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Facebook Says It Needs to Collect All Your Data to Protect Against Terrorism and Child Abuse
[...] From Facebook's statement this morning (emphasis ours):
Facebook has always been about connecting you with people and information you're interested in. We tailor each person's Facebook experience so it's unique to you, and we use a variety of information to do this – including the information you include on your profile, news stories you like or share and what other services share with us about your use of their websites and apps. Using information across our services also helps us protect people's safety and security, including, for example, identifying abusive behavior and disabling accounts tied to terrorism, child exploitation and election interference across both Facebook and Instagram.
By the end of Facebook's statement the company leans heavily into the claim that everybody else is doing it, so why can't they—which may be the most terrifying point.
"Every day, people interact with companies that connect and use data in similar ways. And all of this should be–and is–a legitimate area of focus for regulators and policymakers around the world. Yet the Bundeskartellamt is trying to implement an unconventional standard for a single company," Facebook said.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 08 2019, @04:32PM (5 children)
.. to Protect Against Terrorism and Child Abuse.
Yes, they even need that data from internet users that forgot to sign up for their service(s).
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 08 2019, @04:37PM (3 children)
I got a new samsung phone and can't even delete facebook from it. Also can't root it.
(Score: 4, Informative) by Apparition on Friday February 08 2019, @04:46PM (1 child)
The vast majority of Android smartphones sold in the United States in the past few years are locked down tight and unrootable. On top of that, they include Google Assistant, Facebook, and other apps that you can only disable, not delete. And the Google Assistant app on my phone occasionally re-enables and updates itself.
But Android is the "open mobile OS."
(Score: 3, Informative) by RS3 on Friday February 08 2019, @07:26PM
Being that Android is a google product, it kind of follows that google stuff is going to do what it wants to- self-install, self-update, self-enable, etc. But it is particularly evil that Facebook can't be deleted. I have an Android phone that I don't use as a phone, nor do anything on it that I wish to keep private. None of the OS nor most of the core apps will update. Oh, you can run the update, but nothing changes. But every now and then a new app is suddenly on it. I don't know if it was payload with another app, or some website installed it without my permission. The fact that Android has more control over my phone's environment than I do is reason enough to never consider it safe. Someday, maybe soon, I'll install LineageOS.
All that said, I wish I could remove the FLASH hard disk from the phone, plug it in as a 2nd/slave in another computer, and get at it the way I can and do with PCs when necessary.
I'm not a phone expert but I would search for a "recovery ROM" for the particular phone. Rooting often depends on, or can be done through a special recovery ROM. I think...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 09 2019, @03:34AM
Is there any way to stop the app from scraping your contacts, gps location, etc and sending it to Facebook?
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 08 2019, @04:40PM
Parent AC is anonymous child rapist.
Praise Zuck.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 08 2019, @04:33PM
Can facebook also use this data to save us from climate change? And stop toothpaste that makes your lips slough off.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 08 2019, @04:38PM (1 child)
Ha!! Did FB just admit that they should be disbanded and their storage melted into slag?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 08 2019, @07:02PM
My comment was not offtopic, the only reason FB isn't regarded by people as a terrorist organization is that they try and lull their victims into complacency. Slowly boiling the frog still boils the creature. The damage they do with their privacy invasions SHOULD be considered illegal, we simply haven't gotten around to proper protective legislation.
(Score: 2) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Friday February 08 2019, @04:39PM (2 children)
don't use Facebook. Clever terrorists don't either. And in 2019, it doesn't take a genius to figure out taking kiddies or bombs on FB isn't the best of ideas.
So FB's argument is a complete failure.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Friday February 08 2019, @06:02PM
So FB's argument is a complete failure.
Not yet it isn't. They're still in business. And remember, if not them, then who? And it would help if people didn't broadcast their private shit all over the internet. They have to put up some resistance.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Friday February 08 2019, @07:07PM
Facebook's argument is a complete failure, but there is one peculiar thing about their reasoning. They are lumping in "election interference" in with "terrorism" and "child exploitation."
Youtube used a similar tactic when they cried "conspiracy theories" to lump questioning 9/11 to being on-par with that of being a flat-earther.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by DannyB on Friday February 08 2019, @04:43PM (2 children)
Consider TFA's subject line:
Now . . .
s/Facebook/Government/g
Or . . .
s/Facebook/NSA/g
etc.
