data companies and once you consent, even after you withdraw consent they still keep your data and are able to do whatever they want with that data, it's never destroyed!
57
“Every piece of content that you share on Facebook you own,” he testified. ”You have complete control over who sees it and how you share it.”
This was a complete lie. Just read the privacy and data policies on FB. It specifically states FB can do whatever it wants with your photos/content (royalty free of course!) until you remove it and even then you would have to search for every iteration of it and remove it (or request it to be removed by the person the reposted it) before FB would stop reusing it.
97
It's clear that Marc Zuckerberg needs to leave Facebook. He has proved time and again to be untrustworthy, his word worthless.
97
Mark Zuckerberg IS Facebook, in his overwhelming power over them and their voluntary emulation of his evils. Even if he did, he'd simply use finer puppet-strings and they'd simply say "I miss my master" (see: putin and Medvedev). Might as well hope "covfefe" leaves the GOP, or Kalanick quits as Uber's CEO.
One of those has already happened, with exactly the (lack of) effect you'd expect.
Remember, the thousands who originally gave their info to him were, in his eyes, "Dumb [un-Fit to Print]s". If you'd work for Facebook, it's because you show just as much contempt.
You would have to get rid of the board and other officials because he picked them.
Sheryl Sandberg, his apologist, should also leave.
People who lie, cheat and steal are not Friend's of mine. Good-bye Facebook. You've become a rogue app!
31
Long before we entered into an exhaustive investigation of a very slick business model, early on, ajournalist said it best. Zuckerberg is akin to Dr. Frankenstein, he created a monster he can’t control.
3
Nah he controls it perfectly, this is what he wants and he just keeps ringing the cash register $$$$$$
3
Time to break up Facebook into smaller separate companies.
They're simply too big and irresponsible to be trusted with personal information.
9
If we don’t give them access to our information they can’t sell and profit from it. Unfortunately it’s getting harder and harder to control access.
Facebook is just one of many ready and waiting to exploit us. Zuckerberg didn’t look at all contrite during his testimony.
36
The conduct of Facebook in violating users’ trust and privacy expectations by giving away personal data to enhance advertising revenue is outrageous.
The conduct of companies like Apple and Samsung in accepting the data is even worse, if that is possible.
Monetary fines against all of the offenders are woefully inadequate to redress these wrongs and to assure that it never happens again.
Establishment of a permanent, public-private receivership for oversight is needed. Criminal prosecution and loss of positions for executives of the involved companies should be considered.
6
"a permanent, public-private receivership for oversight " I think thats what our Government was for, no? How's that public/private partnership working for you? Its not, it only looks out for its own interests.
1
What crimes? Saying crimes isn;t enough, show the actual law being broken? hiow many state attorney generals and not 1 charge yet? YOU do know most likely your town or city gives away its property ownership lists to outsiders, particularly to insurance companies, home insurance and car insurance. public/private oversight? So outside people not in government can make regulations?
It is said that the best things in life are free, but in reality, nothing comes free without hidden costs.
6
Mr. Zuckerberg's innocent face seen so often recently as he tours the Western world and attempts to not clarify the technical secrets which allow his company to steal people's personal data is the perfect face for Facebook. He would be a great poker player: no tell, just the wide eyes and almost expressionless surface.
6
I would like to see legislation that would make it illegal for phone makers to install software that cannot be removed by the user. I don't use Facebook, but it has been on every Android phone I have owned.
107
Same goes for tablets. My tablet has all kinds of junk software on it that I will never use. Never have used Facebook on my phone. I do use it on my tablet. But when I do, it's through a web browser that is dedicated to Facebook use, and gets wiped every time I finish using it. I would never use a Facebook app.
1
This is why users of real computers, as opposed to technically-but-handcuffed computers like iPhones and Google-and-ISP-sanctioned Androids (Google+ still exists, and is still creepy), build their computers from parts if they know wot's good for'em.
The pre-built-computer makers love to put gifts of trialware, creepware, and worse on the drives (that, mind you, the user's already paid for *coughcommercialsoncabletvcough*). Such gifts are as Trojan as any other Trojans, except the big antivirus makers, to say nothing of the government, simply look the other way.
