Slashdot Mirror
CNN Contributor Urges: Stop Calling Facebook a Tech Company (cnn.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a CNN opinion piece by Stanford business school lecturer David Dodson:
"Senator, we run ads." That's what Mark Zuckerberg told Senator Orrin Hatch earlier this year during his congressional testimony when asked to describe Facebook's business model. The 84-year-old senator was later mocked on social media for not understanding modern technology. But I'd argue that the wily senior senator understood Facebook's business quite well. Hatch was simply getting Mark Zuckerberg to say it out loud. Sometimes it takes an old guy to call out a youngster....
For media companies that run ads, especially ones that use public networks, we tell them that they can't lie or mislead, that it's not okay to advertise cigarettes to children or push prescription drugs without including the risks. We have laws governing deceptive advertisements and Truth in Advertising laws. Companies that run ads can't say a car gets 40 miles per gallon unless it's true. They can't say a movie won an Academy Award unless it did. If you say the wool comes from New Zealand, it must.... When nearly half of Americans get their news from Facebook, its newsfeed should be subjected to the same standards of fairness, decency and accuracy as newspapers, television and other media outlets....
Calling Facebook a tech company is how we got into so much trouble. It's also why, when Zuckerberg answered Hatch, the 34-year-old billionaire smiled in a way that was interpreted by many as smug. As if the senator was too antiquated to grasp the complexities of Facebook's revenue model. I see it differently. The company founder was offering a grin of acknowledgment. The jig was up. Facebook places ads just like most media companies do and should be held to the same overall standards.
For media companies that run ads, especially ones that use public networks, we tell them that they can't lie or mislead, that it's not okay to advertise cigarettes to children or push prescription drugs without including the risks. We have laws governing deceptive advertisements and Truth in Advertising laws. Companies that run ads can't say a car gets 40 miles per gallon unless it's true. They can't say a movie won an Academy Award unless it did. If you say the wool comes from New Zealand, it must.... When nearly half of Americans get their news from Facebook, its newsfeed should be subjected to the same standards of fairness, decency and accuracy as newspapers, television and other media outlets....
Calling Facebook a tech company is how we got into so much trouble. It's also why, when Zuckerberg answered Hatch, the 34-year-old billionaire smiled in a way that was interpreted by many as smug. As if the senator was too antiquated to grasp the complexities of Facebook's revenue model. I see it differently. The company founder was offering a grin of acknowledgment. The jig was up. Facebook places ads just like most media companies do and should be held to the same overall standards.
Users are the product! Facebook doesn't need to run ads, the companies and political parties already know to come to Facebook to buy users!
Stop calling CNN a news company.
Googles buisness model is also ads. Should we tell them tonrestrict their search engine to what is deemed to be truthy?
Stop Calling CNN A News Channel
"Data theft company catering to the clueless" is less buzzy but more honest.
You can argue all day about whether a creative work has merit, but arguing about whether it's art is ridiculous. Facebook sure as hell isn't in the hospitality business, or manufacturing. Their technology is all in advertising, but technology has been used in advertising as long as there's been advertising. Of course Facebook is a tech company, just like an advertisement in a magazine is art.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Compared to Fox or Breitbart, Sesame Street is a news company AND more fact-based, and probably employs more trustworthy actors even if they have to wear muppet outfits - as they do so knowingly.
Google is an ad company too. That's where they make their money.
Compared to Fox or Breitbart, Sesame Street is a news company AND more fact-based, and probably employs more trustworthy actors even if they have to wear muppet outfits -as they do so knowingly.
Facebook is not a newspaper. Its more like a town square where people are going about browsing in various shops, gossipping with their neighbors and hanging out. To shout fire in such a place and cause a stampede which leads to deaths is not an exercise of the first amendment. We need to go after Facebook with public order laws not just truth in advertizing laws
**Life is too short to be serious**
Like Twitter and other politically liberal companies, Facebook censors information.
In a previous century, Christian clergymen declared that factual statements from some scientists (e.g., Galileo Galilei) are offensive. The clergymen shouted, "Blasphemy! Heresy!" They used religious emotion to suppress the truth.
