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."
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: 5, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Sunday January 27 2019, @01:48PM (4 children)
Of course we need to merge all of our assets! How else can we correlate our data mining between the platforms? Did you think we surveil our members for FREE?
(Score: 4, Interesting) by zocalo on Sunday January 27 2019, @03:16PM
UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
(Score: 3, Interesting) by fustakrakich on Sunday January 27 2019, @04:38PM (2 children)
The anti-trust thing is still bullshit. This isn't like the railroads or oil, where you can denied service. If you want to make data worthless, give it away freely to the government, who has it anyway, and demand fully open access to yours.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Sunday January 27 2019, @10:08PM (1 child)
Google much?
GMail?
Picasa, Perhaps?
Get your data from google - they'll supply it - post it on your site then link it from your journal.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Sunday January 27 2019, @11:58PM
I'm sorry, what?
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2, Offtopic) by realDonaldTrump on Sunday January 27 2019, @02:57PM (4 children)
The Weight Loss isn't irrelevant. And the Supplements aren't irrelevant. For many they're truely a life saver. I know because I, very proudly, founded The Trump Network. Doing the CUSTOMIZED Supplements. It's the complete opposite of irrelevant. Because it's exactly what you need -- everything you need and nothing you don't. Thanks to our PATENTED Test. Our Piss Test. Something nobody else thought of, nobody thought could happen. We made it happen, very successfully. But, we didn't stop there. We did the Weight Loss too. The best kind, the kind that works incredibly well and incredibly fast -- the Bariatric. Terrific products and we chose, very wisely, Facebook to market them.
And we did it all as Multi Level Marketing. Where our Customers get a cut of the Profits. And discover the difference between opportunity and success. I'll tell you, Facebook was with us all the way. 100% from the beginning. We'd do an ad where we only want it to go to the folks that really need to lose weight -- Facebook. The ad for folks that, maybe they need to lose the weight, maybe not, but they're worried about it and maybe they have a fat friend -- Facebook. The ad for the folks that don't get enough nutritional -- Facebook. And the ad for the ones that want to know, how's my nutritional -- Facebook again. So amazing. Thank you Facebook!!!! facebook.com/Trump-Network-Patented-In-Home-Testing-for-Customized-Vitamin-Supplements-204344928327 [facebook.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 27 2019, @04:06PM
Didn't work on you did it?
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 27 2019, @06:33PM
If it looks like spam, and it walks like spam and it quacks like spam, then what is it.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Sunday January 27 2019, @08:27PM (1 child)
Some old friends of an old friend met for supper at a restaurant when our old friend was in town.
The Bariatric Surgery Patient was lovely, but _always_ hungry. It's just that she could eat no more than a small snack at any one time.
In the end, she walked out without paying for her supper.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2, Funny) by anubi on Sunday January 27 2019, @11:12PM
Wanna lose weight?
Hire ME as your personal chef!
Hell, even I have a hard time eating it.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 27 2019, @03:35PM (9 children)
At least non-jews will have some inhibitions about selling you down the river. The khazar jews have nothing stopping them. They have no empathy and will forever be the enemy, that is, until they are all rounded up and kept on a island and watched until they die off.
When using a product or service see if there are khazar jews involved and if they are, then run in the other direction. The jews are not your friend. They call you animals and do everything to harm you and your family. The criminal jew must be kept out of all business. Look into BDS (Ban, Divestment, Sanctions).
(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]
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Sunday January 27 2019, @04:32PM (7 children)
You're so stupid. Like, an Italian will never screw you over in business. Ever heard of the Mafia? No Englishman will ever rip you off, either. Remember all the treaties the English signed with native Americans, before the US came along? All violated, by the English. No Spaniard, no Bohemian, no Russian - in fact, no European would ever fuck you when you least expect it.
Except for those few Jews who I can identify on the internet, like Zuck, I don't think I've ever beed ripped off by a Jew. I've certainly been ripped off by black and white Americans, as well as some Latinos.
Why don't you take some time to sit in a corner, and just grow the fuck up?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 27 2019, @04:42PM
Well jeeze! You're sure an easy catch! Can't believe you fell for that! Don't feed the bears!
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 27 2019, @05:22PM
Remember, zuck didn't rip anyone off. people expose themselves to him for their own pleasure. he then in turn sells that as his business model.
(Score: 4, Informative) by HiThere on Sunday January 27 2019, @05:27PM (2 children)
Actually, the English Crown was rather honorable in respecting treaties with Native Americans. It was the settlers and the local governments that broke the treaties right and left. In a way this is reasonable, as the English government wanted to keep the settlers weak and dependent upon it, so the treaties that they signed which affected the settlers were designed with that end in mind.
That said, from an ethical point of view, rather than power politics, the English government's relations with the Native American tribal governments was superior to, say, their treatment of France, and definitely superior to the actions of the local government representatives. Look into the history of the Iroquois Confederacy.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday January 27 2019, @06:31PM (1 child)
Is there any difference at all between "rather honorable" and "scrupulously honorable"?
(Score: 2) by lentilla on Monday January 28 2019, @12:41AM
Yes, there is a difference. A "scrupulously honourable" man will report their son to the police when he comes home with a dime-bag of weed. A "rather honourable" man will explain to his son that he would prefer to never see dope in his house again.
(Score: 1, Flamebait) by Azuma Hazuki on Sunday January 27 2019, @05:43PM
You're being trolled, idiot. This guy is doing the equivalent of posting a goatse link.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 27 2019, @09:24PM
You're too stupid to even read. One of the stupidest americans around.
//At least non-jews will have some inhibitions.
At least the non-jew will have _some_ humanity; the khazar jews have none.
But you're too stupid to remember that.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Sunday January 27 2019, @08:25PM
I regard blocking the entire facebook.com domain as a non-starter: there are two billion people who use facebook once per month.
A simple way to block the Facebook Pixel is to use a proxy which either blocks or rewrites that particular URI; I'll get back to you on its format.
But For Google Analytics, put this in your /etc/hosts on *NIX (including macOS). Again I'll get back to you on the location of the Windows Hosts File:
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 27 2019, @09:30PM
Facebook's business model is also funded by the nanny state.