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from the one-ring-^W-messenging-app-to-rule-them-all dept.
Some lawmakers are already raising concerns about Facebook's plans to merge its messaging apps
Facebook plans to partially combine its most popular messaging apps — and some lawmakers don't sound happy about it.
On Friday, The New York Times broke the news that CEO Mark Zuckerberg is pushing his company to merge the back-end of Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and Instagram. The change would mean that users of one app would be able to message users of another, and it would tie the currently disparate Facebook-owned products far more closely together.
[...] California Democratic congressman Ro Khanna was one of the first to comment, suggesting on Twitter that the move raised anti-trust concerns about Facebook's acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp in 2012 and 2014 respectively.
"This is why there should have been far more scrutiny during Facebook's acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp which now clearly seem like horizontal mergers that should have triggered antitrust scrutiny," he tweeted.
"Imagine how different the world would be if Facebook had to compete with Instagram and WhatsApp. That would have encouraged real competition that would have promoted privacy and benefited consumers."
In an emailed statement, Democratic senator Ron Wyden, an outspoken voice on tech policy issues, told Business Insider he had concerns about privacy and data protection issues.
"I have a lot of questions about how Facebook intends to combine these services. If it does anything to weaken the security and encryption of WhatsApp, that would represent a major blow to the security of millions of people around the world," he wrote.
"If Facebook is doing this so it can harvest even more our personal information for profit, it's yet another reason to be concerned about how corporations are using our data. This is yet another reason to pass a strong privacy bill, like the one I've proposed."
From the Electronic Frontier Foundation:
Mark Zuckerberg's op-ed in the Wall Street Journal today (paywalled, but summarized here) relies on all-too-familiar refrains to explain the dubious principles and so-called "facts" behind Facebook's business model. It's the same old song we've heard before. And, as usual, it wildly misses users' actual privacy concerns and preferences.
He starts with one of his greatest hits: "People consistently tell us that if they're going to see ads, they want them to be relevant." This perpetuates the ad industry's favorite false dichotomy: either consumers can have "relevant" ads—targeted using huge collections of sensitive behavioral data—or they can be bombarded by spam for knock-off Viagra and weight-loss supplements. The truth is that ads can be made "relevant" and profitable based on the context in which they're shown, like putting ads for outdoor gear in a nature magazine. To receive relevant ads, you do not need to submit to data brokers harvesting the entire history of everything you've done on and off the web and using it to build a sophisticated dossier about who you are.
[...] Zuckerberg deploys Facebook's favorite PR red herring: he says that Facebook does not sell your data. It may be the case that Facebook does not transfer user data to third parties in exchange for money. But there are many other ways to invade users' privacy. For example, the company indisputably does sell access to users' personal information in the form of targeted advertising spots. No matter how Zuckerberg slices it, Facebook's business model revolves around monetizing your data.
(Score: 1, Troll) by realDonaldTrump on Sunday January 27 2019, @04:15PM
BDS is our Radical Left, it's the folks that don't believe in Israel's right to exist. They're trying to destroy Israel by not buying from Israel -- very dangerous. And everyone should look into that one, possibly you didn't look into it. Because, they call it Boycott Divest & Sanctions. Not the other. And it's not about Facebook. Which, very proudly, is an American Company. American and Irish -- they do the American out of California, and the international is in Ireland. For tax reasons.
And I think everybody knows, I'm a big believer in Israel. In their right to exist -- and thrive magnificently. And so is Little Marco. And maybe we've had some fun with Marco in the past, I think we've had some good fun there, right? But he's doing something tremendous. Called S. B. 1, the Combatting BDS Act. Very first Bill in our brand new Senate. And some folks think, "oh, isn't that the Dems, didn't the Dems pass that in our House?" Wrong! Little Marco's been working very hard on that one. So let's get behind him. 100%!! youtu.be/mUcDqUGGhrU [youtu.be]