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> I'm no Facebook fan I like how we have to preface our opinions with this now. I think if you're on HN it's a given at this point. I would agree with you tha

by nvoid 6y ago

> I'm no Facebook fan I like how we have to preface our opinions with this now. I think if you're on HN it's a given at this point. I would agree with you that there are a lot of stupid people on the site and they will still find away to do something stupid. But I despise harsh regulation and I don't think that's necessarily the solution. However, when the stakes are so high (elections) I think there is something to be said for forcing Facebook to be accountable. Akin to a parent being responsible for a child, you shouldn't let them get into a situation where they can be that badly behaved.

Nasrudith 6y ago
The stakes change nothing about who is actually responsible. If a terrorist steals your car and uses it for an attack does that mean it is right to hold you accountable because the matter is so serious? Facebook is not your parent. That logic, that others need to be "held accountable" and that voters are children who cannot be trusted to make up their own minds is far more dangerous to democracy than the Cambridge Analytica ratfucking.
- nvoid 6y ago
  Sorry, should have made it clearer that Cambridge Analytica are the child in my analogy, but I think your point still stands. I don't think voters are children and I agree with you that that is dangerous thinking, but I do think that showing advertisements based off of data they didn't know they gave in order to change their vote is not the way to allow them to make their own decisions.
- hshshs2 6y ago
  It’s not that voters can’t be trusted, they’re simply outgunned. To keep up everyone would need a personal lawyer reading every TOS they encounter. It’s insurmountable. Facebook has thousands of lawyers and engineers acting against your best interest when it comes to data privacy because they profit off of it. Very few people actually understand what they’re giving up and that’s by design. Hell there are lots of people on HN that don’t seem to understand the extent of control facebook exercises over you and your friends’ data, and I wouldn’t be surprised if that extended to some of the people actually building this stuff.

by nvoid 6y ago

Nasrudith 6y ago

The stakes change nothing about who is actually responsible. If a terrorist steals your car and uses it for an attack does that mean it is right to hold you accountable because the matter is so serious? Facebook is not your parent. That logic, that others need to be "held accountable" and that voters are children who cannot be trusted to make up their own minds is far more dangerous to democracy than the Cambridge Analytica ratfucking.

nvoid 6y ago
Sorry, should have made it clearer that Cambridge Analytica are the child in my analogy, but I think your point still stands. I don't think voters are children and I agree with you that that is dangerous thinking, but I do think that showing advertisements based off of data they didn't know they gave in order to change their vote is not the way to allow them to make their own decisions.
hshshs2 6y ago
It’s not that voters can’t be trusted, they’re simply outgunned. To keep up everyone would need a personal lawyer reading every TOS they encounter. It’s insurmountable. Facebook has thousands of lawyers and engineers acting against your best interest when it comes to data privacy because they profit off of it. Very few people actually understand what they’re giving up and that’s by design. Hell there are lots of people on HN that don’t seem to understand the extent of control facebook exercises over you and your friends’ data, and I wouldn’t be surprised if that extended to some of the people actually building this stuff.