5 ms·

There are privacy concerns but overall I think it is a splendid idea, both for Facebook and for the businesses that choose to join. Your run of the mill free w

by pathy 13y ago

There are privacy concerns but overall I think it is a splendid idea, both for Facebook and for the businesses that choose to join. Your run of the mill free wifi is neither secure nor private to begin with and I don't see Facebook Wifi encroaching on privacy any more than currently available free wifi.

mbillie1 13y ago
This is a good point. Honestly the most annoying thing will be the polluting of fb feeds with checkins (something it is possible to ignore from others I believe, but not prevent from posting yourself if you check in on fb... which is the whole idea of course)
- pathy 13y ago
  That is a fair point, and it will be interesting to see how Facebook will deal with "feed pollution".
  - chaz 13y ago
    It already has this problem, and its solution was to default sort to "Top Stories" instead of "Latest Stories." A lot of accusations that it was a money-grubbing play for pay-for-performance, but I don't think they had much choice. They had to fix the problem of a few noisy people, pages or apps dominating users' feeds. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5320207 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5320207
zuckerfap 13y ago
Do you honestly believe facebook won't look for and find ways to encroach on privacy more than currently available free wifi does? Their entire mission is to encroach on privacy, and now they've got you connecting to their wifi hotspots at the gynecologist's office.
- pathy 13y ago
  Assuming you are a Facebook user they would know your location anyway, Facebook Wifi or non-Facebook wifi. Then again, considering your username I guess you aren't a fan of Facebook at all.
  - na85 13y ago
    >Assuming you are a Facebook user they would know your location anyway, Facebook Wifi or non-Facebook wifi How do you figure?
    - mkopinsky 13y ago
      Whenever I open the FB app on my Android, the GPS notification flashes for a moment. This information I'm sure is tracked, but is not shared.
- MartinCron 13y ago
  now they've got you connecting to their wifi hotspots at the gynecologist's office Nobody is forcing you to check in at your gynecologist's office, which is something you can already do, if you're into that kind of oversharing
  - seszett 13y ago
    Actually, it might very well happen that these Wifi networks all have the same SSID, which would likely make most devices automatically connect to them. Even if they don't, they only ever need one connection to link your device's MAC to your username, and then detect it without ever connecting.
    - MartinCron 13y ago
      Yeah, I thought of that the moment I posted.

by pathy 13y ago

mbillie1 13y ago

This is a good point. Honestly the most annoying thing will be the polluting of fb feeds with checkins (something it is possible to ignore from others I believe, but not prevent from posting yourself if you check in on fb... which is the whole idea of course)

pathy 13y ago
That is a fair point, and it will be interesting to see how Facebook will deal with "feed pollution".
- chaz 13y ago
  It already has this problem, and its solution was to default sort to "Top Stories" instead of "Latest Stories." A lot of accusations that it was a money-grubbing play for pay-for-performance, but I don't think they had much choice. They had to fix the problem of a few noisy people, pages or apps dominating users' feeds. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5320207 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5320207

zuckerfap 13y ago

Do you honestly believe facebook won't look for and find ways to encroach on privacy more than currently available free wifi does? Their entire mission is to encroach on privacy, and now they've got you connecting to their wifi hotspots at the gynecologist's office.

pathy 13y ago
Assuming you are a Facebook user they would know your location anyway, Facebook Wifi or non-Facebook wifi. Then again, considering your username I guess you aren't a fan of Facebook at all.
- na85 13y ago
  >Assuming you are a Facebook user they would know your location anyway, Facebook Wifi or non-Facebook wifi How do you figure?
  - mkopinsky 13y ago
    Whenever I open the FB app on my Android, the GPS notification flashes for a moment. This information I'm sure is tracked, but is not shared.
MartinCron 13y ago
now they've got you connecting to their wifi hotspots at the gynecologist's office Nobody is forcing you to check in at your gynecologist's office, which is something you can already do, if you're into that kind of oversharing
- seszett 13y ago
  Actually, it might very well happen that these Wifi networks all have the same SSID, which would likely make most devices automatically connect to them. Even if they don't, they only ever need one connection to link your device's MAC to your username, and then detect it without ever connecting.
  - MartinCron 13y ago
    Yeah, I thought of that the moment I posted.