5 ms·

No joke: Al Franken rings alarm over Facebook, Google

21 points by daegloe 15y ago

overgard 15y ago
Franken's stance on SOPA was idiotic, but what he's saying here doesn't seem unreasonable. My concern here is that I don't trust the guy when it comes to issues technical, which I don't think he understands at all (from prior experience). I guess "ringing the bell" is one thing, but I'm pretty concerned as to whatever legislation might come from this.
- shingen 15y ago
  I wish it were just idiotic. The problem is that he's bought and paid for. This is Hollywood sponsored payback targeting Google and Facebook for their SOPA resistance.
indubitably 15y ago
Great, he's talking sense about Google & Facebook, and nonsense about SOPA.
skylan_q 15y ago
"If you don't want your search results shared with other Google sites -- if you don't want some kind of superprofile being created for you based on everything you search, every site you surf, and every video you watch on YouTube -- you will have to find a search engine that's comparable to Google. Not easy." Any alternative to google or youtube could also do this. I imagine an ideal scenario for him would include limiting google's querying share, youtube's video genres/types, and then legally forcing space for other competitors. If we allow the law to slap down Internet giants for fear of monopolization, (which has been shown to be often temporary in this industry) then we've given an inch. They'll use it as a precedent to take the whole field.
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
jaylevitt 15y ago
"If you want a free e-mail service that doesn't use your words to target ads to you, you'll have to figure out how to port years and years of Gmail messages somewhere else, which is about as easy as developing your own free e-mail service." Senator Franken: I've developed my own free e-mail service (AOL). Exporting from Google is WAY easier.
baddox 15y ago
Why would anyone be surprised that Franken would espouse a completely mainstream and widespread liberal position?
dmoy 15y ago
Wow, I voted for Franken. I guess I was being naive, but I was not expecting him to spurt nonsense that he has obviously not looked in to. I'm going to write an angry letter. Too bad it won't do anything :( Guess I should have seen this coming with his nonsense about SOPA, and his spectacularly weird line of questioning in Google & Yelp's appearance at the Senate hearing last year.
- skrebbel 15y ago
  Aren't you pulling the completely standard "omg someone said something bad about us silicon valley guys" reflex? It's in Google's and Facebook's direct financial interest to make privacy difficult for you to attain, and your senator is pointing that out. How is that a bad thing? Tech companies aren't "the good guys" by definition.
  - deleted 15y ago
    [deleted]
- jrockway 15y ago
  It is a little weird because every other major corporation also has a lot of data about you. Your landlord can come into your house and sell a list of items you own to the highest bidder. Everyone you ever owe money to you sends all your information to the credit reporting agencies. And so on, and so on. Singling out Facebook and Google is a little unfair. At least they have a privacy policy that you can opt out of. The credit bureaus? Not so much.
tensor 15y ago
You can opt out of google targeted ads: http://www.google.com/policies/privacy/ads/#toc-optout http://www.google.com/policies/privacy/ads/#toc-optout As I understand it, you can install their opt-out plugin even if you do not have a google account. It seems to me that this makes his entire argument about Google moot.
- pgeorgi 15y ago
  They still collect the data, ready for consumption by the next regime.
  - magicalist 15y ago
    "After you opt out, Google will not collect interest category information..." This is really doubleclick out-out anyway, which it didn't seem like Franken was talking about (and google isn't allowed to combine with your google profile information anyway, per the doubleclick acquisition agreement (which I assume is binding forever, even to the next regime, though I don't know for certain)).
skrebbel 15y ago
It's amazing that a SOPA supporter can be so sane when it comes to privacy. Barring some details (which, to anyone except geeks like us are details), he's perfectly right, and it's good that politicians are starting to realise that privacy matters.
- pasbesoin 15y ago
  I was going to make my own meta comment: I can no longer read anything from Franken without wondering whether he is whoring for Big Entertainment.
fleitz 15y ago
tl:dr; "It would be a real shame if someone were to 'regulate' your industry, how about I give you some protection from these regulators." Personally, I'd love it if Mr. Franken passed a bill that forbid the US government, its agents and assigns from using the data that these companies collect. While we're at it we should probably stop those companies that monitor the torrent sites from collecting that kind of information about people too.
yanw 15y ago
He got thoroughly debunked by Danny Sullivan: http://marketingland.com/debunking-senator-al-franken-on-google-the-internet-privacy-9121 http://marketingland.com/debunking-senator-al-franken-on-goo... Grandstanding and pandering is what politicians do best. Franken is no exception.
gcb 15y ago
And? is this supposed to be written by a professional journalist? Two vague quotes and no suggestion of the main point?

