3 ms·

Can anyone explain to me what part of the Cambridge Analytica / Facebook thing is news? We've known for years that tech companies have made their money off col

Can anyone explain to me what part of the Cambridge Analytica / Facebook thing is news? We've known for years that tech companies have made their money off collecting data, profiling users and selling access to the users and their profiles. The general public never cared before. They signed in with Facebook around the web, knowingly gave the app permissions to read their personal data, and agreed to give third party apps access to that information. People are not stupid. They traded privacy for convenience. Why act dumbfounded now? Why blame Facebook instead of ourselves?

avoidit 9y ago
Maybe we are agreeing, but we humans don't have sufficient cognitive resources to extrapolate every little action we take into the future and predict new things technology can enable. Our brains are always looking for shortcuts ("do what the crowd does, because there must be at least some wisdom in it"). We also have the reasonable expectation that the companies will not turn our own cognitive limitations against us (such as Nir Eyal's "Hooked" encourages), nor do we know all the tools at their disposal if they so wish, and we probably never expected that these tools could be automated. In other words, a person who is taking all the necessary steps and doing everything right in terms of the privacy of their digital footprint, is either off the grid, or is likely considered a tin foil conspiracy theorist by peers. Human survival instinct usually overrides such thoughtfulness.
Angostura 9y ago
Every time stories of this kind come up, you can’t pretty much know that the top comment will be from a privacy-savvy commenter asking ‘why is it news?’ Why is it news to you that a large proportion of the population aren’t privacy savvy? The same people who are worried about Facebook are still fine giving WhatsApp unfettered access to all the contacts on their phone, so it knows who their bank, dentist, and employer is. Go figure.
- JBlue42 9y ago
  Or have to be told that even though '123' as a password is 'easier' for them, that no, it's really not a good idea. As to FB, if you were there in the beginning, you can definitely watch the scope creep: Some of us hopped on Facebook in college when it expanded from Harvard to other schools (02? 03?) and it was a completely different beast. You could add friends or people from your classes, send messages, connect with that cute girl in your class (because you could search by classes), personalize it with quotes and photos, etc. It was basically a cleaner MySpace. As it expanded, I used it as a personal address book to keep track of folks I met while abroad and could see what they're up to. Over time though, it really changed, was less useful, and I honestly had no reason to go on it except for once a year when people would chime in with a happy birthday and I would catch up with them. I'm much more worried about how integrated Google is into my life or the flashes of guilt when I order something from Amazon, which used to book that quirky bookseller with a poorly-designed website that had free shipping (5-10 days) but is now a behemoth that sells everything on a poorly-designed website that has different tiers of shipping which might be leading to abusive practices of its workers.
evan_ 9y ago
the part where the CEO bragged on camera about blackmailing opposition candidates was new.
gregknicholson 9y ago
We know this. Other people have just had no reason to think or care about it, despite not necessarily being stupid. Even when the information is readily available (and obvious to those who know), if nothing prompts you to look for it, you won't see it.
sorokod 9y ago
The scale of it's emotional impact. People feel personally affected. That is new.
- jochung 9y ago
  People are made to feel personally affected because the sin has been lain on team Trump, who has become a symbol of the end of democracy and a return to fascism. Even if Trump is mostly more of the same. Worse, the same media power that turned the election into a reality show is now aimed at tearing down its results, washing their hands in innocence and tagging it Resistance. If they weren't upset before, then they're not upset now because it happened, they're upset the "bad" people used it to accomplish the "wrong" goals.
  - sorokod 9y ago
    Manipulated or not, that is how people feel. The sentiment is real and that has real world implications.
ProxCoques 9y ago
"We've known for years that tech companies have made their money off collecting data... The general public never cared before. " I think the phrase "limited world view" applies to this quote.
nerdcity 9y ago
Trump derangement syndrome in full effect. Nobody cared until the link was made to the Trump campaign benefitting from analytics research. Now it's an issue.

avoidit 9y ago

Maybe we are agreeing, but we humans don't have sufficient cognitive resources to extrapolate every little action we take into the future and predict new things technology can enable. Our brains are always looking for shortcuts ("do what the crowd does, because there must be at least some wisdom in it"). We also have the reasonable expectation that the companies will not turn our own cognitive limitations against us (such as Nir Eyal's "Hooked" encourages), nor do we know all the tools at their disposal if they so wish, and we probably never expected that these tools could be automated. In other words, a person who is taking all the necessary steps and doing everything right in terms of the privacy of their digital footprint, is either off the grid, or is likely considered a tin foil conspiracy theorist by peers. Human survival instinct usually overrides such thoughtfulness.

Angostura 9y ago

Every time stories of this kind come up, you can’t pretty much know that the top comment will be from a privacy-savvy commenter asking ‘why is it news?’ Why is it news to you that a large proportion of the population aren’t privacy savvy? The same people who are worried about Facebook are still fine giving WhatsApp unfettered access to all the contacts on their phone, so it knows who their bank, dentist, and employer is. Go figure.

JBlue42 9y ago
Or have to be told that even though '123' as a password is 'easier' for them, that no, it's really not a good idea. As to FB, if you were there in the beginning, you can definitely watch the scope creep: Some of us hopped on Facebook in college when it expanded from Harvard to other schools (02? 03?) and it was a completely different beast. You could add friends or people from your classes, send messages, connect with that cute girl in your class (because you could search by classes), personalize it with quotes and photos, etc. It was basically a cleaner MySpace. As it expanded, I used it as a personal address book to keep track of folks I met while abroad and could see what they're up to. Over time though, it really changed, was less useful, and I honestly had no reason to go on it except for once a year when people would chime in with a happy birthday and I would catch up with them. I'm much more worried about how integrated Google is into my life or the flashes of guilt when I order something from Amazon, which used to book that quirky bookseller with a poorly-designed website that had free shipping (5-10 days) but is now a behemoth that sells everything on a poorly-designed website that has different tiers of shipping which might be leading to abusive practices of its workers.

evan_ 9y ago

the part where the CEO bragged on camera about blackmailing opposition candidates was new.

gregknicholson 9y ago

We know this. Other people have just had no reason to think or care about it, despite not necessarily being stupid. Even when the information is readily available (and obvious to those who know), if nothing prompts you to look for it, you won't see it.

sorokod 9y ago

The scale of it's emotional impact. People feel personally affected. That is new.

jochung 9y ago
People are made to feel personally affected because the sin has been lain on team Trump, who has become a symbol of the end of democracy and a return to fascism. Even if Trump is mostly more of the same. Worse, the same media power that turned the election into a reality show is now aimed at tearing down its results, washing their hands in innocence and tagging it Resistance. If they weren't upset before, then they're not upset now because it happened, they're upset the "bad" people used it to accomplish the "wrong" goals.
- sorokod 9y ago
  Manipulated or not, that is how people feel. The sentiment is real and that has real world implications.

ProxCoques 9y ago

"We've known for years that tech companies have made their money off collecting data... The general public never cared before. " I think the phrase "limited world view" applies to this quote.

nerdcity 9y ago

Trump derangement syndrome in full effect. Nobody cared until the link was made to the Trump campaign benefitting from analytics research. Now it's an issue.