5 ms·

Here we go again... it feel like there's no way to break out of this cycle where companies routinely go unpunished for bad behavior. Facebook, Equifax, Wells Fa

Here we go again... it feel like there's no way to break out of this cycle where companies routinely go unpunished for bad behavior. Facebook, Equifax, Wells Fargo...

randycupertino 8y ago
"We're sorry!" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15HTd4Um1m4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15HTd4Um1m4
- sbr464 8y ago
  This
obelix_ 8y ago
China just executes the CEO. Mindless ambition. Mindless consequences.
- saagarjha 8y ago
  I hope you're not trying to say that's a better solution.
  - obelix_ 8y ago
    It probably is, given the type of characters proped up by the attention economy. China hasn't produced a Trump yet. Meanwhile the US has laid the foundation with the attention economy (that props up people with the largest view/retweet/like count) to produce an entire crop of Trump type "leaders" in every sphere of life from the corporate world, to the army, to academia, to the media etc etc. The ground has been prepared and the seeds have been planted. Look around. What is going to prevent their rise? Regulators? Zuckerberg?
- mamon 8y ago
  So China has redefined CEO to mean: "Chief Executable Officer" :)
  - obelix_ 8y ago
    That is pretty good :) I can't find it right now, but some very similar phrase was used after the Deep Water Horizon explosion and oil spill, which caused the BP CEO to get fired, to describe the role of the leader in such situations.
Iv 8y ago
The problem is that "bad behavior" is a concept in flux. Facebook never hid what their business model was: sell your personal data to third parties. Only a few privacy activists were concerned. Others reactions went from "meh" to "it's actually smart!" (Remember when Obama's campaign was praised for its innovative approach profiling voters?). It took Cambridge Analytica for people to realize that they did not want this. I have been paranoid about Facebook since day one, but there is something I won't do: blame them for coming up with a business model that is legal and did not seem to concern users ethically either. The hearings of Zuckberg have been shameful. As much as I love seeing him on the grill, I have more contempt for the lawmakers in front of him, who actually enabled Facebook to become such a monster by either facilitating or simply not understanding what it was doing. Facebook is a problem, but the ones responsible for this situation are not to be found within the company.
- wu-ikkyu 8y ago
  >I have more contempt for the lawmakers in front of him, who actually enabled Facebook to become such a monster by either facilitating or simply not understanding what it was doing. Does your contempt extend to the billions of non-technical minded users who also did not understand what FB was doing?
  - Iv 8y ago
    Not really. The notion that the non-technical should understand EULAS dozens of pages long is a total fiction (that is legally binding in the US but not so much in saner countries). On thousands of issues that can put several things I hold dear at risk, I just trust elected officials to do the right call. It is THEIR job to understand these issues and take the correct stance. I mean, this is literally what they are paid for. I still wish that privacy had been a bigger concern to the population at large, but thanks to recent scandals, and to EU laws, this starts being the case.
    - wu-ikkyu 8y ago
      >It is THEIR job to understand these issues and take the correct stance. I mean, this is literally what they are paid for. Perhaps they are paid more by their donors to pass laws written by corporate lawyers
discordance 8y ago
Hopefully some GDPR stick will help fix this
- DSingularity 8y ago
  GDPR, the tool to prevent the disruption of Facebook from ever being economically viable! Yay. Let’s celebrate.
  - headsoup 8y ago
    The assumption there being that Facebook continues to be economically viable...
    - HelloNurse 8y ago
      Facebook disruption will be Facebook "spontaneously" ceasing operations, without replacement. I bet on a quick shutdown, possibly with extradition shenanigans, offshore funds and other drama, after a criminal investigation or a whistleblower shines a light on potential liabilities.
  - glogla 8y ago
    Stop spreading bullshit FUD.
  - PeterisP 8y ago
    If disruption of Facebook is economically viable because the new whatever-book is doing the same things to user privacy, then that's not useful anyway. It's not that important who is the largest provider, as long as the incentives are the way they are now, the largest provider will be doing harmful things. We need to establish appropriate incentives and boundaries (of which GDPR isn't perfect but certainly in the right direction) so that no matter if it's Facebook or someone else, their behavior is one that we can live with.

