Is Facebook killing freedom and liberty?

[Rum]

Best avoid being stolen, right?

[Scot Dutchy]

What being stolen?

[Rum]

You.

[Scot Dutchy]

Who want to steal me? Some lunatic?

[Rum]

You said it.

[Brian Peacock]

Revealed: Facebook’s global lobbying against data privacy laws

Social network targeted legislators around the world, promising or threatening to withhold investment

Facebook has targeted politicians around the world – including the former chancellor, George Osborne – promising investments and incentives while seeking to pressure them into lobbying on Facebook’s behalf against data privacy legislation, an explosive new leak of internal Facebook documents has revealed.

The documents, which have been seen by the Observer and Computer Weekly, reveal a secretive global lobbying operation that has targeted hundreds of legislators and regulators in an attempt to procure influence across the world, including in the UK, US, Canada, India, Vietnam, Argentina, Brazil, Malaysia and all 28 states of the EU. The documents include details of how Facebook:

• Lobbied politicians across Europe in a strategic operation to head off “overly restrictive” GDPR legislation. The document includes extraordinary claims that the Irish prime minister said his country could exercise significant influence as president of the EU, promoting Facebook’s interests even though technically it was supposed to remain neutral.

• Used chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg’s feminist memoir Lean In to “bond” with female European commissioners it viewed as hostile.

• Threatened to withhold investment from countries unless they supported or passed Facebook-friendly laws.

...

[Cunt]

One thing about Facebook. Post a picture of a dog or a cat being cute and you get 50 likes - or a lot more if you have loads of FB friends (I don't). Post a serious item, for example, I posted an article about a zip wire being installed, despite much local resistance in the Lake District (a terrible planning/zoning decision). The response? Nada, zero. Zilch.

Stay in touch but say nothing of interest basically. The medium truly is the message it seems.

Someone once pointed out to me that facebook doesn't have a 'dislike' button.

They are a distilled 'attention-whore', who angle for your views, clicks and likes. They are good at it, and we all learned that it wasn't safe to risk discussing anything more complicated than whether to go to McDonalds or Wendys.

[Hermit]

One thing about Facebook. Post a picture of a dog or a cat being cute and you get 50 likes - or a lot more if you have loads of FB friends (I don't). Post a serious item, for example, I posted an article about a zip wire being installed, despite much local resistance in the Lake District (a terrible planning/zoning decision). The response? Nada, zero. Zilch.

Stay in touch but say nothing of interest basically. The medium truly is the message it seems.

It's not just Facebook. On forums, such as ratzkep for example, where you can give the thumbs up on individual posts, the serious ones get next to nothing, personal ones get a fair few, funny ones get a lot and sarcastic/bitchy/funny ones get swamped with them.

It's not as though nobody is interested in serious posts, though. They do tend to get a lot of attention and replies - just not likes.

Ratzkep is not the only forum where this happens either. It seems to be a general pattern.

[pErvinalia]

<like>

[JimC]

like, whatever...

[Hermit]

Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.

[Rum]

We used to have a thing called a phone book. My name, address and phone number all in the public domain ready to be exploited.

[Sean Hayden]

Mark Zuckerberg leveraged Facebook user data to fight rivals and help friends, leaked documents show

The documents, which include emails, webchats, presentations, spreadsheets and meeting summaries, show how Zuckerberg, along with his board and management team, found ways to tap Facebook's trove of user data — including information about friends, relationships and photos — as leverage over companies it partnered with.

[Forty Two]

I love that manner of speaking about this stuff. "Found ways to tap.." - as if facebook had some system that it had to figure out how to use to get at user data. Facebook was created as a way to collect and use user data. That was it's purpose.

People on facebook aren't customers. They're product.

Soylent Green is people.

[Cunt]

Employers already view with suspicion any candidate who doesn't share their social media accounts. Soon, you will be required to have one.

That won't be bad for everyone...