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> Cambridge Analytica used the Facebook API to ask users to share data about them & their friends. Stupid users agreed to that. Not reading a 1000 page EULA do

> Cambridge Analytica used the Facebook API to ask users to share data about them & their friends. Stupid users agreed to that. Not reading a 1000 page EULA doesn't make users stupid. It makes Facebook predatory.

bzb6 6y ago
There’s no thousand page EULA. Just a screen that says “do you want to allow this app to access your profile data and your friend list” and they clicked yes.
- at-fates-hands 6y ago
  Should Cambridge Analytica then be held accountable for being dubious in what users were giving access to and what they would do with that data? Do you think if they knew the full scope of Cambridge Analytica's work they would've allowed them to access the data?
  - Nextgrid 6y ago
    Absolutely, but if I remember correctly Cambridge Analytica is no more and the law doesn't seem to be going after whoever was behind the company. > Do you think if they knew the full scope of Cambridge Analytica's work they would've allowed them to access the data? Honestly? I'm not sure - a lot of people already dismiss privacy concerns and ad tracking as "I've got nothing to hide" or "it's just ads, no big deal". Unfortunately I wouldn't be surprised if people opted in even if CA was fully transparent with their intentions. However, CA even broke Facebook's API terms of use, so at least if CA was transparent Facebook wouldn't have allowed them API access to begin with (though I'm sure they would've worked around that, with malicious apps/browser extensions or just asking for raw Facebook credentials, bypassing the API completely).
  - bzb6 6y ago
    If I tell you to go on Facebook and take screenshots of your friends’ profiles and send them to me and then I do dubious things using that information, whose fault is it? I’d split it between you and me. Facebook is not at fault at all.
lupire 6y ago
There's no 1000 page EULA to read, and FB wasn't the predator. CA asked for data and user said yes, same as if you accept a friend request with someone who gossips about you behind your back.
- hn_throwaway_99 6y ago
  This is ludicrous. So somebody friends me on Facebook, someone who I know and trust. Then that person comes along some quiz, and then in teeny text at the bottom of what looks like a standard "blah blah blah" popup is the information, carefully worded as to not be too alarmist, that that person's friends' data (i.e. me) will also be sucked up. At that point, why just stop at friends? Why not go to any transitive relationship with the argument "well, you trusted that person, so it's just like them sharing the data you already gave to them". Of course, the absurdity of that is that one person can share the whole world. I do not think this is a slippery slope argument at all, given that FB already went halfway down the slope before there was outrage.
  - londons_explore 6y ago
    The same argument could be said today about your web browser. I wrote this comment for people in this conversation to see. Yet you allowed Google Chrome access to the comment. You let your adblocker see it. You let lots of software companies scrape it. You shared the data with a wider audience than I intended. Sure, the argument doesn't hold much water on the public internet. But now consider HN was an invite-only forum, in fact an invite-only forum just like my facebook page...
    - lovecg 6y ago
      You’re making the same argument. Public comments are fair game and there’s no expectations of privacy. A private, or invite only, or a network like fb with complex privacy controls is another story entirely.
  - CivBase 6y ago
    If you told Facebook to give someone access to your personal information and they took it and handed it off to a third party, what is Facebook supposed to do about that? What can Facebook do about that? What could any website do about that? I despise Facebook, but I really don't understand this whole Cambridge Analytica thing. There doesn't appear to be an endgame for those criticizing Facebook over the ordeal. Of all the despicable things Facebook has done, why is this the one that everyone clings to?
paxys 6y ago
The OAuth consent screen is like 3 lines of text, maybe 100 pixels in length and width. There is no EULA, so not sure what you are talking about.

bzb6 6y ago

There’s no thousand page EULA. Just a screen that says “do you want to allow this app to access your profile data and your friend list” and they clicked yes.

at-fates-hands 6y ago
Should Cambridge Analytica then be held accountable for being dubious in what users were giving access to and what they would do with that data? Do you think if they knew the full scope of Cambridge Analytica's work they would've allowed them to access the data?
- Nextgrid 6y ago
  Absolutely, but if I remember correctly Cambridge Analytica is no more and the law doesn't seem to be going after whoever was behind the company. > Do you think if they knew the full scope of Cambridge Analytica's work they would've allowed them to access the data? Honestly? I'm not sure - a lot of people already dismiss privacy concerns and ad tracking as "I've got nothing to hide" or "it's just ads, no big deal". Unfortunately I wouldn't be surprised if people opted in even if CA was fully transparent with their intentions. However, CA even broke Facebook's API terms of use, so at least if CA was transparent Facebook wouldn't have allowed them API access to begin with (though I'm sure they would've worked around that, with malicious apps/browser extensions or just asking for raw Facebook credentials, bypassing the API completely).
- bzb6 6y ago
  If I tell you to go on Facebook and take screenshots of your friends’ profiles and send them to me and then I do dubious things using that information, whose fault is it? I’d split it between you and me. Facebook is not at fault at all.

lupire 6y ago

There's no 1000 page EULA to read, and FB wasn't the predator. CA asked for data and user said yes, same as if you accept a friend request with someone who gossips about you behind your back.

hn_throwaway_99 6y ago
This is ludicrous. So somebody friends me on Facebook, someone who I know and trust. Then that person comes along some quiz, and then in teeny text at the bottom of what looks like a standard "blah blah blah" popup is the information, carefully worded as to not be too alarmist, that that person's friends' data (i.e. me) will also be sucked up. At that point, why just stop at friends? Why not go to any transitive relationship with the argument "well, you trusted that person, so it's just like them sharing the data you already gave to them". Of course, the absurdity of that is that one person can share the whole world. I do not think this is a slippery slope argument at all, given that FB already went halfway down the slope before there was outrage.
- londons_explore 6y ago
  The same argument could be said today about your web browser. I wrote this comment for people in this conversation to see. Yet you allowed Google Chrome access to the comment. You let your adblocker see it. You let lots of software companies scrape it. You shared the data with a wider audience than I intended. Sure, the argument doesn't hold much water on the public internet. But now consider HN was an invite-only forum, in fact an invite-only forum just like my facebook page...
  - lovecg 6y ago
    You’re making the same argument. Public comments are fair game and there’s no expectations of privacy. A private, or invite only, or a network like fb with complex privacy controls is another story entirely.
- CivBase 6y ago
  If you told Facebook to give someone access to your personal information and they took it and handed it off to a third party, what is Facebook supposed to do about that? What can Facebook do about that? What could any website do about that? I despise Facebook, but I really don't understand this whole Cambridge Analytica thing. There doesn't appear to be an endgame for those criticizing Facebook over the ordeal. Of all the despicable things Facebook has done, why is this the one that everyone clings to?

paxys 6y ago

The OAuth consent screen is like 3 lines of text, maybe 100 pixels in length and width. There is no EULA, so not sure what you are talking about.