Thanks to the Supremes' 7-2 ruling today, Facebook and friends can now get away with discriminating against people who want privacy, too. Woo!
I agree, and even if you “delete” the app it’s still there cued up for downloading again. It’s never really gone.
1
Years ago I was a member of Facebook for just a few months when I realized that I was being tracked. I left immediately. I thought. They never fully allowed me to withdraw. They simply deactivated me but kept everything they knew about me.
66
Mark Zuckerberg should go in prison for this.
116
Fakebook is just a scoring system of other people's attractiveness, invented by sex-starved Ivy League youths, that grew out of hand. Who knew it could become a data mine to be exploited by mathematicians to elect idiots to public offices?
42
And pay a fine -- a proportionate fine.
1
If you expect privacy on Facebook or any other app, you are kidding yourself.
15
Thank you NYTimes, for doing the research behind this article and revealing the pervasive marketing of personal data by Facebook, and likely, other social networking services. USERS ARE THE PRODUCT and ADVERTISERS ARE THE CONSUMERS of these companies.
148
Anything that's given for free is suspect. Problem is people forget that too often.
25
I believe the notion of Caveat Emptor has been lost along the way. People seem to have signed up for avenues of 'social media' naively, just willing to suffer the consequences in their rush to join in, to connect, and most of all, to not be left out.
And reading the contracts you encounter when signing up is cooked and a firewall to you truly understanding what you are about to agree to. Contracts are written in such a way only the tutored eye of an attorney, accountant, whatever, can make the necessary sense to understand the consequences.
We've been had and will continue to be until what we are signing, and in the process what we're signing away', can be put on a postcard.
6
You're not wrong but there is a bigger issue here: Let's say you're not on Facebook, but you're a [real life] friend of mine, and I am on Facebook. This means I have your phone number and email in my phone, and that because Facebook has access to my phone, they now have your info - even though you yourself have nothing to do with Facebook. See how dangerous and widespread this has become?
6
No surprise here folks. Nothing is free.
I have no desire to Facebook. I have no desire to have my personal information sold to the highest bidder. I have no need to ‘connect’ with thousands of ‘friends’ when I have actually Friends I can converse with face-to-face. The only information I need from Facebook is easily garnered from public pages such as authors I like and businesses I frequent.
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc. are too impersonal. If I want to connect I phone or meet for lunch, etc. I engage. It is disturbing to see groups of people in a restaurant all looking down their devices instead of the person seated across from them. Talking to someone on the phone while their presumed ‘friend’ across the table is ignored.
Folks, the reason ‘we as a society’ are so disconnected from each other and some are too overly concerned that others will take more than they get for themselves in government services is because people are disconnecting from humanity and bonding with their devices, not other people.
Call a friend, meet for lunch, turn your cells off, put them away, and TALK to the person seated across from or next to you. You’ll enjoy it! I guarantee it!
151
well said thankyou. perhaps we could even reach out to others of dufferent political beliefs face to face, instead of on internet sites, then we could come together as a country again
1
Then again, there are these ENDLESS meetings that can only be made bearable by the company of my beloved iPhone...
:-))
1
A well deserved NY Times pick. Also, they should have highlighted your last paragraph.
2
I don't mind my info being sold, as long as I am fully informed and given a chance to opt out. Facebook has shown itself to be so untrustworthy that I simply don't trust them, and did what I could to delete them and to not use their sign on. It is my impression that America's laws regarding internet privacy are inferior to Europe's and that needs to be changed.
If laws have been broken, investigations need to be conducted. We are not sheep, we are customers.
Hugh
177
Did you ever pay anything to use Facebook? You are not the customer. You are the product.
5
And who in this transaction was fully informed or had a realistic chance to out? There is a reason these revelations take us by surprise and deepen our cynicism of this company. After repeated promises to impose systems with adequate transparency and functional user controls we find out time and time again that we were duped in what has become the predictable cycle of control breaches and apologies. Feh.
3
I mind MY information being tracked and sold, Mr. Massengill but, as this article points out, I have no choice if my friends and family are using facebook, alexa and other privacy invaders for profit.
