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Ignorance may be bliss for Facebook's users. About 74 percent of adults in the US who use Facebook didn't know the social network keeps a list of their interests and traits for ad targeting, says a study released Wednesday by the Pew Research Center.
About half of Facebook users said they weren't comfortable that the company compiled this information.
The world's largest social network came under fire in 2018 for a series of scandals over data privacy and security. The episodes caused concern about whether Facebook does enough to let users know what information it tracks and how it uses the data.
Facebook knows your age, gender and location, along with what you post, the pages you like and the businesses you check into on the social network. All that information helps the company determine what ads to show its 2.3 billion users.
Facebook users can view their "ad preferences" page to see what the social network thinks their interests are and why they're seeing a given ad. This list can include users' political leanings, hobbies and even the type of smartphone they use. Facebook users can also remove an interest from that list to change the type of ads they see on the social network.
(Score: 1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 19 2019, @10:49PM (22 children)
1) You'd have to be stupid to have EVER thought using Facebook was even remotely a good idea. It was obviously a bad idea from the outset.
2) If you're still using Facebook after all that has been revealed about Facebook, you are well below stupid : there are house plants which are smarter than you.
3) It is impossible to protect idiots from their poor decisions. It would be far more sensible to sterilize them so they cannot replicate. Due to advances in robotics, the world is going to need far fewer idiots in the near future, so the sooner they are forced to quit breeding, the better for the earth and humanity in general.
The truth is not always something that sounds like it could be in a Walt Disney movie which is rated as ok for children to watch. The truth is whatever it needs to be, because that is the nature of the truth.
Ok, now all you simple-minded knee-jerk SJW virtue-signaling fucktards can gang up and mod this post down. All your modding will, however, not change the truth. Suck on that, you pathetic useless punkass children in adult bodies.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 19 2019, @10:59PM (5 children)
Facebook is not that bad...
(Score: 2) by BsAtHome on Saturday January 19 2019, @11:05PM
Only in an alternate universe where the word bad was redefined as to mean good.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 19 2019, @11:21PM (3 children)
If you knew what Facebook is REALLY used for, you would have a different opinion.
Advertising is just the tip of the iceberg. And remember, most of the iceberg is BELOW the surface.
What is below the surface is very frightening, and the more you know about Facebook the more frightening it becomes. It's part of a huge surveillance machine which encompasses all the telecoms, all the ISPs, all the makers of products like "smart thermostats, etc. That the masses are embracing all this stuff without the resistance has been beyond the wildest dreams of the people who are in charge. In their view, it's like a rape victim who assists the rapist during the act of rape and then pays the rapist for his services ( that's more or less a direct quote from a person who cannot be named here ).
Companies like Facebook and Google exist with the blessing of the US government, which can and will shut down entities ( companies, people ) who don't play along with the government. And when I say "government" I am not talking about dipshits like Trump or Nancy Pelosi, I am talking about the parts of the government that remain regardless of election results. Honestly, if you people had any idea of what is really going on, you'd have trouble sleeping. Suffice it to say that since Facebook remains in the good graces of those behind the curtain where the REAL power is, Facebook is cooperating. And if that doesn't bother you, then it's hard to know where to begin with respect to what it would take to get you to wake up.
Eric Blair ( AKA "George Orwell" ) could not have begun to dream of what is actually happening in the US, the UK, China, and India. Africa is behind the curve,
but that will change.
Sleep well, friends.
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Sunday January 20 2019, @02:50AM (2 children)
Whew, the paranoia this story unleashed!
But I can't say that it is entirely unjustified. Knowledge is power, and Facebook has a lot data, much of it very personal. Getting ever harder to keep anything at all in a closet.