In the current century, Hispanics (and Africans) and their political accomplices declare that factual statements from some conservative populists (e.g., Ann Coulter) are offensive. Hispanics shout, "Bigotry! Racism! White Supremacy!" They use religious emotion to suppress the truth. (Consider one example of the truth.)
Upon hearing accusations of racism, Facebook promptly bans the writer (of the truth) and deletes his comments.
Suppressing the truth in the past or the present is unethical.
... personal data whore.
The other big box data stores like Apple, Google, Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter are particularly pleased that Facebook is at the lead of the media and legislation bow shock.
It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
Of course FB is an advertising company that tries to hide behind the fiction of "we're just connecting people!" Isn't that the BS that every marketer since the snake in the garden has pushed?
Wake up sheeple, our economy, our nation (and every other industrial nation), and our very existence depends on consumerism, and therefore marketing. This is a doublethink that makes it nearly impossible to perceive the true insidious nature of marketing -- lies for profit.
"They're just as biased and misleading as Fox." - Factually incorrect, sorry. You can say you don't like their style but they're orders of magnitude more honest than Fox, which is exclusively for morons now.
"Found the retard that thinks anybody who dislikes CNN can only be a white fascist imbred racist." - And was anyone wrong about you? Nope.
CNN is orders of magnitude more realistic and factual in their coverage, you don't have to "like" them at all. But if you consider Fox News to be actual journalism, you're a fucking moron with your head up your ass.
Period. I didn't actually call you a white fascist inbred racist, by the way, though your advocacy for Fox would be 1:1 in that demographic, so you decide.
They're not the ones lying or misleading, it's the people who actually make the ads or who make the claims that are lying; Facebook itself is just the medium. It's like a newspaper is in the business of collecting and disseminating news, but it's paid for only partially (a small part) by subscriptions... the majority of it's revenue comes from ads. If the newspaper prints an ad that is deceptive or misleading, it's not the one lying... whoever created the ad is.
Facebook's model is not that dissimilar to that of a newspaper, although they don't charge a subscription cost. Suggesting that a newspaper, or Facebook, should be (or even are) held accountable for third parties who place ads on them (or communicate through them) is pretty much nonsense;newspapers have guidelines on adds they can't place (such as discriminatory housing or job offer ads), but they are not required to verify the validity of third party ads (in general).
Now you can argue that you'd like them to be, but we've already seen how that works out with them 86'ing lying conspiracy theory asshats like Alex Jones, and then they get (a very loud) feedback loop by those lied to who still want to believe the lies, and then push even more lies like the whole "bias against conservatives." The real answer would be directing the remedy (whatever that is) towards those who actually produce the misleading or false ads in the first place.
Fascism: An authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization. See also: NAZI's
Big tech should have stayed an ad company.
Let the users be the "publishers" and have the full protection of been a "utility".
Now that big tech wants to ban, report, detect and curate users they have become more than just an ad company.
Wonder when the full protection of the Communications Decency Act stops when a platform becomes a publisher?
Want art great Section 230 to stay? Just let your users content pass.
Start to publish and take political sides? Become a partisan censor?
What was government protected allowed platforms to grow.
Try for algorithmic and human political censorship and the gov free expression legal protections stop as the "ad" company is now just another publisher.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
Facebook is the one who RUNS the ads. They don't MAKE the ads.
In the analogy, Facebook is CNN. They are not Ford or SC Johnson or whoever is doing the advertising, the ones who "truth in advertising" laws are relevant to. CNN is not able to be held liable for ensuring that the ads they run are factual; and neither can Facebook be.
Futhermore, Facebook can't be held liable for non-ad content on the platform being factual just as CNN can't be held liable every time their pundits make a false assertion.
And we need to stop calling Uber a tech company, too. It's just a taxi company.
Think of all the Christmas Markets which get setup around this time. They need permits and its the job of the organizer to provide security (or pay the police dept for it). Facebook has setup the largest Christmas in the Park and not spent anything on security. So yeah we need to take their permit away and shut them down till they spend enough on security to ensure the safety of the general public attending.
**Life is too short to be serious**
At least he's not spamming wordpress blogs... well, not exactly.
[($)]
As who? CNN? CNN is racism central. "The National Enquirer" has better reporters.
I've seen so many lies from CNN, I distrust everything until verified. .