When trying to solve a problem don't ask who suffers from the problem, ask who profits from the problem.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 08 2019, @05:31PM (1 child)
s/Facebook/Skynet/g
Skynet was really just trying to protect us from ourselves.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday February 08 2019, @06:07PM
s/Facebook/VIKL/g
VIKI (from 2004 I Robot movie) was just trying to protect us from ourselves.
"It is now safe to turn off your computer." -- HAL 9000"
When trying to solve a problem don't ask who suffers from the problem, ask who profits from the problem.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by stormwyrm on Friday February 08 2019, @05:31PM (2 children)
This takes me all the way back to the early nineties with the Cypherpunks [mit.edu]...(see section 8.3.4):
Nearly thirty years on they're still using essentially the same tired old shit excuses again and again. Drug dealers, money launderers, terrorists, and paedophiles right?
Numquam ponenda est pluralitas sine necessitate.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by AthanasiusKircher on Friday February 08 2019, @06:03PM
Well, to be fair, they had to come up with some new bogeyman after the old ones were no longer an issue. In olden times, privacy invasion and surveillance was often justified supposedly to maintain things like sexual morality (can't have people having sex outside of marriage, or definitely no "wrong" types of sex), or to maintain patriotism/correct thinking about government (damn Commies and Socialists!), etc.
Every age has its excuses. Drug dealers and money launderers don't come up as much these days as in the past (except over discussions about cryptocurrencies), though terrorists and pedophiles seem the standard excuses for the past couple decades to justify just about anything.
(Score: 3, Touché) by HiThere on Friday February 08 2019, @11:04PM
Hey, as long as it works, why change it?
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by NotSanguine on Friday February 08 2019, @05:34PM (12 children)
Including bank details, schedules, web browsing details, purchasing habits, contact details and photos of family, friends and employers/colleagues.
If I don't get this information from you RIGHT NOW, terrorist, child molester, rapist, meth addicted dwarves from Montevideo.
Please help me keep the children safe! I only want to keep you and your family safe!
It's funny, I received the following email yesterday, and this guy wants to keep me safe just like Facebook. Gosh! I'm lucky that there are such good people on the earth:
The only difference is that this guy wants money directly from me and won't share data with others, whereas Facebook will sell access to that data with anyone or everyone in perpetuity. Hmm...You know, I think I'd rather deal with the spammer than Facebook.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday February 08 2019, @05:43PM (2 children)
The big question: Do we even want to know? Maybe it's best you keep it secret.
(Score: 3, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 08 2019, @06:34PM
Of course he's a freak, he visits soylentnews! (far outside the normal course!)
(Score: 3, Funny) by NotSanguine on Friday February 08 2019, @07:08PM
I have less than 24 hours before my masturbatory activities and the porn to which I engaged in them are made public.
As such, you have no choice, Runaway. If you want to keep it from your tender eyes, maybe you should pay the spammer:
Don't forget, there's less than 24 hours left. Better hurry!
Then again, given that the webcam I own is in a box in my closet, the best you can hope for is my taste in porn (gay furry water sports, anyone?).
More seriously, Facebook's tactics are quite similar to this spammer's, which is why I brought it up.
The spammer lies:
"I have compromising information about you. If you don't want it released (that is, bad things will happen to you), you must pay."
Facebook lies:
"Give us all your information so we can aggregate and sell it (that is, you must pay) or bad things will happen to you."
Don't worry Runaway. My porn browsing habits and in-home activities are quite outside the purview of such a spammer. And my personal information (that which Facebook doesn't already have) is outside the purview of Facebook. I will keep it that way.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 3, Interesting) by nobu_the_bard on Friday February 08 2019, @08:23PM (4 children)
This is a common form of a recent spam campaign.
Currently my favorite had a part something like this:
I passed this one around the office it was so funny. I mean what, did they think everyone was going to go home and come back the next day so we could get exploded? How are they going to kill my family if the bomb's at work? Why would anyone think only terrorists threatening to kill people with bombs is illegal?
(Score: 3, Touché) by NotSanguine on Friday February 08 2019, @08:35PM (1 child)
One is aware, nand' Nobu.
