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Facebook is a global database of political dissidents, queer persons, apostates, and other categories of people whose physical safety is put in peril when their

Facebook is a global database of political dissidents, queer persons, apostates, and other categories of people whose physical safety is put in peril when their personal lives are leaked. Facebook surely must be heavily fined and regulated for their misbehavior, because to fail to keep Facebook data safe is to put lives at risk.

mav3rick 8y ago
These people have an option to not use Facebook.
- bluetidepro 8y ago
  You have an option not to use a ton of industries that are still heavily fined and regulated for their misbehavior. That logic doesn't matter in this context.
- abrahamepton 8y ago
  You never know when, one day, you'll find yourself in a similar group of targeted people based on some otherwise-mundane characteristic. And by then it'll be too late for you to "not use Facebook".
- denlekke 8y ago
  they track and keep data on non-users as well though
bad_user 8y ago
Going to play the devil’s advocate. If you fine Facebook, you have to fine the small companies too, and even individual developers developing OSS, since the law should apply to everyone equally. Of course the fines have to be proportional to the number of affected users. So would you like a fine for your bugs? And note that contrary to other professions, software development doesn’t have generally agreed recipes for building bug-free software, so was that really negligence? Was it malpractice? Being fined for a contribution to an OSS project would be terrible, wouldn’t it? And no, the size of the company doesn’t and shouldn’t matter in the eyes of the law, only the impact. Also people uploading stuff on the Internet should really expect a best effort privacy. If you expect secrecy, then uploading shit on a platform meant for sharing is pretty dumb. Note that I will blame Facebook for willful privacy violations. And I hope to see them suffer under GDPR. But a bug doesn’t fall in the same category.
- spiderPig 8y ago
  Hoarding data is different from OSS. We’re talking about infra providers. IMO, they should be regulated like public utility companies.
  - bad_user 8y ago
    Really, so does Mastodon qualify? https://joinmastodon.org/ https://joinmastodon.org/ How about a blog commenting system that leaks emails due to a bug, something like Isso: https://posativ.org/isso/ https://posativ.org/isso/ Basically I don't like these arguments because it's about the company's size. Facebook should be punished because they are big, have a lot of data and we don't like them, right? No matter how you look at it, it's a Pandora's box.
    - Apocryphon 8y ago
      Maybe there should be a general regulatory framework which all data-storing entities should be subjected to, with stiff penalties for the largest violators, as they can shoulder the burden of the biggest burdens. Is this not how it works for every other industry? Up until the 2008 bank bailouts, that is.
      - bad_user 8y ago
        That does not answer my questions. So what should the penalty be for a 14 year old that contributes a bug into a project like Mastodon or OpenSSH or whatever, which then leaks the data of tens of millions of people? All this would do is to have a chilling effect on the industry such that only big companies like Facebook will be able to develop critical software, due to being able to afford it. And yes, this happens in all the industries you're talking about. And it did not stop the market from crashing, it did not stop malpractice. Also this regulation will probably not stop Facebook from lawfully violating privacy.
        Apocryphon 8y ago
        Maybe there should be a chilling effect on the industry, and the drive to consume ever more personal data is harmful to society and wrong.
TaylorAlexander 8y ago
I don’t get it. If we agree it sucks, why not just stop using it? Why do you want to use something made by people who don’t care about you?
- EForEndeavour 8y ago
  The criticism of OP implies nothing about whether they personally use Facebook. The point is that a large fraction of people do use it, and leaking "private" photos of some people can endanger them. That said, you and I can agree that FB sucks, and delete our accounts. It is up to other people whether they follow suit.
dingoegret 8y ago
Apostates really? There is no apostate holocaust. The fuss made for "exmuslims" is just victim aggrandization meant to cast aspersions on Muslim countries. It's not a god damn "category".

mav3rick 8y ago

These people have an option to not use Facebook.

bluetidepro 8y ago
You have an option not to use a ton of industries that are still heavily fined and regulated for their misbehavior. That logic doesn't matter in this context.
abrahamepton 8y ago
You never know when, one day, you'll find yourself in a similar group of targeted people based on some otherwise-mundane characteristic. And by then it'll be too late for you to "not use Facebook".
denlekke 8y ago
they track and keep data on non-users as well though

bad_user 8y ago

Going to play the devil’s advocate. If you fine Facebook, you have to fine the small companies too, and even individual developers developing OSS, since the law should apply to everyone equally. Of course the fines have to be proportional to the number of affected users. So would you like a fine for your bugs? And note that contrary to other professions, software development doesn’t have generally agreed recipes for building bug-free software, so was that really negligence? Was it malpractice? Being fined for a contribution to an OSS project would be terrible, wouldn’t it? And no, the size of the company doesn’t and shouldn’t matter in the eyes of the law, only the impact. Also people uploading stuff on the Internet should really expect a best effort privacy. If you expect secrecy, then uploading shit on a platform meant for sharing is pretty dumb. Note that I will blame Facebook for willful privacy violations. And I hope to see them suffer under GDPR. But a bug doesn’t fall in the same category.

spiderPig 8y ago
Hoarding data is different from OSS. We’re talking about infra providers. IMO, they should be regulated like public utility companies.
- bad_user 8y ago
  Really, so does Mastodon qualify? https://joinmastodon.org/ https://joinmastodon.org/ How about a blog commenting system that leaks emails due to a bug, something like Isso: https://posativ.org/isso/ https://posativ.org/isso/ Basically I don't like these arguments because it's about the company's size. Facebook should be punished because they are big, have a lot of data and we don't like them, right? No matter how you look at it, it's a Pandora's box.
  - Apocryphon 8y ago
    Maybe there should be a general regulatory framework which all data-storing entities should be subjected to, with stiff penalties for the largest violators, as they can shoulder the burden of the biggest burdens. Is this not how it works for every other industry? Up until the 2008 bank bailouts, that is.
    - bad_user 8y ago
      That does not answer my questions. So what should the penalty be for a 14 year old that contributes a bug into a project like Mastodon or OpenSSH or whatever, which then leaks the data of tens of millions of people? All this would do is to have a chilling effect on the industry such that only big companies like Facebook will be able to develop critical software, due to being able to afford it. And yes, this happens in all the industries you're talking about. And it did not stop the market from crashing, it did not stop malpractice. Also this regulation will probably not stop Facebook from lawfully violating privacy.
      - Apocryphon 8y ago
        Maybe there should be a chilling effect on the industry, and the drive to consume ever more personal data is harmful to society and wrong.

TaylorAlexander 8y ago

I don’t get it. If we agree it sucks, why not just stop using it? Why do you want to use something made by people who don’t care about you?

EForEndeavour 8y ago
The criticism of OP implies nothing about whether they personally use Facebook. The point is that a large fraction of people do use it, and leaking "private" photos of some people can endanger them. That said, you and I can agree that FB sucks, and delete our accounts. It is up to other people whether they follow suit.

dingoegret 8y ago

Apostates really? There is no apostate holocaust. The fuss made for "exmuslims" is just victim aggrandization meant to cast aspersions on Muslim countries. It's not a god damn "category".