76 ms·

Mark Zuckerberg Says Facebook Collects Internet Data on Non-Users

32 points by mnmlsm 8y ago

stu432 8y ago
So do literally millions of other companies. Your face (and mine) are stored for weeks/months, maybe even years, on CCTV systems globally without consent, documenting where you've been, what you've done, who you're with etc. Your phone does the same. We went down the rabbit hole a very long time ago, why is it only now that people are starting to realise what it means?
- cJ0th 8y ago
  > We went down the rabbit hole a very long time ago, why is it only now that people are starting to realise what it means? I am not surprised at all. The mainstream moves very, very slowly. You see the same with musical genres. EDM, for instance, took 20-30 years to go mainstream in the US and it is still a relatively young market.
- simion314 8y ago
  If I have a face and a city how much effort and time it takes to visit all places with cameras, search all the tapes and find that face? With a website like facebook that can track a browser on most webpages , having to find a person internet history would be just a SQL query away and the results would be back in a few milliseconds, so IMO FB and Google tracking are very different then what you described. Also because of convenience people ignored this until the US election issue, that pushed a real problem in the spotlight and regular people now get amazed but what Fb can do.
- sunir 8y ago
  Trump happened. That is why. Real world consequence. Love or hate Trump, the election is what motivated these inquiries. Just listen to the hearings internationally.
- rando444 8y ago
  You're dismissing the whole argument based on some hipster notion of noticing a trend early?
  - scottmf 8y ago
    Pretty common on HN lately.
  - stu432 8y ago
    Not even close.
- nakedrobot2 8y ago
  > We went down the rabbit hole a very long time ago, why is it only now that people are starting to realise what it means? Because Trump won, and we're still trying to figure out who to blame.
bogomipz 8y ago
>“In general we collect data on people who are not signed up for Facebook for security purposes,” Zuckerberg said Wednesday in a hearing about the social network’s privacy practices in Washington before the House Energy and Commerce Committee." It was extremely unfortunate that he wasn't subsequently asked exactly how collecting data on non-FB users related to security. It's baffling how that could go unasked. Of course this was just another "prepared" response, but can anyone say how the rest of this contrived response goes? How does keeping data on non-FB users relate to security?
- andyv 8y ago
  They want to make sure their profiles are real people, not bots. A profile that refers to shadow users is more credible. The security is for their advertising clients, who want to show ads to real people, not bots.
  - bogomipz 8y ago
    I'm not following. A shadow profile is for a non-FB user. How does that benefit their advertising clients who are buying access to FB users?
nickthemagicman 8y ago
Is this weird to anyone? Why is Facebook getting all the heat? Google, Apple, everyone does it..
- sli 8y ago
  I think this was posted not because it's news to anyone, but because up until yesterday, Zuck was denying that it was happening. https://techcrunch.com/2018/04/11/facebook-shadow-profiles-hearing-lujan-zuckerberg/ https://techcrunch.com/2018/04/11/facebook-shadow-profiles-h...

32 points by mnmlsm 8y ago

So do literally millions of other companies. Your face (and mine) are stored for weeks/months, maybe even years, on CCTV systems globally without consent, documenting where you've been, what you've done, who you're with etc. Your phone does the same. We went down the rabbit hole a very long time ago, why is it only now that people are starting to realise what it means?

cJ0th 8y ago
> We went down the rabbit hole a very long time ago, why is it only now that people are starting to realise what it means? I am not surprised at all. The mainstream moves very, very slowly. You see the same with musical genres. EDM, for instance, took 20-30 years to go mainstream in the US and it is still a relatively young market.
simion314 8y ago
If I have a face and a city how much effort and time it takes to visit all places with cameras, search all the tapes and find that face? With a website like facebook that can track a browser on most webpages , having to find a person internet history would be just a SQL query away and the results would be back in a few milliseconds, so IMO FB and Google tracking are very different then what you described. Also because of convenience people ignored this until the US election issue, that pushed a real problem in the spotlight and regular people now get amazed but what Fb can do.
sunir 8y ago
Trump happened. That is why. Real world consequence. Love or hate Trump, the election is what motivated these inquiries. Just listen to the hearings internationally.
rando444 8y ago
You're dismissing the whole argument based on some hipster notion of noticing a trend early?
- scottmf 8y ago
  Pretty common on HN lately.
- stu432 8y ago
  Not even close.
nakedrobot2 8y ago
> We went down the rabbit hole a very long time ago, why is it only now that people are starting to realise what it means? Because Trump won, and we're still trying to figure out who to blame.

bogomipz 8y ago

>“In general we collect data on people who are not signed up for Facebook for security purposes,” Zuckerberg said Wednesday in a hearing about the social network’s privacy practices in Washington before the House Energy and Commerce Committee." It was extremely unfortunate that he wasn't subsequently asked exactly how collecting data on non-FB users related to security. It's baffling how that could go unasked. Of course this was just another "prepared" response, but can anyone say how the rest of this contrived response goes? How does keeping data on non-FB users relate to security?

andyv 8y ago
They want to make sure their profiles are real people, not bots. A profile that refers to shadow users is more credible. The security is for their advertising clients, who want to show ads to real people, not bots.
- bogomipz 8y ago
  I'm not following. A shadow profile is for a non-FB user. How does that benefit their advertising clients who are buying access to FB users?

nickthemagicman 8y ago

Is this weird to anyone? Why is Facebook getting all the heat? Google, Apple, everyone does it..

sli 8y ago
I think this was posted not because it's news to anyone, but because up until yesterday, Zuck was denying that it was happening. https://techcrunch.com/2018/04/11/facebook-shadow-profiles-hearing-lujan-zuckerberg/ https://techcrunch.com/2018/04/11/facebook-shadow-profiles-h...