But some good comes of some losses of privacy. There's all kinds of stuff that shouldn't have to be closeted, for example, homosexuality. There are still people who think homosexuality is an offense against God, unnatural, and a conscious choice and all that, but they seem to be a minority that's shrunk amazingly in recent decades.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 20 2019, @04:52PM (1 child)
i'm not paranoid, but i don't disagree with the concept if perhaps the context (physical rape participation).
people willingly are helping to sell themselves, and facebook is the broker. all in exchange for an easier convenience of putting themselves on display.
follow the teenagers and the tweens and they tend to respond the most positively after getting burned a few times in regards to privacy; adults sort of become numb or refuse to believe or think about the issues because there is no political or religious statement yet telling them what to believe, and conveniences are too good to give up when they are free. i mean who would pay for facebook? the days of compuserve and prodigy are over. and people arent gonna start dragging and dropping their own websites because the ISP will kick you off the net for daring to run a 'server' on a residential account.
and places like geocities and whatnot are mostly gone. the ones that remain for free do a much better job selling you out than the old ones did, maybe its less bad than facebook or google, but still bad.
people really have to pay for privacy and often the price causes sticker shock. young people are again the ones to herald any changes, but mostly out of shame or vanity. the few wise (neckbeards?) older people are just cooky ranks to everyone, you know? not cool to hang out with the kids and too richard stallman to be taken seriously by friends and family.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by bzipitidoo on Sunday January 20 2019, @07:48PM
I don't miss Prodigy. They shared the patronizing paternalism of their parent company, Sears. (I'd like to see Sears stop that, preferably without going bankrupt, but if the only choices are alive and patronizing, or bankrupt, I'll take bankrupt.) I know from personal experience that Prodigy spied on its users. I tried writing a complaint, and was disconnected. I got back on, surfed around a bit to check that the connection was good, and tried again. Midway through the complaint, disconnected. Hmm. Tried a 3rd time, and everything seemed fine until I tried writing the complaint, then, click! Disconnected again! Never had so much trouble staying connected-- the amount of droppage I was getting was unprecedented. And usually when there's connection troubles, the connection degrades before dropping. This was an abrupt transition from working perfectly to dropped. So I cut them off. Never dialed in again, ignored all their mail about being seriously delinquent in paying for service I was not using (they had that crap that you couldn't quit them unless you gave them 30 days written notice, one of the stunts AoL also tried), their dire warnings that I would be cut off, and finally, after a year or two they gave up.
Next to that Prodigy and AoL crap, Facebook is positively benign.
I never used Geocities, I always ran my own servers. But around 2 years ago, the ISP I'm stuck using (Time Warner/Spectrum) quietly started blocking ports 80 and 443. My web server became invisible, and no one at the ISP seemed to know why, suggested the problem was my end. Sometimes they will speculate that if they are blocking those ports, it's for your own good. You wouldn't want to get infected with a VIRUS, would you? Seemed I had no choice but to use a web hosting service, or not have a web site.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 19 2019, @11:09PM (5 children)
What a bleak outlook on life you have.
now all you simple-minded knee-jerk SJW virtue-signaling fucktards
As a card caring member of the 'alt right' you sir are an idiot who thinks it is easier to insult people than to change their minds. Do not confuse insults for intelligence.
Facebook has its place. It is a tool. Much like a bandsaw. Use it with caution and do not cut your fingers off. Know what they are and treat them with the proper contempt and do not allow them onto your network except for when you need them.
You can request what they 'have on you'. Every single thing they have on me is what I gave them. Nothing else. Because I block advertising agencies at the ingress points on my computer. Which is what they are.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 19 2019, @11:23PM (2 children)
You stupid jerkoff, you have no fucking idea what my political leanings are.
I voted for Obama TWICE. I have marched in civil rights protests.
What I am talking about has NOTHING to do with politics.
Thanks for providing an excellent example of the SJW idiot I referred to in my earlier post. You really rose to the occasion, you smart-mouthed little douche nozzle.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 20 2019, @12:46AM
Again, go to Nevada where you can legally get laid in exchange for cash. Or are you the AC that can't get a job?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 20 2019, @07:53AM
uh... your reading comprehension is a bit on the low side there. Go re-read what I said.
You are the one who brought up the SJW bit. Again you insult and do not change my mind. Only pretending that insults=intelligence.
You have a very bleak outlook on life.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Sunday January 20 2019, @01:51AM (1 child)
Above AC nails it when he calls you a jerkoff. Of course Facebook is a tool - but it's not your tool, and you don't get to use it. If Facebook were a table saw, you would be the lumber that the saw eats into sawdust.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 20 2019, @08:00AM
If Facebook were a table saw, you would be the lumber that the saw eats into sawdust
If you let it. Why do you think uBlock, no-script are installed on all of my computers, and liberal use of DNS to block it? I block at ingress and egress points. I know what they are. I treat them with respect that any powertool needs. It is turned on when I need it and used with caution. I feed them only what I want them to know. Who 'owns' the tool is of no mater to me. They provide a free service that I take advantage of. I give them very little in return. Many others do not realize what they are and pour their whole life into it. I learned long ago what you type into the internet will be around for a long time. Facebook and google are no different in that regard. In 10-20 years it will be real interesting once the current 'grew up on the internet' generation hits politics.
