What can we do about it? I realize this is probably not answerable in this thread but I find myself asking this question more frequently lately and I still cannot answer it.
would be happy to see this discussion split into an Ask HN: or other, I think this topic should be debated quite a bit more than it is with the goal of attaining real results on fixing these issues.
Simple: delete your Facebook account. Many of us already have. Nothing will send a stronger message than people doing this en masse. Even if they don't get the message or don't care, it's the only way to protect yourself from their never-ending privacy violations.
This. Though I will say, in my opinion tech companies are more or less wild animals we pretend are domesticated.
Nothing is free.
Facebook continues to do good for people. Twitter as well. These are invaluable communication channels for many people.
I imagine this problem will get fixed about the same time my physical spam mail stops arriving. I'm not holding my breath, given that I can _say_ something to my wife in the privacy of our own home and get a cold call or physical mailing about it a few weeks later.
I try to encourage people to pay for the services they believe in. Whether you love or hate Microsoft for $6.99/mo you can get Office, (decently private) email, cloud storage, and Skype. Hate Skype? Don't blame you but from there you can get a phone number that you can give out and keep your personal number just for family/emergencies.
This sends a powerful message to folks trying to build a better mouse trap. It is _very_ hard to produce a free service that competes with these folks but if we show we're willing to pay for privacy then maybe we'll start to see competitive innovation in that space again.
Now that I have a family it inspires rage that my phone rings constantly from spammers and I might ignore a call that's time sensitive and important.
> Whether you love or hate Microsoft for $6.99/mo you can get Office, (decently private) email, cloud storage, and Skype. Hate Skype? Don't blame you but from there you can get a phone number that you can give out and keep your personal number just for family/emergencies.
I deleted facebook in 2008, this article discusses shadow profiles.... I suspect that more people deleting facebook and moving to facebook owned subsidiaries, or anything that is centrally owned and not federated will not solve the problem. even then there will be new mining techniques with their own set of challenges.
unfortunately I do not think that more people doing that will solve the root of the problem... only try to treat a symptom.
> Simple: delete your Facebook account. Many of us already have. Nothing will send a stronger message than people doing this en masse. Even if they don't get the message or don't care, it's the only way to protect yourself from their never-ending privacy violations.
And if you're not willing to delete your account just yet, switch your profile pic and cover photo to messages saying you're planning on using Facebook less or eventually deleting your account.
If enough people do that, it adds a social element to the exodus. Just deleting you account makes it poof out of existence without a sound, and most of your FB friends won't even notice.
Facebook will still harvest your personal information to profit from. They'll just do without your involvement. They'll get it from anyone or anything you've ever revealed information about yourself to.
Australia needs something like the GDPR, can't happen soon enough. I enjoyed the wild west days of IT, but I think now companies are enjoying it a bit too much.
It doesn't help that legislators wouldn't have the foggiest clue about some of these issues^, so there's no impetus from the legal community or political arena to make changes, while nefarious companies are doing whatever the hell they like.
I deleted FB years ago, and this infuriates me to know they might still be trying to sell my information based on contacts and what I share with them.
^ Actually, they've recently tried to pretend they are above the law of mathematics, so...
Same thing we are currently doing about it. Keep talking.
FB and similar surveillance shops thrive because people let them. People let them, primarily, because humans instinctually follow a safety-in-numbers model - FB just couldn't be that bad, or someone would have done something about it. That is likely the most clever/evil hack - FB flips this instinct on its head.
So keep telling people the truth about FB. It is a tacky AOL 2.0 panopticon optimized to manipulate you in the name of your friends and family. The company routinely lies about their practices, the CEO gives all appearances of being an untrustworthy weasel, and they're more interested in growth than the damage (up to and including facilitating mob violence!) they're doing.
And: the net is a big place. FB is a big corner of it, but unless you'd also think living inside a Walmart is a great idea, there's a lot out there that you're missing.
It took years, but I've gotten some family members to stop using them.
would be happy to see this discussion split into an Ask HN: or other, I think this topic should be debated quite a bit more than it is with the goal of attaining real results on fixing these issues.