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Im not sure facebook would do the right thing if users paid for it. I suspect they would just keep on doing their data harvesting to increment their revenue. F

by ufo 9y ago

Im not sure facebook would do the right thing if users paid for it. I suspect they would just keep on doing their data harvesting to increment their revenue. For example, in the early days of cable TV it had very few ads but nowadays it is infested with ads and product placement. I feel the only way out here is legislation.

overcast 9y ago
Honestly, I don't believe any company would "do the right thing". Companies exist to make money, as much as they possibly can. They might start off with good intentions, but inevitably, they will start looking for alternate ways of revenue. Sure, maybe some not for profit, good intention, fairly tale business might pop up. But they will in NO way get to billions of users, and will be dwarfed by the free alternatives.
- ASalazarMX 9y ago
  > Honestly, I don't believe any company would "do the right thing". Companies exist to make money, as much as they possibly can. Don't forget that companies are a tool for people to make money, It they lack ethics it's because a) the people who run them lack ethics, or b) they are too removed from the operation it only means a quarterly stream of money. I think granting legal personhood to conceptual entities was one of the biggest mistakes of capitalism.
  - ethbro 9y ago
    Sometimes it simply means it's the globally winning move. Two hypotheticals. 1) Users pay Facebook a monthly fee to use the platform (enough to fund it profitably, so say $25/month) 2) Users pay Facebook a monthly fee AND Facebook markets their information (if not through direct advertising, then other methods) If the fee is the same, and there's no fundamental reason it shouldn't be, Facebook is under a fiduciary duty to always choose (2). The only path to not monetizing users is Apple-esque "Make so much money you can forgo profit in service to branding that the market forgives you". And I don't see Facebook ever commanding those kinds of margins. Absolutely agreed on corporate personhood. Teddy Roosevelt's biography and the 1850 - 1920 period is instructive, as you see what it really takes to claw back control from corporations (aka "combinations" at the time).

by ufo 9y ago

overcast 9y ago

Honestly, I don't believe any company would "do the right thing". Companies exist to make money, as much as they possibly can. They might start off with good intentions, but inevitably, they will start looking for alternate ways of revenue. Sure, maybe some not for profit, good intention, fairly tale business might pop up. But they will in NO way get to billions of users, and will be dwarfed by the free alternatives.

ASalazarMX 9y ago
> Honestly, I don't believe any company would "do the right thing". Companies exist to make money, as much as they possibly can. Don't forget that companies are a tool for people to make money, It they lack ethics it's because a) the people who run them lack ethics, or b) they are too removed from the operation it only means a quarterly stream of money. I think granting legal personhood to conceptual entities was one of the biggest mistakes of capitalism.
- ethbro 9y ago
  Sometimes it simply means it's the globally winning move. Two hypotheticals. 1) Users pay Facebook a monthly fee to use the platform (enough to fund it profitably, so say $25/month) 2) Users pay Facebook a monthly fee AND Facebook markets their information (if not through direct advertising, then other methods) If the fee is the same, and there's no fundamental reason it shouldn't be, Facebook is under a fiduciary duty to always choose (2). The only path to not monetizing users is Apple-esque "Make so much money you can forgo profit in service to branding that the market forgives you". And I don't see Facebook ever commanding those kinds of margins. Absolutely agreed on corporate personhood. Teddy Roosevelt's biography and the 1850 - 1920 period is instructive, as you see what it really takes to claw back control from corporations (aka "combinations" at the time).