4 ms·

As far as I know no company has ever tracked down dissidents and imprisoned them. I'm not saying that you should exactly trust Facebook, but I think it is disin

by esrauch 15y ago

As far as I know no company has ever tracked down dissidents and imprisoned them. I'm not saying that you should exactly trust Facebook, but I think it is disingenuous to imply that you have just as much to fear from a crooked company as you do from a crooked government.

18pfsmt 15y ago
I find this interesting because I was just reading about these incidents from the early 20th century in the US: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludlow_massacre http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludlow_massacre http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Blair_Mountain http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Blair_Mountain Both of these articles are about union struggles where the government intervened on behalf of corporations. These incidents have caused me to question how we treat various types of organisations [i.e. C-corps vs. 501(c)(3)] as they relate to society.
- esrauch 15y ago
  Thanks for the links. I do think it's relevant that a corporation that has that kind of clout with the government is something you should be just as afraid of as branches of the government themselves, but I still feel like the potential for abuse by Facebook and the Chinese government is not even close.
  - 18pfsmt 15y ago
    I agree with you completely wrt China/FB. However, given your comment's assertion, I thought you might find the stories of those incidents interesting as I did.
enjalot 15y ago
My point was actually that I fear any corrupt person having access to the kind of data that FB or Google have. If I am that person's target, for any reason (political dissent, competition, just cuz) I am way more screwed. It doesn't have to be a company or a government, it can be a criminal organization or just a crazy individual. I don't think I was being disingenuous, my point is about how dangerous and powerful the data these companies have is. They probably have more ability to identify and locate an individual than any of the 3 letter agencies. My other point was that the article has a serious xenophobic agenda, something that probably increases readership but is bad for the world.

by esrauch 15y ago

18pfsmt 15y ago

I find this interesting because I was just reading about these incidents from the early 20th century in the US: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludlow_massacre http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludlow_massacre http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Blair_Mountain http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Blair_Mountain Both of these articles are about union struggles where the government intervened on behalf of corporations. These incidents have caused me to question how we treat various types of organisations [i.e. C-corps vs. 501(c)(3)] as they relate to society.

esrauch 15y ago
Thanks for the links. I do think it's relevant that a corporation that has that kind of clout with the government is something you should be just as afraid of as branches of the government themselves, but I still feel like the potential for abuse by Facebook and the Chinese government is not even close.
- 18pfsmt 15y ago
  I agree with you completely wrt China/FB. However, given your comment's assertion, I thought you might find the stories of those incidents interesting as I did.

enjalot 15y ago

My point was actually that I fear any corrupt person having access to the kind of data that FB or Google have. If I am that person's target, for any reason (political dissent, competition, just cuz) I am way more screwed. It doesn't have to be a company or a government, it can be a criminal organization or just a crazy individual. I don't think I was being disingenuous, my point is about how dangerous and powerful the data these companies have is. They probably have more ability to identify and locate an individual than any of the 3 letter agencies. My other point was that the article has a serious xenophobic agenda, something that probably increases readership but is bad for the world.