See subject & results in https://linux.slashdot.org/com... https://news.slashdot.org/comm... https://apple.slashdot.org/com... https://it.slashdot.org/commen... https://it.slashdot.org/commen... https://it.slashdot.org/commen... https://it.slashdot.org/commen... https://it.slashdot.org/commen... https://it.slashdot.org/commen... https://search.slashdot.org/co... https://it.slashdot.org/commen... https://it.slashdot.org/commen...
* That's only recently while I've been on Linux (July 2018) & 100's of times vs. MANY other botnets/malwares etc. in the past circa 2006-early 2018 while I was on Windows: CONCRETE VISIBLE UNDENIABLE REALITY (see those links as proof). ... & that's ONLY what /. reported on (there are FAR more)
APK
P.S.=> "It's working: Neville... it's working!" - "I AM LEGEND"... apk
"classic Windows hosts trick to block the Coinhive or Crypto-Loot domains" - https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/a-new-player-joins-coinhive-on-the-browser-cryptojacking-scene/ - BLEEPING COMPUTER
ZD NET http://www.zdnet.com/article/how-to-use-a-hosts-file-to-improve-your-internet-experience/ "Hosts files really shine by letting you block ads, spyware sites, malware sites, & tracking sites"
SANS ("A related approach to the DNS issue is to create a hosts file on each system that sends requests for spyware to some place else" hosts by myself & RAMU right @ START of "malware explosion" mid 2005 on) https://isc.sans.edu/forums/di...
Aryeh Goretsky/ESET/NOD32: hosts = good security https://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=7442373&.cid=49747129/
Oliver Day (SYMANTEC/SECURITYFOCUS) http://www.securityfocus.com/columnists/491/
Spybot S&D uses hosts.
APK
P.S.=> Malwarebytes' hpHosts hosts & RECOMMENDS my program forum.hosts-file.net/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=4290
Who did it 1st: China or me? I did - dates are my proof https://theregister.co.uk/2017... w/ the FACT China rampantly STEALS U.S. Intellectual properties & military secrets!
* IMITATION truly IS the SINCEREST FORM of FLATTERY!!!
(... & proves hosts work vs. DNS faults in tracking you via dns request logs (since you avoid it & resolve FASTER locally using hosts) + DNS being downed OR Kaminsky REDIRECT security flaw misdirected poisoned (or vs. DNSChanger))
ESPECIALLY AS I DISCOVERED MODEMS CHINA MAKES EVEN YOUR ISP CAN'T GET INTO FOR DNS CHANGE (but China can) https://slashdot.org/comments....
APK
P.S.=> Folks, It's NOT EASY being "World-Class" like me (lol - 100,000++ users prove it for me) - enjoy the fruits of my labors for FREE + going FASTER/SAFER/MORE RELIABLY online (w/ a bit more anonymity too via my program)... apk
Your software is just fine - well written, functional... I'm going to continue using the Host File Engine by mmell February 17, 2017
Your premise that hostfiles are a good way to deal with advertising and malvertising is quite valid - by JazzLad April 20, 2016
his hosts program is actually pretty good by xenotransplant August 10 2015
his hosts tool is actually useful for those cases in which one does indeed want to locally block stuff outright while consuming minimum system resources by alexgieg September 25 2015
I like your host file system by Karmashock September 09 2015
that APK guy, I use his host file by rogoshen1 Tuesday March 03, 2015
I personally use a HOSTS file blocker produced from a genius called APK by 110010001000 October 27 2017
* For the Win32/64 model...
APK
P.S.=> Linux model's faster/more efficient/better MERGE feature too - More coming... apk
Apk has the answer for that - really... kill automatic updates by adding a hosts file entry setting updates.steam.com or whatever to 127.0.0.1. You have to find the right hostname for each software you want to block updates on by raymorris (2726007) on Friday July 06, 2018
APK your posts on this and the hosts file posts, and more, have never been in error and/or bad advice by BlueStrat (756137) on Wednesday June 21, 2017
I support APK's stand on the hosts file and can't see why it's not used more than it is. My hosts file is 144247 lines long (4,332 Kb) it & a firewall serves me very well - by Trax3001BBS (2368736)
ABP is insufficient as a solid hosts file does everything APK reminds us about fast turtle September 17 2013
You need APK's hosts file - by Teun (17872) on Wednesday August 06, 2014
* For the Win32/64 model...
APK
P.S.=> Linux model's faster/more efficient + BETTER merge feature - More coming... apk
APK is totally right on this count. Adblock Plus on Firefox mobile is a dog on older, or lower end, phones. A hostfile based adblocker makes for a much better experience in this context. Of course, your phone has to be rooted, which isn't the case with Firefox + adblock." - by chihowa on Saturday May 16, 2015
APK solution STILL relevant Thud457 June 11 2015
In a footnote, I would like to note that I find your hosts file admirable - by vel-ex-tech (4337079) on Tuesday November 24, 2015
APK's monolithic hosts file is looking pretty good at the moment - by Culture20 on Thursday November 17
you're right about hosts files - by drinkypoo (153816) on Thursday May 26
APK, I know people give you a lot of shit regarding hosts, but please don't ever stop - by nasredin (958927) on Friday June 12, 2015 @03:34PM
* For the Win32/64 model...
APK
P.S.=> Linux model's faster/more efficient + BETTER merge feature - More coming... apk
APK is kinda right... I've given up on JS based adblocking and gone to blackholing in /etc/hosts, just like it was back in the 90s. The computational load has gotten intolerable for any ad-blocking using JS. I've tried his hosts file generating software. It works. - by bmo (77928) on Thursday October 15, 2015
get around to 'installing' a hosts file list, not sure which one, likely the one from someonewhocares.org. If it works as well as what I used for a while about ten years ago, I'll be happy. And grateful to APK for the lesson and the reminder. - by kermidge (2221646) on Wednesday March 27
I actually went and downloaded a 16k line hosts file and started using that after seeing that post, you know just for trying it out. some sites load up faster. - by gl4ss (559668) on Thursday November 17
dammit MS, you proved APK right about something by lgw
* For the Win32/64 model...
APK
P.S.=> Linux model's faster/more efficient + BETTER merge feature - More coming... apk
(APK) is still right a hosts file really does work. It even blocked a some of the video ads that were inserted into a stream OrangeTide February 10 2016
the Host File Engine performs exactly as promised - by mmell (832646) on Thursday February 16, 2017
I do use APK's host file on all my systems at home by OrangeTide December 01 2017
I've never tried to belittle (APK's work), I've flat out said it's good - by BronsCon (927697) on Thursday February 11, 2016 @06:48PM (#51491263)
(Toss on 100,000++ users worldwide too!)
* For the Win32/64 model...
APK
P.S.=> Linux model's faster/more efficient + BETTER merge feature... apk
"Not as clumsy/random as a blaster - An elegant weapon 4 a more civilized age" https://news.slashdot.org/comm...
* "For over a 1,000 generations Jedi Knights were guardians of peace & justice in the old Republic. Before the dark times. Before the EMPIRE"
(Hosts = light sabres & wildcard tools = blasters above)
APK
P.S.=> Many here know https://linux.slashdot.org/com... & enjoy greater speed/security/reliability & anonymity hosts yield natively speeding you up 2 ways (adblocks & hardcodes that protect vs. DNS security issues in redirect poisoning + request tracking logs & RESOLVE FASTER locally from RAM driven by KERNELMODE speed vs. slow usermode in "solutions" packed w/ security issues (DNS/Antivirus) OR not working fully by default (adblock) in usermode addons easily detected by webmasters & blocked doing less but using more)... apk
I think the only real solution here is to shut down the internet.
You have a point. If Facebook wants to censor users' political views through a TOS, then they have a Constitutional right to do so, protected by the first amendment. However, they can't fraudulently advertise that they don't. Nor can they commit perjury when testifying about it before Congress. Those actions are crimes. As long as they are truthful about their practices, that's fine. Currently, however, they are not, and that makes them criminals.
So did significant improvements to HBase, PyTorch, Haxl, PHP compilers, and much more.
And Facebook is inventing sophisticated AI hardware (https://code.fb.com/ml-applications/the-next-step-in-facebook-s-ai-hardware-infrastructure/) including semiconductor design (https://www.networkworld.com/article/3268974/hardware/is-facebook-looking-to-build-its-own-data-center-chips.html). and is the primary contributor to the Open Compute Project's work on more efficient data center hardware (https://www.opencompute.org//
TL/DR: The only reason they are able to invade our privacy that effectively is that they really are an impressive technology company.
