European Union lawmakers are unhappy that Facebook is refusing to comply with their request to send two senior officials to testify at a hearing into the Cambridge Analytica data scandal.
The EU parliament's Civil Liberties Committee wants to question Facebook's chief privacy officer and the vice presidents for advertisements and global public policy.
The committee said Friday that global public policy vice president Joel Kaplan will attend Monday's hearing, but he will only be accompanied two members of Facebook's public policy team.
Committee Chairman Claude Moraes said "we had expected to hear from other speakers."
Moraes said "it will be up to members to see if Facebook's answers will be sufficient, convincing and trustworthy."
Initially, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg declined to appear before the assembly but finally attended last month.
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Monday June 25 2018, @08:30AM (4 children)
Why do I feel like lawmakers being "miffed over a Facebook snub" sounds so close to anyone being miffed by, well, a Facebook snub? The parallel high-school frenemy vibes I get from both of these sound a lot closer in their dynamics than they should. Maybe politics at the high school/national levels aren't really that different at all?
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday June 25 2018, @12:53PM
(Score: 3, Informative) by Phoenix666 on Monday June 25 2018, @01:03PM
You are perceiving that because it is real. That is the level at which politics really plays. Everything else is window dressing in front of the cameras.
It quickly becomes apparent when you engage with the machinery of democracy on any level. Most adults become exasperated with the juvenile reality and walk away. Thus the nonsense persists. The nonsense is self-reinforcing, also, in that adults who are otherwise mature and measured in their thought and manner normalize to the idiocy of the political crowd.
I place my hope in geeks, that are too socially inept to give a rat's ass about political games and too intent on making the world materially better no matter how many or what sort of idiots inhabit its governments.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Monday June 25 2018, @05:47PM (1 child)
This seems to be a bad move by Facebook, because these are some of the people who control the EU laws, and currently Facebook wants some of the laws to favor them.
Presumably there are reasons which Facebook's management feels are sufficient. Damfino what they could be.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday June 25 2018, @08:39PM
Here's my take. Will they be screwed, if they show up? Yes, it's a witch hunt looking for more witches to burn. Do they have to show up? No.
(Score: 0, Troll) by fadrian on Monday June 25 2018, @08:48AM (17 children)
If Facebook cut them off, how long would it take Europe to capitulate? If Europe were an actual democracy, I'd give it about 3 days before people got irked enough to let their voices be heard. Since Europe is not, strictly speaking, a democracy, their reaction time is slowed from application of pain to populace to regime change to the point where Facebook couldn't use this tactic - Google, yes; Facebook, no. That's an object lesson in both how you can tell Google is an effective monopoly in search and why "leaders" fear actual democracy. In any case, it makes an interesting thought experiment.
That is all.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 25 2018, @08:53AM
by your metric, no democracy has ever existed nor ever will.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday June 25 2018, @08:57AM (2 children)
If you think the Europeans against their government because Facebook cut them off, I have a bridge to sell you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 25 2018, @09:05AM (1 child)
The vast majority of people are morons and allow themselves to be used by massive surveillance engines like Facebook without thinking about the implications of what they're doing. Even so, that doesn't necessarily mean Europeans would somehow surrender if Facebook cut them off. In fact, I wish Facebook would cut everyone off and cease to exist.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday June 25 2018, @09:18AM
Meh, some more than others [soylentnews.org]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 5, Interesting) by c0lo on Monday June 25 2018, @09:15AM (2 children)
Facebook penetration by region - 2017 [internetworldstats.com]
Europe - 41.7% penetration - based on this percentage, I'd say a democratic representative answer from the population will be "Not pleasant, but OK, good riddance".
In contrast with North America - penetration 72.4%.
What... is that unexpected for your thought?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by zocalo on Monday June 25 2018, @12:54PM
Whether they'd withdraw from the EU over that legislation - something less than 42% of the population will actually care about, given that there *are* other options and by doing so many would see it being down to Facebook, rather than the EU - is another matter entirely. 42% of 508m people is still a lot of metadata that they can sell access to...
UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
(Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 25 2018, @04:24PM
If there was more penetration happening there would be less facebooking happening.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 25 2018, @09:23AM
> Since Europe is not, strictly speaking, a democracy
Strictly speaking, Europe is not even a country. It's a continent. North America is also not a democracy.