I was not afraid of "government" until The Con Don and his Robber Baron brethren took it over. Now I'm afraid of them - not the institutions.
WE THE PEOPLE must purge them from OUR governments at every level and DEMAND very stringent fully enforced regulation to restore/preserve OUR social safety net. NOW.
5
The inexorable logic of the Silicon Valley/Wall St/Main St financial complex has richly rewarded the sociopathic core that has run through Facebook from its very beginnings. Very clearly, users are the product and nothing — not the banality of internet ads selling stuff no one wants nor the very idea of putting democracy or human rights on sale to bad actors — will be allowed to get in the way.
Will users revolt en masse? Will regulators crack down on these abuses? Will the tech sector innovate us out of this situation/ Sadly, I very much doubt any major change will happen — too many users are addicted, regulators are compromised and a substantial portion of Main Street retirement funds are tied up in this overvalued sinkhole to upset the apple cart.
In the face of all this collective apathy, perhaps Zuckerberg should run for President after all, as 45 shows, you get the leaders you deserve.
36
right with you til the last statement. If anything Trump is the anti-Zuckerberg, a hope for restoring government to the people.
1
Per the Constitution, you have to be 35 years of age minimum to be president. "You must be this tall to ride this ride--and to use the presidency to grow your own personal fortune."
1
If that is your hope hope, you have been truly and totally duped.
Facebook may be among the biggest, but it is far from the only corporation that tricks people into giving up their privacy and profits from distributing people's personal info, nor did Facebook invent the practice. Today, nearly all commercial websites require you to create "accounts" before you can even access their site content. Why? Because they're after your data. Every time you punch in your information while waiting to connect with a company on the telephone, your data is cross-checked with online data and stored (thanks to digital business telephone systems). We have reached a touchstone in Capitalism where we have become, ourselves, digital commodities. This is indisputable; what's less certain is how those corporations will use our data when Capitalism falls (it has already failed, but has not yet fallen), because when it does, you can be sure corporations will remain.
49
Of the big companies facebook is the most manipulative. Again and again they're violating the spirit of the law.
Of the big companies facebook's cover story is the most perverse: not to sell books, or provide good search results, a great iPhone, but to bring the world closer together. Them and Equifax. That's their primary business. Holding data. Giving you a safe space on the internet.
You have the option of not using those web sites that require you to give them something, like your email address, in return for access to their content. As they say, there is no such thing as a free lunch, and this is especially true on the Internet. I completely get the business need that requires a company to want something from me in exchange for providing content to me, my biggest complaint is that there is not an option to simply pay a fee which gets you content, without ads and without taking personal information. I would gladly pay.
Shameful. Greed is powerful indeed! But our addiction to being connected, and our willingness to sell ourselves for the 'pleasures' (goodies) at hand may have something to do with it.
22
Many commenters are saying, "Why did you expect privacy when facebook is free". Because Zuckerberg promised complete privacy. Remember?
This is just like the Wall Street mantra when WE THE PEOPLE lose OUR wealth on their craps table. "We told you if was not guaranteed and that you might lose your money". We stupid people believed that we had a second choice when OUR employers dumped guaranteed pension plans for 401k programs.
Stupid us. Little did we know that Robber Barons were actually trying to destroy OUR United States of America, OUR lives and force us down the path to 3rd world status. Now we know. NOW is the time to purge the Robber Barons from OUR governments at every level and replace them with Socially Conscious Women and men who will restore OUR rights to Social and Economic justice and privacy.
29
Inexcusable irresponsibility on the part of FB.
Inexcusable opportunism on the part of Apple, Amazon, Blackberrym Microsoft, Samsung et al.
I wonder if people and organizations who thought I was a little overprotective (and some even ostracized me for it) for wanting to protect my email address and stay away from social media finally "get it." Probably not, eh?
7
No, it is not. Apple and others are not violating anyone's privacy here. They are recreating the Facebook experience in their own systems. How can you do that unless the user can access their photos and contacts all with the same privacy and restrictions already in Facebook's own native apps? It can't be done. This story is wrong, and all it does it muddy the waters for seeing where Facebook truly does violate our privacy. Which is all the time, everywhere. But not here.