Also you are using insults to try to change my mind. You are failing.
(Score: 0, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 19 2019, @11:22PM (1 child)
Before sterilizing the general population you need to do a controlled experiment. So start by sterilizing all the democrats. Then see if the world is a better place. If so, you've found the problem. If not, move on to sterilizing the Greens and independents. That is the scientific method.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 19 2019, @11:30PM
No, the correct method is to sterilize the idiots, regardless of their political affiliation.
-
If you imagine only the Democrats or only the Republicans or only the people whose skin is a certain color are "the problem", and all other people are "ok", you have completely missed the point.
-
There is an oversupply of idiots and the need for those idiots is dropping at an accelerating rate. It's going to get very very ugly. You will see the US government institute universal basic income but that won't be enough to keep things calm. Just watch and you will see it happen, right before your eyes, within the next 20 years. Nothing Hollywood can cook up will come close in terms of horror.
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Saturday January 19 2019, @11:35PM (2 children)
I'd like to add, one of the reasons why one would have to be stupid to use Facebook is because they (like I) already had the chance to learn firsthand why having a social media account is a bad idea, from MySpace.
When I had my MySpace I saw firsthand that it amplified all of the negative traits -- Talking shit, stalking, gossiping, bragging, being a big keeping up with the Jonses pissing-contest revolving who has the most awesome life, etc. -- of people and had very little benefit besides being able to instant message obscure people from your childhood who think you're a weirdo for trying to get in touch.
Some would have argued that even getting a MySpace was an outwardly stupid idea, but regarding that I will hide behind the idiocy of my youth.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by bzipitidoo on Sunday January 20 2019, @03:03AM (1 child)
What do you do when your employer requires you to get and use a Facebook account?
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Sunday January 20 2019, @03:20AM
Simple: If they don't want to hire you on account of not having a Facebook account, then don't pursue the job (with exceptions - If you are a big-shot or are applying for a public-facing job, then bite the bullet).
If you feel you must, then adapt: Use the strictest privacy controls and generate some fake friends to have normal, healthy conversations with your public persona. I'm a bad person to ask, but there are plenty of experts elsewhere who could provide guidance in this matter.
Real nerds have an easy way out of this if the job is highly technical: Just say that you are familiar with security and have a lack of faith considering data-breaches. Data-breaches are all figured in to the cost-benefit analysis and you'd rather not be one of the dumb ones, of course you will not say that all to their face. If a technical manage is dumb enough to challenge you in this matter, chances are that they've been hacked before and should understand.
(Score: 2) by Spamalope on Sunday January 20 2019, @12:14AM
Well, via things like their tools other devs build in they track everywhere, hoovering with abandon.
So throw rocks in.
If they're going to take everything, feed lots of false stuff and poison that database.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Sunday January 20 2019, @04:02AM
How otherwise would I have ever found a now grown woman that I was smitten with in the fourth grade?
My own second cousin.
And my perennial example: my own first cousin Chuck Crawford. The man can code FORTRAN but can't use email, only Facebook and Facebook Messenger.
He teaches at a graduate architectural school; that school's _entire_ website is a whole whack of PDFs.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Sunday January 20 2019, @04:04AM (2 children)
My own FB feed lets me know about:
- Animal Cruelty
- Human Trafficking
- Saudi War Atrocities In Yemen
- Innocent, Unarmed And Young Dead Black Man
- Child Slavery In Chocolate Cultivation
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 20 2019, @02:44PM (1 child)
I to, get news about those plantations because
the best chocolate and coffee is produced by beaten children
the more blood they spill, the more violence they endure, the better it taste
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Sunday January 20 2019, @06:27PM
That's why I purchase _only_ Fair Trade chocolate and coffee, and only hang at those cafes which serve it.
Starbucks for one; that's the _specific_ reason I spend so much time here, and not at all because I'm into their payment app - I'm not and not at all for the coffee, but only because Someone Must Think Of The Children! ;-0
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]