If you're using "Europe" to mean "European Union", well, that's not a country either. It's a supranational political union of still-sovereign countries, and unlike some other unions I could mention, it didn't completely fuse yet into a single entity. For example, EU members can still leave. Strictly speaking.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 25 2018, @09:34AM (1 child)
If Facebook cuts off Europe, that will just open the door wide open for some other social networking platform that is willing to comply with European law to step into where they used to be, and they'll probably take out a very large chunk of Facebook's non-European userbase along with them. Ironically, the network effects for actual networked services like those provided by Facebook or Google are actually weaker than the network effects for mass market software like Microsoft's. If Google stops making useful searches, or if someone else is seen to be able to do that job better, or if they can't be used since they are blocked by local regulations, it's just a click of the mouse to start using some other search engine. If a large number of your friends start using another social network more than they use Facebook, again, it's just a click of the mouse to make an account there and join in. That is exactly what's going to happen if Facebook is actually dumb enough to try to cut out Europe. A much better strategy will be for them to make a show of compliance and then try to work behind the scenes to buy laws in their favour instead.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 25 2018, @02:55PM
European offerings like vkontakty or meinvz?
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Phoenix666 on Monday June 25 2018, @01:06PM (4 children)
I'd say Europeans are closer to real democracy than anywhere else, if for no other reason than that they've given every other form of repressive government a real try. I think it's excellent that the unemployed of France go on strike when the government threatens to slash their benefits. It's absurd, too, on a certain level, but those are real citizens who are exercising their confidence in their rights as members of a democracy.
Could such a thing happen in America, or elsewhere? Hardly.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 25 2018, @03:52PM (1 child)
In America, crowds will assemble on the street because "taxes are too high" (historically low) or "crime is out of control" (also historically low). For anything else, you need a little pepper spray in the eyes to remind you how great everything is, get back in your place.
(Score: 2) by edIII on Monday June 25 2018, @06:58PM
Uhh huh.
So what about the Bonus Marchers [wikipedia.org] killed because they dared to ask for what the government promised in wages? Not a verbal either, fucking soulless bastards in Government even printed certificates, and passed legislation. You cannot unilaterally take away pay from a soldier, that absolutely did that which was necessary to earn pay, not to mention honor.
By "get back in your place" I guess you mean, "The government is always right, even when it's wrong".
I wish the Bonus Marchers had killed every single duplicitous politician in D.C.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 25 2018, @05:05PM
Then why are the europeans getting swept up in nationalism like everywhere else? They've given them all a try and they've decided to fall back on the old reliable dictator model? Macron's dreaminess lasts only as long as the perceived strength of the economy.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday June 25 2018, @08:35PM
That's a remarkably backhanded compliment particularly since it means that they'll probably continue to give those forms of repressive governments a real try in the future. But sure, maybe one day they will learn from experience.
And what again are the unemployed doing to deserve those benefits? Absurd strikes don't cut it.
And yet, we have evidence of group-level responsibility not present in the French unemployed, such as parties purportedly acting against their interests, the "temporarily embarrassed millionaire" phenomenon, and dark horses winning elections.
(Score: 2) by pvanhoof on Monday June 25 2018, @05:52PM (1 child)
I'm pretty sure there would be a replacement soon. There have been a few European social media platforms before Facebook was popular. For example Hyves among others. It's just that Facebook ate all those platforms, dominating social media as a monopoly. Cut that off of Europeans, and we'll in no time make a replacement.
I think it would actually be good for Europe to get cut off by Facebook. We'd get our advertising and media markets back, plus a lot of employment in data centers and development. And we could much better regulate the social media market.
I like the idea. Yes please, cut Facebook off. ASAP.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 26 2018, @12:45AM
That's all well and good until the big corps leave because Irish taxes end up costing too much... Do you think they will have the balls to go after MS or Google? Will European companies who could previously advertise worldwide on big social platforms be happy when their costs are increased and visibility reduced because entrenched monopolies don't feel like playing with them? Will twitter be forced to segregate their platform? How will Europeans doing business with developing countries maintain their contacts when Skype and Whatsapp block their service? Do you think Amazon is really gonna stop? How about those ridesharing companies? I wish Europe would step up and start competing, but your best and brightest are working for US companies and nanny-welfare states don't foster creativity and hustle.