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So OK - much of these things sounds crazy. But it's a free service and if you don't really care if Facebook tracks you or your web-surfs, I don't really see how

So OK - much of these things sounds crazy. But it's a free service and if you don't really care if Facebook tracks you or your web-surfs, I don't really see how it matters. All these "Get off Facebook, they are doing a lot of things you don't like"-posts are getting crazy. It's like a mechanic running around screaming at people they are using the wrong oil in their cars or a lawyer running around acting crazy about people not suing everybody. Some people are just that: They don't care.

V-2 12y ago
How many of these uncaring people actually know even a half of this? Or have thought through the implications? It is a "free service" as in you're not paying them with dollars, but you are paying with something else. I'm not a tin foil hat (I use Gmail, for instance), but the point of the article is valid. At least that should be a conscious decision on user's part.
jacquesm 12y ago
It's more like a traffic cop jumping up and down pointing out the wall you're headed for. Facebook is emphatically not a free service, you pay but not in a way that is visible to you. Privacy as a means of exchange is a relatively new concept and we have not yet learned to put a proper value on it. It will take some major expose rather than individuals coming around like this person did to change that.
- skidoo 12y ago
  Our IRL identities are the new Intellectual Property, I think. I'm waiting for copyright attorneys to start viewing social networking infringements on privacy/security as identity theft.
SiVal 12y ago
And others don't realize what's going on, but they do care when they find out. So, they ought to know.
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
raverbashing 12y ago
It's a "boy who cried wolf" attitude with too much "fake" emotional appeal. It's not so much "get out of fb" it's how you use it. "but but but it's your privacy!!111" yeah, exactly, that's why I limit the information I share with FB, no location checkins, no "picture every other minute", no "fill your missing data" BS, etc
- drstrangevibes 12y ago
  missed the point. its how facebook uses you
- girvo 12y ago
  The article points out that it doesn't matter if you share it, that data is collected regardless on you.
  - raverbashing 12y ago
    I am aware of those, and frankly Google does a lot of the same Also, don't install or use the FB mobile app (good thing it sucks) There are browser extensions that hide G+/FB/Twitter buttons, it's a good idea to use them " Even if you never posted anything, they can easily work out your age, gender, sexual orientation and political views. " Why is this being said with a surprised tone? Oh and this happens in real life too, you don't need fb for that. "Guess your age and gender"? People on the street can do that too, I better walk with a paper bag over my head.
    - zAy0LfpBZLC8mAC 12y ago
      "People on the street can do that too, I better walk with a paper bag over my head." But there is no one person on the street that can do that for all other people on all the streets on the planet. Concentration of information in one "brain" is the problem, not that not everything is top secret. There is a difference in the possible consequences between some neighbour on the street seeing you and someone having a database of all public movements of all people.
- 12y ago
zAy0LfpBZLC8mAC 12y ago
People using facebook has externalities, those externalities affect me, which is why it matters to me. Most obviously, it's a proprietary communication service, and communication services tend to exhibit a network effect[1]. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_effect http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_effect
amirmc 12y ago
> "It's like a mechanic running around screaming at people they are using the wrong oil in their cars or a lawyer running around acting crazy about people not suing everybody." These are awful analogies. A better one might be people (a long time ago) jumping up and down telling you that smoking is linked to cancer/death. Imagine being that guy during a time when smoking was considered healthy! Now, of course, everybody knows - and people are free to make an informed choice about their behaviour. The current situation is compounded by the fact that most users simply don't understand the power of machines and algorithms to draw inferences. Until there are viable distributed alternatives for non sys-admins, the options seem to be to either give all over to The Man or go live in a cave. The former is too nihilistic for my liking so I'm working towards alternatives http://amirchaudhry.com/brewing-miso-to-serve-nymote/ http://amirchaudhry.com/brewing-miso-to-serve-nymote/
thret 12y ago
I care so little that after a few rounds of this I just made everything public by default. I've never used it to share personal information anyway.

V-2 12y ago

How many of these uncaring people actually know even a half of this? Or have thought through the implications? It is a "free service" as in you're not paying them with dollars, but you are paying with something else. I'm not a tin foil hat (I use Gmail, for instance), but the point of the article is valid. At least that should be a conscious decision on user's part.

jacquesm 12y ago

It's more like a traffic cop jumping up and down pointing out the wall you're headed for. Facebook is emphatically not a free service, you pay but not in a way that is visible to you. Privacy as a means of exchange is a relatively new concept and we have not yet learned to put a proper value on it. It will take some major expose rather than individuals coming around like this person did to change that.

skidoo 12y ago
Our IRL identities are the new Intellectual Property, I think. I'm waiting for copyright attorneys to start viewing social networking infringements on privacy/security as identity theft.

SiVal 12y ago

And others don't realize what's going on, but they do care when they find out. So, they ought to know.

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

raverbashing 12y ago

It's a "boy who cried wolf" attitude with too much "fake" emotional appeal. It's not so much "get out of fb" it's how you use it. "but but but it's your privacy!!111" yeah, exactly, that's why I limit the information I share with FB, no location checkins, no "picture every other minute", no "fill your missing data" BS, etc

drstrangevibes 12y ago
missed the point. its how facebook uses you
girvo 12y ago
The article points out that it doesn't matter if you share it, that data is collected regardless on you.
- raverbashing 12y ago
  I am aware of those, and frankly Google does a lot of the same Also, don't install or use the FB mobile app (good thing it sucks) There are browser extensions that hide G+/FB/Twitter buttons, it's a good idea to use them " Even if you never posted anything, they can easily work out your age, gender, sexual orientation and political views. " Why is this being said with a surprised tone? Oh and this happens in real life too, you don't need fb for that. "Guess your age and gender"? People on the street can do that too, I better walk with a paper bag over my head.
  - zAy0LfpBZLC8mAC 12y ago
    "People on the street can do that too, I better walk with a paper bag over my head." But there is no one person on the street that can do that for all other people on all the streets on the planet. Concentration of information in one "brain" is the problem, not that not everything is top secret. There is a difference in the possible consequences between some neighbour on the street seeing you and someone having a database of all public movements of all people.
12y ago

zAy0LfpBZLC8mAC 12y ago

People using facebook has externalities, those externalities affect me, which is why it matters to me. Most obviously, it's a proprietary communication service, and communication services tend to exhibit a network effect[1]. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_effect http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_effect

amirmc 12y ago

> "It's like a mechanic running around screaming at people they are using the wrong oil in their cars or a lawyer running around acting crazy about people not suing everybody." These are awful analogies. A better one might be people (a long time ago) jumping up and down telling you that smoking is linked to cancer/death. Imagine being that guy during a time when smoking was considered healthy! Now, of course, everybody knows - and people are free to make an informed choice about their behaviour. The current situation is compounded by the fact that most users simply don't understand the power of machines and algorithms to draw inferences. Until there are viable distributed alternatives for non sys-admins, the options seem to be to either give all over to The Man or go live in a cave. The former is too nihilistic for my liking so I'm working towards alternatives http://amirchaudhry.com/brewing-miso-to-serve-nymote/ http://amirchaudhry.com/brewing-miso-to-serve-nymote/

thret 12y ago

I care so little that after a few rounds of this I just made everything public by default. I've never used it to share personal information anyway.