5 ms·

If this was the case, they wouldn't have claimed it was a bug. Besides, big tech companies have lost the benefit of the doubt.

iRomain 6y ago
> Besides, big tech companies have lost the benefit of the doubt. This is so spot on and pretty much sums up everything that's going on at the moment.
- mtnGoat 6y ago
  For good reason though, a lot of big tech kind of burned their trust wholesale to increase valuation.
bagacrap 6y ago
Fb* has lost benefit of the doubt. I don't understand why people read yet another story about FB's bad behavior somehow conclude all of big tech are bad guys. Is it really so hard to keep them straight?
- reaperducer 6y ago
  I don't understand why people read yet another story about FB's bad behavior somehow conclude all of big tech are bad guys. For the same reason that people believe all politicians are evil, and the all lawyers kick puppies into a woodchipper for fun. It's "otherism." Or to put it in gambling terms: Playing the odds.
  - bostik 6y ago
    It's the 95-5 rule. 95% of a given population ruin the reputation of the remaining 5%.
    - daerogami 6y ago
      That sounds backwards... wouldn't it be 5% ruins the reputation of the remaining 95%?
      - danudey 6y ago
        You would think so, but I think the general consensus is that every SV tech company will do evil in a heartbeat if it will improve adoption, retention, or any other KPI, making privacy-respecting companies the exception, not the rule.
- maxmamis 6y ago
  Incentives. FB behaves like this because it's profitable for them to do so. Do you expect this sort of behavior is somehow not profitable for other companies of their scale?
- bearcobra 6y ago
  I mean, there are plenty of stories about Google, Amazon, Apple behaving in ways that could lead someone to that conclusion. Microsoft has the best reputation to me, but I'm young enough that the EEE days don't hold much resonance.
- teawrecks 6y ago
  Because only one of these companies needs to make a mistake before they all should learn from it. It would be like watching every construction company make the same egregious safety error one after the other. The first one to make the mistake is not as guilty as the 10th company to make the mistake after having just watched the previous 9.
SpicyLemonZest 6y ago
It's quite common to characterize intended features which cause unintended problems as "bugs".
- EmilioMartinez 6y ago
  This. It's a handwavy familiar term (without defending its usage). Remember that nowadays people call soundless videos "GIFs", browsers curtail web adresses, and companies report leak passwords as being encrypted when they were actually hashed.
TrainedMonkey 6y ago
This could be a disconnect between engineers who wanted to make a smooth experience on all devices and PR manager who does not want anything that could be construed as unethical behavior. IMO if this does affect performance it should probably be an option.
higerordermap 6y ago
Tangentially related. Big tech (FB, Google etc..) used to be favourite workplaces for programmers. Now what are the exciting workspaces for engineers considering big tech is doing lot of unethical things?
- jtsiskin 6y ago
  They are still the exciting workplaces. If you are passionate about privacy, I believe one of the best things you could do in practice is is join a big tech co and work on E2E encryption, security, privacy controls, homomorphic encryption, etc. Change is easier from within
- haburka 6y ago
  Everyone will have a different experience - it’s difficult to fathom the scale of how much work is being done at these companies from the outside. Consumers often have the mistaken assumption that they know what a large tech company is basically doing. In reality, there are thousands of projects, most of which you’ll never hear about. In my experience people are more affected by their manager and working group than the company clashing with their ideals.

iRomain 6y ago

> Besides, big tech companies have lost the benefit of the doubt. This is so spot on and pretty much sums up everything that's going on at the moment.

mtnGoat 6y ago
For good reason though, a lot of big tech kind of burned their trust wholesale to increase valuation.

bagacrap 6y ago

Fb* has lost benefit of the doubt. I don't understand why people read yet another story about FB's bad behavior somehow conclude all of big tech are bad guys. Is it really so hard to keep them straight?

reaperducer 6y ago
I don't understand why people read yet another story about FB's bad behavior somehow conclude all of big tech are bad guys. For the same reason that people believe all politicians are evil, and the all lawyers kick puppies into a woodchipper for fun. It's "otherism." Or to put it in gambling terms: Playing the odds.
- bostik 6y ago
  It's the 95-5 rule. 95% of a given population ruin the reputation of the remaining 5%.
  - daerogami 6y ago
    That sounds backwards... wouldn't it be 5% ruins the reputation of the remaining 95%?
    - danudey 6y ago
      You would think so, but I think the general consensus is that every SV tech company will do evil in a heartbeat if it will improve adoption, retention, or any other KPI, making privacy-respecting companies the exception, not the rule.
maxmamis 6y ago
Incentives. FB behaves like this because it's profitable for them to do so. Do you expect this sort of behavior is somehow not profitable for other companies of their scale?
bearcobra 6y ago
I mean, there are plenty of stories about Google, Amazon, Apple behaving in ways that could lead someone to that conclusion. Microsoft has the best reputation to me, but I'm young enough that the EEE days don't hold much resonance.
teawrecks 6y ago
Because only one of these companies needs to make a mistake before they all should learn from it. It would be like watching every construction company make the same egregious safety error one after the other. The first one to make the mistake is not as guilty as the 10th company to make the mistake after having just watched the previous 9.

SpicyLemonZest 6y ago

It's quite common to characterize intended features which cause unintended problems as "bugs".

EmilioMartinez 6y ago
This. It's a handwavy familiar term (without defending its usage). Remember that nowadays people call soundless videos "GIFs", browsers curtail web adresses, and companies report leak passwords as being encrypted when they were actually hashed.

TrainedMonkey 6y ago

This could be a disconnect between engineers who wanted to make a smooth experience on all devices and PR manager who does not want anything that could be construed as unethical behavior. IMO if this does affect performance it should probably be an option.

higerordermap 6y ago

Tangentially related. Big tech (FB, Google etc..) used to be favourite workplaces for programmers. Now what are the exciting workspaces for engineers considering big tech is doing lot of unethical things?

jtsiskin 6y ago
They are still the exciting workplaces. If you are passionate about privacy, I believe one of the best things you could do in practice is is join a big tech co and work on E2E encryption, security, privacy controls, homomorphic encryption, etc. Change is easier from within
haburka 6y ago
Everyone will have a different experience - it’s difficult to fathom the scale of how much work is being done at these companies from the outside. Consumers often have the mistaken assumption that they know what a large tech company is basically doing. In reality, there are thousands of projects, most of which you’ll never hear about. In my experience people are more affected by their manager and working group than the company clashing with their ideals.