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I suspect they are using different definitions of "information", "share", "separate", "Calibra", and "Facebook" than a naive person reading that sentence might

by jerf 7y ago

I suspect they are using different definitions of "information", "share", "separate", "Calibra", and "Facebook" than a naive person reading that sentence might expect. I don't mean that as pure snark; I'm dead serious. The legal definition of all those things, the definitions they can get away with using, and the definitions that a normal person would expect from reading that sentence are probably three very different things. Plus, along with general lack of confidence in Facebook keeping its mitts off of juicy data given their checkered history, I have even less confidence that the promised wall will be there going forward, and that there won't be an excited, breathless announcement in a year or two about how ecstatic they are to bring you awesome new services powered by the data they're going to get from tearing down that wall and isn't it all just so wonderful.

JumpCrisscross 7y ago
> they are using different definitions This is a PR statement. Facebook and Zuckerberg have straight up lied about this sort of thing before [1]. No need for complexity (they’re weaselling their words) when telling it simply (they’re lying again) will do. [1] https://www.fastcompany.com/4017734/whatsapp-breaks-promise-will-now-share-user-data-with-facebook https://www.fastcompany.com/4017734/whatsapp-breaks-promise-...
- la_barba 7y ago
  BTW, I read your link and it was the founder of WhatsApp that 'promised' it. While I wouldn't be surprised if FB made the promise and then broke it, that doesn't seem to be what happened here.
  - obmelvin 7y ago
    Call him naive but he seemed to actually believe that to be the case. Mark's desire to renege on that promise is one of the main reasons he left FB.
    - la_barba 7y ago
      Well, if I sold a chat application that was loosing hundreds of millions of dollars, for $19 billion dollars to FB.. I'd be wondering how they're ever going to recover the money. Its easy to paint one side as the villain in this.
dannyw 7y ago
> information: Personal information only, such as your full name. Does not include an ID that facebook is able to link. Does not include your transactional "records", which are not information. > kept separate: Means it is stored a separate database, however it can be connected together. > Facebook: Refers to "Facebook Inc", but not "Instagram LLC". Instagram is authorized to share information with Facebook.
stcredzero 7y ago
The legal definition of all those things, the definitions they can get away with using, and the definitions that a normal person would expect from reading that sentence are probably three very different things. This has applied to a bunch of things for years now. Have you flown on an airline? You might well have flown on an airplane operated by a different company, with that airline's branding. Who makes your car and your electronics? The details of all that have been a complex maze since the 1980's. Who makes your toothpaste, and where are all the ingredients really from? (Note, this comment is written mainly with 3rd party readers in mind.)
hinkley 7y ago
I know at some point I heard of a group that wasn't selling data about particular users but they were selling aggregated data about the users. In typical fashion they had convinced themselves that they were the good guys. I'd be shocked if Facebook weren't planning the same thing.

by jerf 7y ago

JumpCrisscross 7y ago

> they are using different definitions This is a PR statement. Facebook and Zuckerberg have straight up lied about this sort of thing before [1]. No need for complexity (they’re weaselling their words) when telling it simply (they’re lying again) will do. [1] https://www.fastcompany.com/4017734/whatsapp-breaks-promise-will-now-share-user-data-with-facebook https://www.fastcompany.com/4017734/whatsapp-breaks-promise-...

la_barba 7y ago
BTW, I read your link and it was the founder of WhatsApp that 'promised' it. While I wouldn't be surprised if FB made the promise and then broke it, that doesn't seem to be what happened here.
- obmelvin 7y ago
  Call him naive but he seemed to actually believe that to be the case. Mark's desire to renege on that promise is one of the main reasons he left FB.
  - la_barba 7y ago
    Well, if I sold a chat application that was loosing hundreds of millions of dollars, for $19 billion dollars to FB.. I'd be wondering how they're ever going to recover the money. Its easy to paint one side as the villain in this.

dannyw 7y ago

> information: Personal information only, such as your full name. Does not include an ID that facebook is able to link. Does not include your transactional "records", which are not information. > kept separate: Means it is stored a separate database, however it can be connected together. > Facebook: Refers to "Facebook Inc", but not "Instagram LLC". Instagram is authorized to share information with Facebook.

stcredzero 7y ago

The legal definition of all those things, the definitions they can get away with using, and the definitions that a normal person would expect from reading that sentence are probably three very different things. This has applied to a bunch of things for years now. Have you flown on an airline? You might well have flown on an airplane operated by a different company, with that airline's branding. Who makes your car and your electronics? The details of all that have been a complex maze since the 1980's. Who makes your toothpaste, and where are all the ingredients really from? (Note, this comment is written mainly with 3rd party readers in mind.)

hinkley 7y ago

I know at some point I heard of a group that wasn't selling data about particular users but they were selling aggregated data about the users. In typical fashion they had convinced themselves that they were the good guys. I'd be shocked if Facebook weren't planning the same thing.