21 points by daegloe 15y ago

Franken's stance on SOPA was idiotic, but what he's saying here doesn't seem unreasonable. My concern here is that I don't trust the guy when it comes to issues technical, which I don't think he understands at all (from prior experience). I guess "ringing the bell" is one thing, but I'm pretty concerned as to whatever legislation might come from this.

shingen 15y ago
I wish it were just idiotic. The problem is that he's bought and paid for. This is Hollywood sponsored payback targeting Google and Facebook for their SOPA resistance.

indubitably 15y ago

Great, he's talking sense about Google & Facebook, and nonsense about SOPA.

skylan_q 15y ago

"If you don't want your search results shared with other Google sites -- if you don't want some kind of superprofile being created for you based on everything you search, every site you surf, and every video you watch on YouTube -- you will have to find a search engine that's comparable to Google. Not easy." Any alternative to google or youtube could also do this. I imagine an ideal scenario for him would include limiting google's querying share, youtube's video genres/types, and then legally forcing space for other competitors. If we allow the law to slap down Internet giants for fear of monopolization, (which has been shown to be often temporary in this industry) then we've given an inch. They'll use it as a precedent to take the whole field.

deleted 15y ago
[deleted]

jaylevitt 15y ago

"If you want a free e-mail service that doesn't use your words to target ads to you, you'll have to figure out how to port years and years of Gmail messages somewhere else, which is about as easy as developing your own free e-mail service." Senator Franken: I've developed my own free e-mail service (AOL). Exporting from Google is WAY easier.

baddox 15y ago

Why would anyone be surprised that Franken would espouse a completely mainstream and widespread liberal position?

dmoy 15y ago

Wow, I voted for Franken. I guess I was being naive, but I was not expecting him to spurt nonsense that he has obviously not looked in to. I'm going to write an angry letter. Too bad it won't do anything :( Guess I should have seen this coming with his nonsense about SOPA, and his spectacularly weird line of questioning in Google & Yelp's appearance at the Senate hearing last year.

skrebbel 15y ago
Aren't you pulling the completely standard "omg someone said something bad about us silicon valley guys" reflex? It's in Google's and Facebook's direct financial interest to make privacy difficult for you to attain, and your senator is pointing that out. How is that a bad thing? Tech companies aren't "the good guys" by definition.
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
jrockway 15y ago
It is a little weird because every other major corporation also has a lot of data about you. Your landlord can come into your house and sell a list of items you own to the highest bidder. Everyone you ever owe money to you sends all your information to the credit reporting agencies. And so on, and so on. Singling out Facebook and Google is a little unfair. At least they have a privacy policy that you can opt out of. The credit bureaus? Not so much.

tensor 15y ago

You can opt out of google targeted ads: http://www.google.com/policies/privacy/ads/#toc-optout http://www.google.com/policies/privacy/ads/#toc-optout As I understand it, you can install their opt-out plugin even if you do not have a google account. It seems to me that this makes his entire argument about Google moot.

pgeorgi 15y ago
They still collect the data, ready for consumption by the next regime.
- magicalist 15y ago
  "After you opt out, Google will not collect interest category information..." This is really doubleclick out-out anyway, which it didn't seem like Franken was talking about (and google isn't allowed to combine with your google profile information anyway, per the doubleclick acquisition agreement (which I assume is binding forever, even to the next regime, though I don't know for certain)).

skrebbel 15y ago

It's amazing that a SOPA supporter can be so sane when it comes to privacy. Barring some details (which, to anyone except geeks like us are details), he's perfectly right, and it's good that politicians are starting to realise that privacy matters.

pasbesoin 15y ago
I was going to make my own meta comment: I can no longer read anything from Franken without wondering whether he is whoring for Big Entertainment.

fleitz 15y ago

tl:dr; "It would be a real shame if someone were to 'regulate' your industry, how about I give you some protection from these regulators." Personally, I'd love it if Mr. Franken passed a bill that forbid the US government, its agents and assigns from using the data that these companies collect. While we're at it we should probably stop those companies that monitor the torrent sites from collecting that kind of information about people too.

yanw 15y ago

He got thoroughly debunked by Danny Sullivan: http://marketingland.com/debunking-senator-al-franken-on-google-the-internet-privacy-9121 http://marketingland.com/debunking-senator-al-franken-on-goo... Grandstanding and pandering is what politicians do best. Franken is no exception.

gcb 15y ago

And? is this supposed to be written by a professional journalist? Two vague quotes and no suggestion of the main point?