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> "But the facts are clear: we've never sold people's data." What

by _salmon 8y ago

5trokerac3 8y ago
It's 100% true. They never sold people's data. They sold access to people's data. Slimy, corporate lawyerese 101.
- casefields 8y ago
  Just because you didn’t kill someone yourself, doesn’t mean you can’t be charged and convicted of murder: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felony_murder_rule https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felony_murder_rule
- PavlovsCat 8y ago
  Wow, that seems crazy even for lawyerese.. I mean, if I have an "all you can eat" restaurant, do I sell food, or do I just sell access to food? What about a buffet where a person can fill their plate once, but can pick among many things?
  - patejam 8y ago
    Not really. It's like buying a space on the wall to advertise inside the all you can eat restaurant. The restaurant isn't telling you who goes into the restaurant. They're just selling you access to those people through that ad. ----- The other problem, the Cambridge Analytica problem, is a bit different. It's like saying that the restaurant requires you to tell them your name and other personal information in order to eat at the restaurant. Maybe it's to send flyers or deals, doesn't matter. The problem happens when the restaurant also asks for your friends personal information, and you give it to them without asking your friends. That's basically what Facebook is under fire about. Allowing your friends to very easily give your information out without you knowing.
    - PavlovsCat 8y ago
      I think "giving information about friends" is kind of a stretch. Facebook has that information. Clicking something so Facebook does something with it isn't quite the same as, say, entering all that info into a text field. Maybe it is legally, but morally, from a commen sense perspective, FB gives the info out. Allowing API access is giving info. We all know how servers work. You can't "take" something, it always gets sent.
      - patejam 8y ago
        That's why I said "very easily". I'm not saying it's necessarily the friend's fault, but the trigger is one of your friends clicking "Accept" on one of these apps. I'm also just clarifying what happened, because people don't seem to understand how any of it works. "Facebook sells your data" is very far from reality, and yet the reality can be considered just as bad.
        PavlovsCat 8y ago
        > "Facebook sells your data" is very far from reality, and yet the reality can be considered just as bad. Yeah, but those are the cases where it's especially important to not mix things up, so thanks for elaborating!
ryacko 8y ago
I’m curious, based on facebook ads, if they buy access to people’s data.
drewblaisdell 8y ago
You’d think that the fact that it is a commonly held belief that FB literally sold users’ data on Hacker News might cause some of us to reconsider our worldview with regards to FB and its practices. You’d think.

> "But the facts are clear: we've never sold people's data." What

5trokerac3 8y ago

It's 100% true. They never sold people's data. They sold access to people's data. Slimy, corporate lawyerese 101.

casefields 8y ago
Just because you didn’t kill someone yourself, doesn’t mean you can’t be charged and convicted of murder: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felony_murder_rule https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felony_murder_rule
PavlovsCat 8y ago
Wow, that seems crazy even for lawyerese.. I mean, if I have an "all you can eat" restaurant, do I sell food, or do I just sell access to food? What about a buffet where a person can fill their plate once, but can pick among many things?
- patejam 8y ago
  Not really. It's like buying a space on the wall to advertise inside the all you can eat restaurant. The restaurant isn't telling you who goes into the restaurant. They're just selling you access to those people through that ad. ----- The other problem, the Cambridge Analytica problem, is a bit different. It's like saying that the restaurant requires you to tell them your name and other personal information in order to eat at the restaurant. Maybe it's to send flyers or deals, doesn't matter. The problem happens when the restaurant also asks for your friends personal information, and you give it to them without asking your friends. That's basically what Facebook is under fire about. Allowing your friends to very easily give your information out without you knowing.
  - PavlovsCat 8y ago
    I think "giving information about friends" is kind of a stretch. Facebook has that information. Clicking something so Facebook does something with it isn't quite the same as, say, entering all that info into a text field. Maybe it is legally, but morally, from a commen sense perspective, FB gives the info out. Allowing API access is giving info. We all know how servers work. You can't "take" something, it always gets sent.
    - patejam 8y ago
      That's why I said "very easily". I'm not saying it's necessarily the friend's fault, but the trigger is one of your friends clicking "Accept" on one of these apps. I'm also just clarifying what happened, because people don't seem to understand how any of it works. "Facebook sells your data" is very far from reality, and yet the reality can be considered just as bad.
      - PavlovsCat 8y ago
        > "Facebook sells your data" is very far from reality, and yet the reality can be considered just as bad. Yeah, but those are the cases where it's especially important to not mix things up, so thanks for elaborating!

ryacko 8y ago

I’m curious, based on facebook ads, if they buy access to people’s data.

drewblaisdell 8y ago

You’d think that the fact that it is a commonly held belief that FB literally sold users’ data on Hacker News might cause some of us to reconsider our worldview with regards to FB and its practices. You’d think.