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Mark Zuckerberg Is Dictator Of Facebook Nation; There's No Democracy Online: The Pirate Bay Founder (cnbc.com)
Facebook CEO and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg is the "dictator" of "the biggest nation in the world," says Peter Sunde, co-founder of the controversial website The Pirate Bay. Sunde, who appeared at The Next Web conference on Friday, added that there is "no democracy" online. From a CNBC report: "People in the tech industry have a lot of responsibilities but they never really discuss these things... Facebook is the biggest nation in the world and we have a dictator, if you look at it from a democracy standpoint, Mark Zuckerberg is a dictator. I did not elect him. He sets the rules," Sunde said. "And really you can't opt out of Facebook. I'm not on Facebook but there are a lot of drawbacks in my offline world. No party invitations, no updates from my friends, people stop talking to you, because you're not on Facebook. So it has real life implications."
I'm not obliged to use Facebook. If people want to sell their brains to Mark Zuckerberg, that's their right, but it's hardly a dictatorship in any meaningful use of the word. When we're all forced at gunpoint to use Facebook, then the article may have a point.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
And really you can't opt out of Facebook. I'm not on Facebook but there are a lot of drawbacks in my offline world. No party invitations, no updates from my friends, people stop talking to you, because you're not on Facebook. So it has real life implications.
So start your OWN free-to-users social media platform. Figure out how to pay for that mammoth infrastructure and operations overhead while making it perfect for users like you who want nothing to do with any system that involves advertising or user profiles - and you'll have a millions of users instantly. It will be fascinating to see how you solve the problem that people at Google, Microsoft, and other fly-by-night operations haven't been able to solve (specifically, making people like you happy while not having the platform run at a financial loss).
If you actually care about social event invitations, etc., just set up a FB account, tell it to drop notifications to a burner mailbox, and never sign in using your normal every day browser sessions. Need to look at it? Fire up an incognito sessions, socially interact for 10 minutes so you don't miss that party you're whining about, then kill the session an go back to focusing on running that content piracy web site you're trying to keep alive.
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
I understand that with the exception of major-life events (e.g. weddings), good-old-fashioned written invitations have largely gone the way of the dodo, but most parties I've gone to have been word-of-mouth invitations. Either Sunde is overestimating his sans-Facebook popularity or he needs to reassess the (and possibly revert to the pre-Facebook-era) definition of "friend." Last I checked, it means something other than "acquaintance."
Let me know the next time Facebook:
Takes your property without your consent.
Prohibits you from leaving.
Stops you from saying what you wish to say.
Threatens your livelihood or your life.
Throws you in jail without a trial.
Forces you to interact with it against your will.
Executes your entire family for a political view.
Love sees no species.
Try walking into a deli and urinating on the cheese...
Really though, what is this idiot entitlement that tells you that you have any rights on a site someone else is paying for?
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
" No party invitations, no updates from my friends, people stop talking to you, because you're not on Facebook."
Sounds like you have a loose definition of the word "friend" or you need new ones. I've refused to use FB since it's inception and never have I had an issue that wasn't solved by easier and less obtrusive means.
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This article brings into focus the traditional justification of states in terms of being something you are subject to because you choose to live within its borders. The failure of the USSR to allow its citizens to leave was therefore one of the reasons why it was illegitimate. By contrast forgoing the benefits of FB out of a sense of a lack of democracy does not pass the rationality test; what am I seriously losing here by using FB? And remember the line about emails; the bad news is that MS reads your emails. The good news is that it reads ALL your emails - and can't actually do anything significant with them.
I beg to differ. We had a vote. Myspace and Google+ lost.
Someone else might win in the next election. But who knows when that will be.
How many divisions does Mr. Zuckerberg command? Any destroyers? Air Forces? Can he actually stop his "citizens" from buying what they want; from his competitor if they choose? There are still real dictators in power on this planet today. Mr. Zuckerberg falls far short of qualifying.
>"I'm not on Facebook but there are a lot of drawbacks in my offline world. No party invitations, no updates from my friends, people stop talking to you, because you're not on Facebook. So it has real life implications."
I know exactly what you mean. I, too, refuse to participate in Facebook for a variety of very valid reasons. And you are correct, there are repercussions... not from Facebook, but from the others who use it and try to "force" everyone around them to do so also. So far, I have been able to work around most of those repercussions.
Still, it is a shame that one company has so much potential power over the population.... and not just the obvious privacy implications, but (as we are seeing) the political and financial power too. As more and more people pour all their resources, information, advertising, support, and time into this single, proprietary company, that power and its potential for corruption and misuse increases.
I know lots of people who don't use Facebook, and we all get along just fine. However, we are of an age where we still remember how to make phone calls, send invitations via mail (e-mail or USPS), and make plans in advance for what we are going to do.
