5 ms·

The cynic in me keeps wondering whether this is a genuine attempt at getting some transparency points or FB wants to more precisely analyze how many people actu

The cynic in me keeps wondering whether this is a genuine attempt at getting some transparency points or FB wants to more precisely analyze how many people actually care...

devilmoon 9y ago
It is probably going to be used as an experiment internally, just how the rainbow profile pic filter was used to analyse behavioural patterns in their users
- huseyinkeles 9y ago
  care to elaborate more?
  - fforflo 9y ago
    https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/06/were-all-those-rainbow-profile-photos-another-facebook-experiment/397088/ https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/06/were-...
stordoff 9y ago
Honestly, that's the only reason I'm checking. Even if it was shared, there's not a lot I can do about it now, but I'm hoping it sends the signal that people do care in general.
panarky 9y ago
This only applies to the leak of 84 million profiles to Cambridge Analytica. This leak was less than 4% of a much larger leak that's not getting much attention. Why doesn't Facebook alert users if their profile was leaked to "malicious actors" who collected profiles of "most of its 2 billion users worldwide". https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2018/04/04/facebook-said-the-personal-data-of-most-its-2-billion-users-has-been-collected-and-shared-with-outsiders/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2018/04/04...
- StavrosK 9y ago
  My question is, why do people think it's okay if Facebook has that data, but not Cambridge Analytica? Why does Facebook get a pass storing all the calls you made and all the profiles and webpages you looked at?
  - laythea 9y ago
    I agree with your premise, but it is a bit different though. The user directly engages with Facebook (off course, having read terms and conditions etc), but not any of the companies that used to get data. This level of indirection is what is causing the outrage here. There is a distinction, although I would give none of them my data.
    - StavrosK 9y ago
      Yes, that's one consideration, but Facebook also has much more data on you than you gave informed consent for. I guess people just haven't realized yet.
      - laythea 9y ago
        This got me thinking whether all my comments on HN are being used by someone/something to build a profile of me? Maybe I should read the small print...
- aylmao 9y ago
  I think the reason this isn't being reported much on is because it wasn't a leak. It sounds like it was just a scrape of data from the site. Scraping websites to collect public information is nothing new. Malicious actors do it all the time, as do non-malicious actors too. Google literally does it. EDIT: I'm all for facebook messed up and we need more guarantees but lets be objective though. The CA issue is an issue, this 2 billion thing is just a web-crawler.
  - panarky 9y ago

The cynic in me keeps wondering whether this is a genuine attempt at getting some transparency points or FB wants to more precisely analyze how many people actually care...

devilmoon 9y ago

It is probably going to be used as an experiment internally, just how the rainbow profile pic filter was used to analyse behavioural patterns in their users

huseyinkeles 9y ago
care to elaborate more?
- fforflo 9y ago
  https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/06/were-all-those-rainbow-profile-photos-another-facebook-experiment/397088/ https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/06/were-...

stordoff 9y ago

Honestly, that's the only reason I'm checking. Even if it was shared, there's not a lot I can do about it now, but I'm hoping it sends the signal that people do care in general.

panarky 9y ago

This only applies to the leak of 84 million profiles to Cambridge Analytica. This leak was less than 4% of a much larger leak that's not getting much attention. Why doesn't Facebook alert users if their profile was leaked to "malicious actors" who collected profiles of "most of its 2 billion users worldwide". https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2018/04/04/facebook-said-the-personal-data-of-most-its-2-billion-users-has-been-collected-and-shared-with-outsiders/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2018/04/04...

StavrosK 9y ago
My question is, why do people think it's okay if Facebook has that data, but not Cambridge Analytica? Why does Facebook get a pass storing all the calls you made and all the profiles and webpages you looked at?
- laythea 9y ago
  I agree with your premise, but it is a bit different though. The user directly engages with Facebook (off course, having read terms and conditions etc), but not any of the companies that used to get data. This level of indirection is what is causing the outrage here. There is a distinction, although I would give none of them my data.
  - StavrosK 9y ago
    Yes, that's one consideration, but Facebook also has much more data on you than you gave informed consent for. I guess people just haven't realized yet.
    - laythea 9y ago
      This got me thinking whether all my comments on HN are being used by someone/something to build a profile of me? Maybe I should read the small print...
aylmao 9y ago
I think the reason this isn't being reported much on is because it wasn't a leak. It sounds like it was just a scrape of data from the site. Scraping websites to collect public information is nothing new. Malicious actors do it all the time, as do non-malicious actors too. Google literally does it. EDIT: I'm all for facebook messed up and we need more guarantees but lets be objective though. The CA issue is an issue, this 2 billion thing is just a web-crawler.
- panarky 9y ago