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Senators Tell Facebook To Quit Sharing Users' Info
Hugh Pickens notes a USA Today story reporting that two US senators have joined Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) in telling Facebook to quit sharing more of its users' data than they signed up for. Politico.com ups USA Today's ante, saying that it was
three more senators, not two more, who
joined Schumer's call: Michael Bennet (D-CO), Mark Begich (D-AK), and Al Franken (D-MN). The senators are asking the FTC to look at Facebook's controversial new information-sharing policies, arguing that the massively popular social network overstepped its bounds when it began sharing user data with other websites. Sen. Schumer said he learned about the new rules from his daughter, who is in law school, but added that he's noticed no difference on his own Facebook page, which, he assured reporters, "is very boring." "I can attest to that," deadpanned Franken, who made his living as a comedian before entering the Senate, and whose Facebook followers outnumber Schumer's by ten to one.
This. If they said it in the beginning, that's one thing. But telling us one thing, then later changing it and saying "well, all you need to do is tell us not to" is nothing more than a slimy practice. And I don't buy the "Well, we told you that we reserved the right to do it" argument. If they added controls to "opt-out" today, then they are acknowledging that there's more to it than what was written initially. What's the difference between that, and me going up to you on a busy street and saying "If you don't tell me no, your house is now mine" even if you didn't even hear it? Isn't that basically what they are doing here?
If a man isn't willing to take some risk for his opinions, either his opinions are no good or he's no good
The Senators aren't telling people how to use Facebook, they're telling Facebook how (not) to use their customer's data.
"Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
It amazes me that he ever made any sort of a living as a "comedian", given that his entire "funny" schtick (yes, I read his books... *shudder*) is calling his political opponents foul-mouthed names
You do realise the man was one of the original writers for SNL, right? He didn't get into political comedy until his comedy career's third decade.
Last i knew you could NOT make facebook purge your data from their systems after you quit. So thats the big problem here for me, if i get new terms when i log in, and i disagree, i should get a button that lets me gather a copy of my data and then make you delete it.
All of the above was encrypted with a Quad ROT-13 method. Unauthorized decryption is in violation of the DMCA.
When Facebook added this "feature", the next time I logged in I was prompted with a big-ole dialog window informing me of all the changes, the implications of privacy, and how to change it if I didn't like the new settings.
That's all I really ask for and I don't find it unreasonable that Facebook is trying to get in as many areas as possible (through sharing everyone's stuff).
It's really easy to cancel a Facebook account too.
So? You make it a point to emphasize that it is a service that they provide to you. And somehow this makes it ok for them to change their terms of service at any time? Suppose I own a house cleaning business. Each of my customers signs a service agreement that says I will clean their house every week and I will then charge their credit card for a specific amount after each cleaning. The fine print says I can change the agreement at any time. A few weeks into the agreement, I decide to start charging the credit card twice as much as usual. Which is ok because I can change the agreement at any time right? Do you really think that logic would hold up in court?
Three days from now?? Thats tomorrow!! ~Peter Griffin