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Imagine if one-fifth of the entire global population read the same newspaper every morning. Imagine if that same newspaper also operated the largest espionage n

Imagine if one-fifth of the entire global population read the same newspaper every morning. Imagine if that same newspaper also operated the largest espionage network in the history of humanity. Facebook doesn't receive nearly enough scrutiny and criticism. Western governments have been completely blindsided by the immense power that lies in the hands of Mark Zuckerberg. Facebook have a near-monopoly on social media in many countries. They have an incomprehensibly vast archive of personal data, alongside a EULA that allows them to do nearly anything with that data. Their algorithms profoundly influence how two billion people perceive the world, with practically no transparency or oversight. Facebook are a hair's breadth away from any number of dystopian scenarios. We should be extremely nervous about the unchecked power that Facebook wields. We should pounce on any dubious decision that Facebook makes, but we should also be asking some serious and fundamental questions about the position of Facebook in our society. Look at Zuckerberg's recent manifesto. He fully understands how powerful he is, and he has a clear vision of how he intends to use that power to shape the world. It's time that we (and our elected representatives) woke up. https://www.facebook.com/notes/mark-zuckerberg/building-global-community/10154544292806634 https://www.facebook.com/notes/mark-zuckerberg/building-glob...

aaron-lebo 9y ago
Very well said. Hopefully more people will adopt this kind of skepticism and realism about the entities that affect our daily lives.
dx034 9y ago
> Imagine if one-fifth of the entire global population read the same newspaper every morning. Imagine if that same newspaper also operated the largest espionage network in the history of humanity. That's not a valid comparison since Facebook doesn't publish their own content. It can promote unfiltered news (that often turn out not to be true) but it's not as if the same news story would be read by 1bn people each day.
- colordrops 9y ago
  You are missing the entire point of the analogy.
- jdietrich 9y ago
  Facebook decide what you do or don't see, based on completely opaque algorithms and human filtering. They're not the journalists, they're the editor.
- ThrustVectoring 9y ago
  The comparison is friendly for Facebook, IMO. If Facebook pushes an agenda, the most obvious way to do so is through manipulating the order and appearance of items in the news feed. Facebook pushing an agenda will look like particular kinds of political content becoming more important to your friends.
losteverything 9y ago
I feel strongly to respond. Chicken little. That's what came to mind when I read your reply. If FB OR ANY other entiry gets you so upset then stop using it. We all make choices. I always give this example. My grandmother could have voted for every losing president during her lifetime but because of other more important choices like who to marry, whether to work hard or not, what people she associates with, when to have sex and if and when to create life her life became a function of those choices. Why in anyone's name would a person by choice use or contemplate FB or any other entity if it makes you upset. I just don't get it.
- AlexandrB 9y ago
  > If FB OR ANY other entiry gets you so upset then stop using it. I posted this in another reply, but that's effectively impossible. Facebook collects data on you from friends and family that use it. How do you suggest I stop that? What about Facebooks's tracking code all over the internet? Know a foolproof way to block that too?
  - ryandrake 9y ago
    If you stop using Facebook, why would you care if they collect data on you from friends? How is what they do with it affecting you? You're not using their product! You know how often I wake up worried about what some company I don't do business with knows about me? Never.
    - AlexandrB 9y ago
      > If you stop using Facebook, why would you care if they collect data on you from friends? I think it comes from growing up in the USSR, where the threat of the government showing up at your door because of something you said was very real. What no one in the US seems to appreciate is that even a stable country is only one or two major crises from being in the same situation. This is surprising because McCarthyism[1] happened a mere 70 years ago - a blink of an eye by historical standards. Do you really think that under a Neo-McCarthy government any information Facebook has about you would be kept private? That Facebook's precious social graph or Google's archive of your search history wouldn't be used against you? I think that's naive. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCarthyism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCarthyism

aaron-lebo 9y ago

Very well said. Hopefully more people will adopt this kind of skepticism and realism about the entities that affect our daily lives.

dx034 9y ago

> Imagine if one-fifth of the entire global population read the same newspaper every morning. Imagine if that same newspaper also operated the largest espionage network in the history of humanity. That's not a valid comparison since Facebook doesn't publish their own content. It can promote unfiltered news (that often turn out not to be true) but it's not as if the same news story would be read by 1bn people each day.

colordrops 9y ago
You are missing the entire point of the analogy.
jdietrich 9y ago
Facebook decide what you do or don't see, based on completely opaque algorithms and human filtering. They're not the journalists, they're the editor.
ThrustVectoring 9y ago
The comparison is friendly for Facebook, IMO. If Facebook pushes an agenda, the most obvious way to do so is through manipulating the order and appearance of items in the news feed. Facebook pushing an agenda will look like particular kinds of political content becoming more important to your friends.

losteverything 9y ago

I feel strongly to respond. Chicken little. That's what came to mind when I read your reply. If FB OR ANY other entiry gets you so upset then stop using it. We all make choices. I always give this example. My grandmother could have voted for every losing president during her lifetime but because of other more important choices like who to marry, whether to work hard or not, what people she associates with, when to have sex and if and when to create life her life became a function of those choices. Why in anyone's name would a person by choice use or contemplate FB or any other entity if it makes you upset. I just don't get it.

AlexandrB 9y ago
> If FB OR ANY other entiry gets you so upset then stop using it. I posted this in another reply, but that's effectively impossible. Facebook collects data on you from friends and family that use it. How do you suggest I stop that? What about Facebooks's tracking code all over the internet? Know a foolproof way to block that too?
- ryandrake 9y ago
  If you stop using Facebook, why would you care if they collect data on you from friends? How is what they do with it affecting you? You're not using their product! You know how often I wake up worried about what some company I don't do business with knows about me? Never.
  - AlexandrB 9y ago
    > If you stop using Facebook, why would you care if they collect data on you from friends? I think it comes from growing up in the USSR, where the threat of the government showing up at your door because of something you said was very real. What no one in the US seems to appreciate is that even a stable country is only one or two major crises from being in the same situation. This is surprising because McCarthyism[1] happened a mere 70 years ago - a blink of an eye by historical standards. Do you really think that under a Neo-McCarthy government any information Facebook has about you would be kept private? That Facebook's precious social graph or Google's archive of your search history wouldn't be used against you? I think that's naive. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCarthyism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCarthyism