Slashdot Mirror


Facebook Threatens To Delete Users' Photos If They Don't Install Moments app (betanews.com)

Mark Wilson, reporting for BetaNews: Not content with forcing people into using its Messenger app, Facebook is continuing its aggressive tactics and driving users to install its photo-sharing app, Moments. The social network has warned users that their photos face deletion if they fail to use the Moments app. Unsurprisingly, this has led to a huge surge in interest in the app, pushing it to the top of the download charts. Facebook says it is going to delete Synced Albums and Synced Photos if Moments is not installed by July 7, sending warning emails to a number of users. This has understandably led to panic installations of Moments as people sought to protect the photos that have been automatically synchronized from their phone. It's important to note that it is only these synced photos that are at risk, but it's clear that there is an element of confusion about what Facebook is planning to delete.

31 of 189 comments (clear)

  1. Why does this cause surprise or panic? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "only these synced photos that are at risk, but it's clear that there is an element of confusion about what Facebook is planning to delete."

    No, it's clear that you should not use Facebook for informaiton you care about, or at all if you care about your privacy.

    1. Re:Why does this cause surprise or panic? by reboot246 · · Score: 5, Informative

      It's clear that you should not use Facebook for anything. Ever.

      I can't really feel sorry for the ones who do lose their photos. They take photos with a crappy cell phone camera and then Facebook compresses the hell out of them. What? You didn't save them somewhere else? Tough. Even if you save them from Facebook, all you have is tiny little files that are masquerading as photos.

      My bother's two daughters, both college educated, are like that. They never back up the photos from their phones. They just depend on Facebook. The photos look okay on a phone, not so much on a 24" monitor. And forget about printing them.

    2. Re:Why does this cause surprise or panic? by TigerPlish · · Score: 2

      How quaint! So 20th Century. Imagine, they used to always do photos on paper, or all things....

      They'll never see an image slowly appear before your eyes submerged in a tray of developer in a room lit only by an orange lamp..

      I miss it, and I don't miss it. My romantic side, the side that likes Rachmaninoff and Beethoven misses it.

      My nose doesn't miss it.

      --
      The "Civilized World" jumped the shark ca. 1973.
    3. Re:Why does this cause surprise or panic? by mrzaph0d · · Score: 2

      Sweet Home is what I use. Works great, backs up from my kids, the wife, and mine.

      --
      this is just a placeholder till i send back my real sig from the future.
  2. keep what's yours by Lead+Butthead · · Score: 5, Insightful

    the reason why you should never trust data you want to keep with a third party.

    --
    ELOI, ELOI, LAMA SABACHTHANI!?
    1. Re:keep what's yours by dgatwood · · Score: 4, Interesting

      This. If it isn't under your direct control, it isn't really yours.

      --

      Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.

    2. Re:keep what's yours by Threni · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Well, when you're using a free service, anyway.

      If I was in a restaurant, or getting someone to fix my car or paint my house and i wasn't giving them any money I'd set my expectations accordingly.

      If you want to keep your pictures safe, just don't upload them to facebook and hope they'll keep them safe foryou forever; spend a few pennies on a usb key and keep them safe yourself forever, and/or store them on google photos.

      This really isn't something which should a surprise a developmentally normal adult.

    3. Re:keep what's yours by TigerPlish · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Entire generations are forgetting that. It's not just the Millenials -- I'm an "X" and I find most of my friends have shunned physical media wholeheartedly. I look at them like they're crazy.

      Streaming and cloud offer no permanence unless one can store local copies of equal quality.

      I was shocked about 3 years ago when I wanted to add four more "Benno" DVD shelf towers from Ikea to my existing 10. Benno is the foundation of my home cinema storage. I couldn't find them in the store, it said "order only." So I ordered, and paid a fortune in freight because there's no store pickup for special orders.

      SO I got them, put them up, and now, should I want more, i'm screwed unless I buy used. But fortunately, i follow my own storage advice -- whatever you think is adequate, double it.

      The point of the anecdote? Physical is dead, no matter how much we try to cling to it. And entire generations are being suckered into believing this and trusting it! Ugh!

      But of course, this is what the industry wants! Want that movie? Pay for it for every view! Want that song / record? Pay for it for every listen! Or at least a subscription!

      I'm starting to feel physical media was our way of holding "their" content ransom.

      --
      The "Civilized World" jumped the shark ca. 1973.
    4. Re: keep what's yours by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I don't think they're forgetting - they've never really known any different. Most kids these days never experienced the joy of spending a day reloading data from a pile of floppy diskettes.

    5. Re:keep what's yours by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 3, Interesting

      They're wrong. It's a free service because it costs no money. It's a simple as that. Even things which cost you money can result in you losing privacy; nearly always you'll lose more, in fact, because you end up paying via methods which reveal information about you, so that cost - if you want to look at it as a cost - is decreased too when it's free.

      So, those hard drives I bought, are telling the world more about me than if I posted every pic on Facebook? Explain, because I gave them my credit card and get email from the place I bought them from. If I was stupid enough to use FB I'm giving out less info?

      People can say stuff's not free because, for example, Facebook have your photos, or they can sell or use your browsing habits (in a very limited sense), it doesn't impinge on your freedom in any observable way.

      These idiots seem to have a little less freedom after sharing on Facebook: http://mashable.com/2012/12/12...

      I mean, people are free to claim that wifi gives you cancer or whatever but they're just that; baseless, stupid claims.

      Go get a script blocker. Enable it 100 percent. Now start enabling scripts. A whole lot of them are facebook and they are tracking you even if you don't "belong". You'll have to look them up, because unlike Google, Facebook obfuscates where they are sending your info.

      Despite your lofty claims of superiority, you kind sir, are doing a fine imitation of baseless stupidity. Or does Facebook have paid shills here now, because you ar either purposely dissembling, challenged, or paid to distribute the inaccurate info.

      And other people repeat it just because they don't like facebook because they don't have friends or because it's not cool or whatever. Good for them, I saw. Go grow a stupid hipster beard or something.

      You mad bro? Hey, some of us spout it becuse we did the research. And have determined that people like you are spreading BS. I've got friends outside of FB. I see them in person every day. As for "cool", The FaceBook crowd would be on AOL in another era. But they are tracking the bejabbers out of most of us. And in Corporate America, nothing is done without pecuniary purpose.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    6. Re:keep what's yours by ultranova · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Streaming and cloud offer no permanence unless one can store local copies of equal quality.

      But content isn't scarce anymore, so what's the point of permanence?

      Want that movie? Pay for it for every view! Want that song / record? Pay for it for every listen!

      How many movies are worth watching more than - or even - once? Go to a theater if you want to see big-budget special effects. For everything else, there's Youtube and endless amounts of user-generated content. And the same goes for music.

      Not worrying about permanence or control is perfectly rational when the Internet makes content like the air we breath: always there, just inhale when you need it and don't worry about it otherwise. Yes, some gulps of air smell sweeter than others, but there will be others just as sweet, so why try to cling to them? It's us old farts who carefully store pressurized containers because we're haunted by our memories of pre-photosynthesis days who are the irrational ones :).

      --

      Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.

    7. Re:keep what's yours by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 2

      "Doo...facebook users are so stupid, like AOL users were...gu-hoo gu-hoo gu-hoo! Wake up, sheeple!". You're quite the rebel prophet, aren't you?

      That's an amazing quote you made up for me. I now understand why you don't understand when people make direct replies to your fallacious statements - you are one of those people who have imaginary arguments with people in your head. And when you can make up shit for them to say, you can win them all.

      And to eliminate all the other stuff you've posted, and to your earlier comments, There is no such thing as a free lunch. Never has been, never will be. If a person wants to store their images on Facebook, they do pay for it in one way or another. You say otherwise.

      I say I do my backups on machines that I control, and like it that way. And there are some very good reasons for that. Not free, but worth the price.

      You can have the last post, dear chachalaca, and declare yourself the winner. You can even make up some new quotes - or as some of us say - lies - for me to say. Declare yourself the winner, and collect one internet. I don't have discussions with people who make up things I was supposed to say, then draw a conclusion about me from what they made up.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
  3. Strange game. by TigerPlish · · Score: 4, Funny

    The only winning move is not to play.

    --
    The "Civilized World" jumped the shark ca. 1973.
  4. That's OK by theshowmecanuck · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Delete them. I won't upload photos to Facebook anymore. End of issue.

    --
    -- I ignore anonymous replies to my comments and postings.
  5. those who dont use these sites by nimbius · · Score: 4, Insightful

    are left to wonder, is this cycle of trust, greed, and betrayal an inextricable part of the experience? Is the lennart pottering libertarian stance of "well no ones making you use it" simply how we're to approach these cabals of internet service? They do no wrong, offer a service, and we're to accept the illusion of choice?

    shouldnt we, the product of sites like facebook, have more say in how the site is managed or what happens to our data? or are these sites just doomed to decline, obsolescence, and venture capital buyout without any accountability for the years of activity they had on the web vis-a-vis AOL?

    --
    Good people go to bed earlier.
  6. Finally a way to delete your account? by mattwarden · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Perhaps with enough threats like this my "deactivated" account will one day actually be deleted like I would prefer

  7. By Delete them by bobstreo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    they mean, remove them from your ability to access them.

      I'm guessing they're probably planning on holding onto them, and using them for pattern training, facial recognition and future blackmail..

  8. You are the product, not the customer by NotInHere · · Score: 4, Informative

    For facebook, you are the product, not the customer. I don't get it why people think otherwise and then first use it and after that get upset if they get treated like a product.

    Don't make a facebook account, that's it.

  9. The pattern is clear by zuki · · Score: 2

    This is only the beginning of the systematic rape of users and their data. Once tech companies have passed certain milestones in terms of size and user base, this power they hold over the plumbing infallibly goes to their collective heads.

    Just as Microsoft with the Windows 10 upgrades. It's merely a confirmation that we must find ways around entrusting our digital assets to such 'for-profit' outfits. They're obviously banking their entire business model on the fact that they will be able to monetize the user data for far more than what it's costing them, offering "free" as a way to entice them in.

    While it's not sexy, there needs to be the open-source equivalent, sort of what Android is to Windows but for social networks. Something that is community-supported, and allows people more freedom, even if the price is less curation and more chaos. Sort of like... The Internet?

  10. Re:Panic in the (facebook) city by coastwalker · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Facebook is fine so long as you do not use it for social networking. Great for cat pictures, great for liking random products. Just do not use it for anything personal.

    --
    Facts are history now plebs have politics for religion on social media.
  11. Re:FB was always anti-social by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    This is only the beginning...of the anti-social network

    You think this is the beginning of the antisocial network? Zuckerberg, the highly socially skilled coder, thinks you're a dumbfuck: http://www.businessinsider.com...

    With story after story about the above, and Facebook's treatment of its users, all the privacy problems, etc ... anyone who continues to use it falls under at least one of two categories: they enjoy the abuse, or they're morons.

    You would have to be pretty stupid to be on the world's most massive and well-connected global communications network, and still think you need a particular web site to communicate.

  12. It can't be legal, at least not in EU by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    I know that americans firmly believe that it's the god-given right of companies to screw them any way they like, but it doesn't work that way in the rest of the world, particularly not in the EU.

    Here companies have a legal duty of care to the public which is codified in a large number of consumer and data protection laws, and those laws have teeth.

    A company has the right to implement anything they want on their own machinery, but that right doesn't extend to the machinery of others. They don't own their user's equipment and so they can't mandate that a user install anything on it. Even less can they threaten users with destruction of data or loss of access if they fail to comply with what appears to be an unlawful request.

    Facebook runs a web service, not an end-to-end delivery service running on set-top boxes or other equipment leased from Facebook over which they could have legal control. In trying to assert control over equipment which they do not own, they appear to have exceeded the boundaries of their legal rights. The threats just make it worse.

  13. The Cloud s a synonym for someone else's computer by mTor · · Score: 4, Insightful

    That's all it really is. You're basically entrusting your data with companies that have to somehow make money off you or off your data.

    So don't be surprised when they pull crap like this on you.

  14. Re:Moments app? by taustin · · Score: 2

    Since it apparently only affects synced photos, yeah, apparently, it is a smartphone only thing. That much is in the summary.

  15. What this actually means..? by bug_hunter · · Score: 3, Interesting

    So can someone explain if the following is true as it's my understanding:

    * Facebook can be configured to automatically sync photos from your mobile device.
    * That makes it super quick to share a photo. (and probably gives Facebook access to all your photos without user intervention)
    * Now Facebook will discard the server side copy of photos that you never shared or put into an album unless you install moments?

    Sorry if I've got my facts wrong, though it's so hard to work out the actual facts when 99% of discussion is Facebook bashing rather than fact discussing.
    (No fan of Facebook policies here myself, just annoyed at how hard it is to work out what's going on outside of "Facebook = evil")

    --
    It's turtles all the way down.
    1. Re:What this actually means..? by Christopher+Fritz · · Score: 4, Informative

      As I understand it, the Facebook app had a feature to synchronize photos you've taken to Facebook. This feature has been removed from the Facebook app, and put into a separate app (which probably has extra features related specifically to managing synced photos, I'm guessing). If you used the synchronization feature in the Facebook app, you need to install the Moments app to continue to use that feature. Anything synced from the Facebook app will be deleted, unless "transferred" to synchronizing from the Moments app. A feature from one app is being branched off to another app. If you want to use that feature, there's a more specific place for it now.

      I've never used any of these apps, so I don't know how accurate this is. It's just what I gather from reading some articles on this.

  16. That's a MASSIVE breach of copyright by Khyber · · Score: 2

    I've read and done term searching on FaceBook's ToS. Nothing in their ToS states that you have given them the right to DESTROY your copyrighted material.

    Sue their ass under the DMCA for violating and destroying your copyright. They voted for this law, time to put it to use against them.

    --
    Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
  17. I don't use Facebook mobile by ubergeek65536 · · Score: 2

    I wouldn't care if Facebook deleted everything but how many people don't use Facebook via a phone? I refuse to use apps that have access to my contact lists, sms messages, and call history.

  18. LOL, too funny by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 2

    Serves people right for using Facebook.

    Grovel, you worthless worms, and swear fealty to the Almighty Zuckerberg!

    --
    Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
  19. Creepiness, creeping in... by Howitzer86 · · Score: 2

    Sometimes I avoid doing things without a clear logical reason... like photo synching with cloud stuff. Every cloud company is trying to get at my photos, but not everything is something I want on a server somewhere... so I never did it and found the push to do it by various apps to be annoying. I pay for Dropbox, so I'm not being a Luddite. I was just unwilling to upload my pictures automatically to everything everywhere.

    Good to see that my not-completely-rational avoidance of these things can have a rational basis. Between this and Apple's cloud music problem, I'm in no rush to give up control of my content to a third party.

    On that note, imagine for a moment if Facebook were to replace all of your photos with generic whitewashed sitcom versions of the same thing, starring actors with perfect teeth and hair. Wouldn't that be creepy? That's basically what Apple did to people's cloud synched music. Unique, hard to find versions of specific songs... potentially lost forever, replaced with whatever official version Apple has.

    Honestly the whole thing is creepy when you get down to it. Even Microsoft's effort to force installs of Windows 10. What's going on in Silicon Valley (or Redmond/or this generation of the tech sector in general)?!

  20. Re: Panic in the (facebook) city by vivian · · Score: 2

    Facebook is great if you're a marketer. They are a data/ad company, not a social network.

    No its not - I have a web based business that has thousands of likes for our products on the facebook page but even during the period when we were getting the most likes, they never translated into actual sales or noticeably extra visits to our website.

    In my case, I saw a very low conversion rate between between likes and resulting extra traffic - let alone actual sales.