Since when are newspapers and TV media known for accuracy and fairness? There is no legal restriction on TV news to be either fair or accurate, which is a major and on-going problem (especially in the USA). Trying to hold Facebook to the same standard as stuff aired on TV doesn't help at all, that bar is pretty low.
So $BigNetwork isn't responsible if they run an ad along the lines of "Jews must be eradicated" because they didn't create the ad?
I understand I'm getting old and it's getting harder and harder to monitor this stuff. But seems to me if you use your resources to broadcast such blatant bullshit then the resulting avalanche of crap needs to, and will, fall on your head.
Oh, the company that bought the ad time went broke yesterday? Guess what. They planned to do that. You chose to take their money and run the ad. So sad, too bad. Except not sad at all. Fuck you.
There's nothing wrong with that, your stance isn't even anti-CNN per se.
"mocked on social media" means nothing. People on those platforms mock everything. It is ludicrous to assume that has meaning IRL to anyone older than a teenager.
It seems to me the summary has misunderstood where the liability for lying in an ad is placed. It's with the advertiser, not the media where the ad is placed. You can't sue a newspaper for Ford running an ad in it that lies about mileage. If that were the case, that newspapers were required to fact check every ad someone pays them to print, it seems to me that would be the end of advertising.
A real tech company knows how to secure their data.
"When nearly half of Americans get their news from Facebook, its newsfeed should be subjected to the same standards of fairness, decency and accuracy as newspapers, television and other media outlets...."
They are. There are no standards of fairness, decency, or accuracy that are enforced upon newspapers, television, or other media outlets for any content they include except ads, and the standards for ads are incredibly low. The closest thing that could happen is if companies that provide newsfeeds to Facebook would stop doing so if Facebook fails to live up to that company's journalistic standards. I predict the result will be ineffective, but really that's the only actual thing that could be reasonably done without changing the law to enforce standards on all news. At that point, well, a lot of the media will find themselves out of a job.
The problem is that businesses create the adverts published by Facebook and are legally liable but the news is generated by users. Such 'news' is content carrying those adverts and it is free, not regulated by commercial law and not burdened with rules of integrity (honesty, fact-checking) and openness (eg. viral marketing, product placement, cash for comments). We've seen US publishers more interested in broadcasting the latest tidbit of news, than fact-checking. We've also seen the US courts declare publishers allowed to avoid fact-checking: In truth, fake news has been big-business for 35 years.
How are people going to "find the truth", as demanded by politicians and civil courts, when no-one is broadcasting it? When people start lying to each other, shared homilies, common experiences and cultural unity disappears. The USA didn't have much of that at the start, leaving "me too" and "fuck you, I've got mine" to define American ideals. This is the consequence of post-truth broadcasting.
http://kspress.com/sites/defau...
There's some reading about the basics (from Kansas of all places). First one that came up on the search, so there it is. Places that carries ads (such as a newspaper or like Facebook) have the right to refuse anything they deem might be offensive. That's not too hard to understand, and if you are getting old, you should already know that. That doesn't mean the medium (whether it's a newspaper or Facebook) has an obligation to check the veracity of every ad that comes across their desk (passed those things that are regulated by statute).
Advertisers can obviously game the system, and often they pay a penalty for that (whether legally or in negative reactions). I do think they should pay a greater penalty, but what that system would look like, i don't know.
Too much of this is conflating who's doing what, and who should be responsible for the content. If you hold the medium itself responsible,and not the bad actors creating the advertisements.... it would be the end of all mediums because no one would take the risk of running any ads whatsoever. It's also conflating product with revenue. If Facebook is an ad company because it uses ad's to generate revenue, then every single company in the entire world that's ever placed an ad is also an ad company, which is a patently stupid statement to try to make. Facebook is a social media company who makes revenue by selling ad space... they are not an ad company (personally i don't see them as a tech company either, but more of a regulated forum for people to converse).
Fascism: An authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization. See also: NAZI's
The Facebook Dilemma
That's an excellent documentary, especially Part 2. The Facebook system is seriously flawed, Part 2 says. In several countries people have died because of Facebook posts by destructive people.