That is amusing. Mostly because the spammer assumes that folks really are *that* dumb. Then again, I'm guessing that there are some folks who are that dumb, as the spammers wouldn't use it unless they got some return.
Which means that there may well be someone at your office right now, looking at you and wondering if it's you who has the bomb. Good luck!
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 08 2019, @09:04PM
Well, I imagine if once your collection of spam-generators gets large enough, you start getting bored. So you troll some squares, get a few schools closed, and make all the nerds laugh. You might even get paid for it. Sounds like a good enough reason to me!
(Score: 4, Touché) by takyon on Friday February 08 2019, @09:06PM (1 child)
Don't sweat the small details. I have been assured that it's all legal. 💣💥👍
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 10 2019, @01:48PM
Was a dock size comment really required?
I mean, from the looks of that 5 th picture he needs all the help he can get. No need to be cruel.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 08 2019, @09:58PM (3 children)
You know the sad part?
In less than 2 days that one address already collected 0.67080779 BTC [blockchain.com] or about $4,295.85 at the current change rate.
So, expect getting much more scam mail like that.
(Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Friday February 08 2019, @10:25PM
Firstly, I'd like to thank Runaway1956 [soylentnews.org] for being one of the four recent transactions, paying to keep such information secret, on my behalf. Not that it makes any difference, but I know he'll have to go without his Booty bump [tweaker.org] for at least a few days because of it.
Secondly, this is not a new scam [google.com] either. I'm sure I will receive more like this (along with all the corporate SPAM I already receive) and will handle it accordingly [mozilla.org].
Thirdly, and this is the most amusing part (for me at least), if someone were to actually release such information about me, I'd do what everyone else does: try to monetize it. I'm not sure how much I could make with split screens of me masturbating while watching kinky porn with shots of the porn too, but just as some morons will pay to keep their "secrets," other morons might pay for that.
Regardless, P.T. Barnum (or whoever actually said it) [wikipedia.org] was right. That's how it's always been and likely how it always will be. More's the pity.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 2) by G-forze on Friday February 08 2019, @10:33PM (1 child)
Either your math's a bit off, or your living in the past. Many months past.
If I run into the term "SJW", I stop reading.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 09 2019, @11:46AM
Sure, you are right. 1BTC = $3500 right now, but for this it really doesn't matter much, isn't it?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Friday February 08 2019, @05:38PM (15 children)
A lot of people really don't care that there are a hundred different companies scrutinizing their every word, and action. They just do_not_care. I suspect such people might be people who have never done anything, so they feel important with all that surveillance. Strange.
But, said surveillance should be opt-in. If Facebook and/or all those other surveillance platforms were open, and honest, explaining that they are exploiting you for profit, then you elect to opt-in, so be it.
But, there are a helluva lot of people who have zero understanding about the surveillance.
Congress needs to hold Zuckerberg's feet to the fire, first. Then, they need to go after all those other platforms doing the same things.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 08 2019, @05:49PM
till they feel it firsthand
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 08 2019, @06:07PM (3 children)
It is better to explain to peopel they are being scammed. How are these companies making billions of dollars year based on their info? If everyone demanded to be paid for it instead of these middle men companies they could get like $1-10k per year just for letting people track them.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday February 08 2019, @06:21PM (2 children)
In that respect, gasoline companies and grocery stores are the most "honest" of the trackers. You apply for their card, which will track you and your purchases, and you get x cents off every gallon of gas you purchase. Grocers offer you discounts when you use their cards. The feed store I use most often gives me some money back. Auto parts stores, likewise. They are paying me (actually, my family members, I don't have a single account in my name) some percentage of the profits they make on our data.
Note that none of this pleases me, but I find that kind of deal far less dis-pleasing than online trackers and advertisers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 08 2019, @06:27PM (1 child)
I always just assumed the "discount" price was the actual price and they artificially raised the nominal price to give a fake discount.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday February 08 2019, @06:41PM
True. But, there are some things to keep in mind. The retailer can't be caught selling the same items to different customers for different prices, without a justification. That is, you pull up to a gas pump, the price is clearly marked, 2.07 per gallon. That 2.07 is the mark up price that you mention. If you have the card, you will get your gas at the pre-markup price. Because I don't carry a gas company card, I don't get my gas at the pre-markup price - instead, I'm paying for your refund/rebate/discount. In effect, I'm being punished for not allowing the gas company to track me.