Here we go again... it feel like there's no way to break out of this cycle where companies routinely go unpunished for bad behavior. Facebook, Equifax, Wells Fargo...

randycupertino 8y ago

"We're sorry!" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15HTd4Um1m4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15HTd4Um1m4

sbr464 8y ago
This

obelix_ 8y ago

China just executes the CEO. Mindless ambition. Mindless consequences.

saagarjha 8y ago
I hope you're not trying to say that's a better solution.
- obelix_ 8y ago
  It probably is, given the type of characters proped up by the attention economy. China hasn't produced a Trump yet. Meanwhile the US has laid the foundation with the attention economy (that props up people with the largest view/retweet/like count) to produce an entire crop of Trump type "leaders" in every sphere of life from the corporate world, to the army, to academia, to the media etc etc. The ground has been prepared and the seeds have been planted. Look around. What is going to prevent their rise? Regulators? Zuckerberg?
mamon 8y ago
So China has redefined CEO to mean: "Chief Executable Officer" :)
- obelix_ 8y ago
  That is pretty good :) I can't find it right now, but some very similar phrase was used after the Deep Water Horizon explosion and oil spill, which caused the BP CEO to get fired, to describe the role of the leader in such situations.

Iv 8y ago

The problem is that "bad behavior" is a concept in flux. Facebook never hid what their business model was: sell your personal data to third parties. Only a few privacy activists were concerned. Others reactions went from "meh" to "it's actually smart!" (Remember when Obama's campaign was praised for its innovative approach profiling voters?). It took Cambridge Analytica for people to realize that they did not want this. I have been paranoid about Facebook since day one, but there is something I won't do: blame them for coming up with a business model that is legal and did not seem to concern users ethically either. The hearings of Zuckberg have been shameful. As much as I love seeing him on the grill, I have more contempt for the lawmakers in front of him, who actually enabled Facebook to become such a monster by either facilitating or simply not understanding what it was doing. Facebook is a problem, but the ones responsible for this situation are not to be found within the company.

wu-ikkyu 8y ago
>I have more contempt for the lawmakers in front of him, who actually enabled Facebook to become such a monster by either facilitating or simply not understanding what it was doing. Does your contempt extend to the billions of non-technical minded users who also did not understand what FB was doing?
- Iv 8y ago
  Not really. The notion that the non-technical should understand EULAS dozens of pages long is a total fiction (that is legally binding in the US but not so much in saner countries). On thousands of issues that can put several things I hold dear at risk, I just trust elected officials to do the right call. It is THEIR job to understand these issues and take the correct stance. I mean, this is literally what they are paid for. I still wish that privacy had been a bigger concern to the population at large, but thanks to recent scandals, and to EU laws, this starts being the case.
  - wu-ikkyu 8y ago
    >It is THEIR job to understand these issues and take the correct stance. I mean, this is literally what they are paid for. Perhaps they are paid more by their donors to pass laws written by corporate lawyers

discordance 8y ago

Hopefully some GDPR stick will help fix this

DSingularity 8y ago
GDPR, the tool to prevent the disruption of Facebook from ever being economically viable! Yay. Let’s celebrate.
- headsoup 8y ago
  The assumption there being that Facebook continues to be economically viable...
  - HelloNurse 8y ago
    Facebook disruption will be Facebook "spontaneously" ceasing operations, without replacement. I bet on a quick shutdown, possibly with extradition shenanigans, offshore funds and other drama, after a criminal investigation or a whistleblower shines a light on potential liabilities.
- glogla 8y ago
  Stop spreading bullshit FUD.
- PeterisP 8y ago
  If disruption of Facebook is economically viable because the new whatever-book is doing the same things to user privacy, then that's not useful anyway. It's not that important who is the largest provider, as long as the incentives are the way they are now, the largest provider will be doing harmful things. We need to establish appropriate incentives and boundaries (of which GDPR isn't perfect but certainly in the right direction) so that no matter if it's Facebook or someone else, their behavior is one that we can live with.