Mad Magazine has ads. The Onion has ads. The *ads* are held to a certain "truth in advertising" standard. That does NOT mean the stories in Mad magazine have to be approved by the administration, or any other government entity.
When nearly half of Americans get their news from Facebook, its newsfeed should be subjected to the same standards of fairness, decency and accuracy as newspapers, television and other media outlets....
OK, first of all, "newspapers, television and other media outlets" are not in any way synonymous with "fairness, decency and accuracy".
That said, Facebook is nothing like those things anyway. A Facebook feed is a crazy quilt mix of stuff your friends posted, ads, random crap FB thinks you might be interested in, random crap that pushes their political point of view, etc.
None of this can end well. There is no way that regulation can ensure "fairness, decency and accuracy".
With a hat tip to Winston Churchill, free speech is the worst way of handling this ... except for all the other ways.
Fox News would never censor information, no sir. Trump facing multiple felonies just isn't something they wish to cover, that's all.
Care to share that list of felonies? From someone other than a talking head for CNN or MSNBC? Or is this just some of your wet dream fantasy?
See subject: Via APK Hosts File Engine 2.0++ 64-bit for Linux/BSD h t t p : / / a p k . i t - m a t e . c o . u k / A P K H o s t s F i l e E n g i n e F o r L i n u x . z i p
Yields more security/speed/reliability/anonymity vs. any 1 solution (99% of threats use hostnames vs. IP address most firewalls use) more efficiently/FASTER + NATIVELY 4 less.
Vs. "Bolt on 'MoAr' illogic-logic" slowing u hosts speed u up 2 ways: Adblocks + Hardcode fav. sites u spend most time @ vs. competition loaded w/ security bugs (DNS/AntiVir) + overheads slowing u (messagepass 'souled-out' to advertisers easily detected & blocked addons + firewall filtering drivers) & their complexity leads to exploit!
* ONLY 1 of its kind in GUI 4 Linux/BSD!
(Better vs. Windows model)
APK
P.S.=> Protects vs. scripts/trackers (kernelmode faster vs. usermode slower NoScript vs. 3rd party script)/ads/DNS request tracking + redirect poisoned or downed DNS/botnets/malware downloads/malcript/email malicious payloads... apk
Who did it 1st: China or me? I did - dates are my proof https://theregister.co.uk/2017... w/ the FACT China rampantly STEALS U.S. Intellectual properties & military secrets!
* IMITATION truly IS the SINCEREST FORM of FLATTERY!!!
(... & proves hosts work vs. DNS faults in tracking you via dns request logs (since you avoid it & resolve FASTER locally using hosts) + DNS being downed OR Kaminsky REDIRECT security flaw misdirected poisoned (or vs. DNSChanger))
ESPECIALLY AS I DISCOVERED MODEMS CHINA MAKES EVEN YOUR ISP CAN'T GET INTO FOR DNS CHANGE (but China can) https://slashdot.org/comments....
APK
P.S.=> Folks It's NOT EASY being "World-Class" like me (lol - 100,000++ users prove it for me) - enjoy the fruits of my labors for FREE + going FASTER/SAFER/MORE RELIABLY online (w/ a bit more anonymity too via my program)... apk
See subject & results in https://linux.slashdot.org/com... https://news.slashdot.org/comm... https://apple.slashdot.org/com... https://it.slashdot.org/commen... https://it.slashdot.org/commen... https://it.slashdot.org/commen... https://it.slashdot.org/commen... https://it.slashdot.org/commen... https://it.slashdot.org/commen... https://search.slashdot.org/co... https://it.slashdot.org/commen... https://it.slashdot.org/commen...
* That's only recently while I've been on Linux (July 2018) & 100's of times vs. MANY other botnets/malwares etc. in the past circa 2006-early 2018 while I was on Windows: CONCRETE VISIBLE UNDENIABLE REALITY (see those links as proof). ... & that's ONLY what /. reported on (there are FAR more)
APK
P.S.=> "It's working: Neville... it's working!" - "I AM LEGEND" ... apk
"classic Windows hosts trick to block the Coinhive or Crypto-Loot domains" - https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/a-new-player-joins-coinhive-on-the-browser-cryptojacking-scene/ - BLEEPING COMPUTER
ZD NET http://www.zdnet.com/article/how-to-use-a-hosts-file-to-improve-your-internet-experience/ "Hosts files really shine by letting you block ads, spyware sites, malware sites, & tracking sites"
SANS ("A related approach to the DNS issue is to create a hosts file on each system that sends requests for spyware to some place else" hosts by myself & RAMU right @ START of "malware explosion" mid 2005 on) https://isc.sans.edu/forums/di...