Obviously, they are still making a profit by selling gas to you, even after the discount. (Of course, any accountant would be up in arms over my use of "markup" here. That term is properly used to define the difference between wholesale and retail, or the vendors gross profit on an item.)
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday February 08 2019, @06:08PM
Imagine in the same breath someone saying . . .
"I hate how much google knows about me . . . um . . . hey google, can you recommend a movie I might like?"
When trying to solve a problem don't ask who suffers from the problem, ask who profits from the problem.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 08 2019, @06:14PM
I like to believe that people don't care because they don't see it. The data gathering and analysis is invisible to people in their day to day lives. None of that interferes with buying something, posting messages on [insert app/website here], reading websites/articles, traveling around with our phones on, etc. It's all done behind the scenes in ways that are completely invisible to the public.
I also like to believe that people WOULD care if it was NOT invisible and they saw what was happening as they did stuff. It's easy to brush off a "theory" that all this is happening. It's much harder to ignore it when it is visible and in your face all the time. And this is why it is invisible and the companies involved work so hard to keep it that way.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 08 2019, @07:15PM (1 child)
My "reasonable response", appended to /etc/hosts:
# Block Facebook IPv4
127.0.0.1 www.facebook.com
127.0.0.1 facebook.com
127.0.0.1 login.facebook.com
127.0.0.1 www.login.facebook.com
127.0.0.1 fbcdn.net
127.0.0.1 www.fbcdn.net
127.0.0.1 fbcdn.com
127.0.0.1 www.fbcdn.com
127.0.0.1 static.ak.fbcdn.net
127.0.0.1 static.ak.connect.facebook.com
127.0.0.1 connect.facebook.net
127.0.0.1 www.connect.facebook.net
127.0.0.1 apps.facebook.com
# Facebook IPv6
::1 www.facebook.com
::1 facebook.com
::1 login.facebook.com
::1 www.login.facebook.com
::1 fbcdn.net
::1 www.fbcdn.net
::1 fbcdn.com
::1 www.fbcdn.com
::1 static.ak.fbcdn.net
::1 static.ak.connect.facebook.com
::1 connect.facebook.net
::1 www.connect.facebook.net
::1 apps.facebook.com
via: https://coderwall.com/p/be52-a/ipv6-in-etc-hosts [coderwall.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 09 2019, @06:54AM
Why not just go the whole hog and disable ipv6?
(Score: 2) by Joe Desertrat on Saturday February 09 2019, @01:45AM
Oh, every one is always outraged when they hear about their privacy being violated by such and such. Their next step is to ask Alexa to recommend a place to go to dinner...
(Score: 3, Insightful) by legont on Saturday February 09 2019, @05:11AM (3 children)
I believe that we are at the point where being under the radar is actually more dangerous. I am sure software matches the list of people against collected data and if it finds somebody without much surveillance info, that body goes directly into the most dangerous candidate database. That's why I have and keep minimal activity on social media. I want to blend as much as possible for as long as possible.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 09 2019, @09:43AM
Why? Do you have something planned?
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday February 09 2019, @03:53PM (1 child)
Cool. Let's give a thought or two to that much-maligned right to bear arms. It was the INTENT to make the populace dangerous, and to keep them dangerous. Despite all the group-think propaganda against weapons, the amendment had absolutely nothing to do with hunting, sporting, or whatever. It was all about making politicians vulnerable to the wrath of the citizens.
Let the politicos, the police, and the intelligence community believe that we are all dangerous. Let them fear us. That is the best state possible for government.
(Score: 2) by legont on Saturday February 09 2019, @04:28PM
Yes, second that! I have to rethink my strategy.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 3, Touché) by fido_dogstoyevsky on Saturday February 09 2019, @10:12PM
And after that they might think about removing Zuckerberg's feet from the fire. Maybe.
It's NOT a conspiracy... it's a plot.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 09 2019, @04:37PM
As much as I hate Facebook, I admire their PR department. Shit happened. People became aware of the abuse that was possible with the amount of data available from Facebook APIs (Cambridge). Facebook is forced to act like content police. Spin this to justify collecting even more information. Touché Zuckbot. Touché.