Are friends really friends if they neglect you in their social life just because you don't use a particular on-line social media platform? I'm truly wondering on this question, because I don't hang around in social circles where this is required. What do those who do think?
So start your OWN free-to-users social media platform. Figure out how to pay for that mammoth infrastructure and operations overhead while making it perfect for users like you who want nothing to do with any system that involves advertising or user profiles - and you'll have a millions of users instantly.
It doesn't work that way. Unfortunately, Facebook is a natural monopoly--the network effects are massive and capture the market, and while the infrastructure cost of entering the market is relatively low, the user acquisition cost when competing against them becomes massive. No effective competitor has emerged in a decade. They are practically a utility and real consideration should be given to at least a certain level of regulation for such reasons as consumer privacy, accountability, and limiting the potential for abuse of market power. The current generation of regulators will not see that, but give it ten or fifteen years.
Real lawyers write in C++
Perhaps you should try to find some real friends then.
It doesn't have to be like this. All we need to do is make sure we keep talking.
Yeah he says:
"really you can't opt out of Facebook. I'm not on Facebook "
Not sure what he thinks the word "can't" means. I'm don't use Facebook either. I still get party invites, often via my wife.
I actually created a Facebook account many years ago which I never use, so I COULD log in and use it if I wanted to.
People tell me that I am the last human on earth who is not signed up. I tell them I have enough things wasting my time without it. Sure, I don't know where my high school classmates are shitting this afternoon, or which starbucks beverage is the favorite amongst my cousin's colleageus, but I am fully certain that I can live without that information. In the outside chance that anything of any value is posted there, plenty of people I know in the real world can tell me about it.
I have a real world to experience, thank you.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
Facebook is a big data corporation aimed at monetizing your personal information.. Of course it's going to be a dictatorship. Since when are corporations not dictatorships? They want to tell people how to think, feel, and believe.
This is a societal issue, not a technological issue. It's somewhat odd that such a smart individual would blur the lines. Food for thought.
No party invitations, no updates from my friends, people stop talking to you, because you're not on Facebook.
You say that like it's a bad thing.
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
Anyone else read that as "I don't have time to spend at parties and friends are for children"?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Facebook is either going to fly a few thousand WiFi drones or thousands of WiFi satellites to cover the entire planet. Why would they be doing that?
While I think that Pirate Bay guys suck hard (I spent my life creating content that they pirated), I don't think in this particular case he's wrong.
I love Mondays. On a Monday, anything is possible.
Good, let him be the dictator of Facebook. Democracy isn't without its pitfalls so that is hardly an argument about someone setting the rules for the social site he created and is responsible for. Socrates taught us a pure democracy devolves into anarchy and ultimately results in a dictator anyhow so maybe Mark is just ahead of the curve.
As for being a Facebook me,ber, I've never joined and I've honestly never missed it. Not having a Facebook account has zero impact on me. I still talk to my family and friends and I can still use the Internet just fine!
Sounds like this guy needs to stop whining and get better friends.
You know.you don't actually HAVE to join or keep using Facebook right?
There is total democracy. You vote by your presence or absence. If you don't like the way Facebook or some other social medium works, go somewhere else. Heck, you can create somewhere else - Zuckerberg did it without the resources of a large company. The internet is the freest place available to humanity today.
linquendum tondere
... to become my friend. I'm looking for friends only amongst those who are clever enough not to be on Facebook, and there are plenty of them.
Any instance where you are using someone elses computer system to do whatever, you have to follow their rules.
When I used to be more involved in the operation of MUDs, it was well known in that community that when you're on someones server, you are pretty much a guest in the operator's house. You follow their rules, or you leave, or get kicked out. Nothing new here, Facebook is the property of Facebook, you are the guest. No one is twisting your arm to participate.
That said, I don't really see why Facebook is mandatory to anyone's life. If it is, there's something wrong with your life, IMHO. I use Facebook under an alias (because I was taught in my younger years, you use an alias online, just how we did things.) The only thing I post is funny crap that comes across my wall, and I only use Facebook to get the occasional funny picture or joke.
I'm an inner city school teacher in Baltimore. I've had kids from 6th to 12th grade, and the overwhelming sentiment in the last two years from the kids is that FB is on its way out. Some of them grudgingly have accounts, but most of them--particularly the younger ones--think of it as outdated and for people who are ancient like me. They're using SnapChat and other newer social forms of communication.
Just another side of the coin. Others have said there's no reason to use FB when older tech (or no tech) will do. My students would tell you that it's time to move on to the next thing.
"I do not fear computers. I fear the lack of them." -Isaac Asimov
To tell you the truth I can't think of any negative things that have happened in my life from not being on Facebook. I guess its one of those things where I've never tried it so I don't know what I might be missing.