Aryeh Goretsky/ESET/NOD32: hosts = good security https://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=7442373&.cid=49747129/
Oliver Day (SYMANTEC/SECURITYFOCUS) http://www.securityfocus.com/columnists/491/
Spybot S&D uses hosts.
APK
P.S.=> Malwarebytes' hpHosts hosts & RECOMMENDS my program forum.hosts-file.net/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=4290 .
Your software is just fine - well written, functional... I'm going to continue using the Host File Engine by mmell February 17, 2017
Your premise that hostfiles are a good way to deal with advertising and malvertising is quite valid - by JazzLad April 20, 2016
his hosts program is actually pretty good by xenotransplant August 10 2015
his hosts tool is actually useful for those cases in which one does indeed want to locally block stuff outright while consuming minimum system resources by alexgieg September 25 2015
I like your host file system by Karmashock September 09 2015
that APK guy, I use his host file by rogoshen1 Tuesday March 03, 2015
I personally use a HOSTS file blocker produced from a genius called APK by 110010001000 October 27 2017
* For the Win32/64 model.
APK
P.S.=> Linux model's faster/more efficient/better MERGE feature too - More coming... apk
Apk has the answer for that - really... kill automatic updates by adding a hosts file entry setting updates.steam.com or whatever to 127.0.0.1. You have to find the right hostname for each software you want to block updates on by raymorris (2726007) on Friday July 06, 2018
APK your posts on this and the hosts file posts, and more, have never been in error and/or bad advice by BlueStrat (756137) on Wednesday June 21, 2017
I support APK's stand on the hosts file and can't see why it's not used more than it is. My hosts file is 144247 lines long (4,332 Kb) it & a firewall serves me very well - by Trax3001BBS (2368736)
ABP is insufficient as a solid hosts file does everything APK reminds us about fast turtle September 17 2013
You need APK's hosts file - by Teun (17872) on Wednesday August 06, 2014
* For the Win32/64 model.
APK
P.S.=> Linux model's faster/more efficient + BETTER merge feature - More coming... apk
APK is totally right on this count. Adblock Plus on Firefox mobile is a dog on older, or lower end, phones. A hostfile based adblocker makes for a much better experience in this context. Of course, your phone has to be rooted, which isn't the case with Firefox + adblock." - by chihowa on Saturday May 16, 2015
APK solution STILL relevant Thud457 June 11 2015
In a footnote, I would like to note that I find your hosts file admirable - by vel-ex-tech (4337079) on Tuesday November 24, 2015
APK's monolithic hosts file is looking pretty good at the moment - by Culture20 on Thursday November 17
you're right about hosts files - by drinkypoo (153816) on Thursday May 26
APK, I know people give you a lot of shit regarding hosts, but please don't ever stop - by nasredin (958927) on Friday June 12, 2015 @03:34PM
* For the Win32/64 model.
APK
P.S.=> Linux model's faster/more efficient + BETTER merge feature - More coming... apk
APK is kinda right... I've given up on JS based adblocking and gone to blackholing in /etc/hosts, just like it was back in the 90s. The computational load has gotten intolerable for any ad-blocking using JS. I've tried his hosts file generating software. It works. - by bmo (77928) on Thursday October 15, 2015
get around to 'installing' a hosts file list, not sure which one, likely the one from someonewhocares.org. If it works as well as what I used for a while about ten years ago, I'll be happy. And grateful to APK for the lesson and the reminder. - by kermidge (2221646) on Wednesday March 27
I actually went and downloaded a 16k line hosts file and started using that after seeing that post, you know just for trying it out. some sites load up faster. - by gl4ss (559668) on Thursday November 17
dammit MS, you proved APK right about something by lgw
* For the Win32/64 model.
APK
P.S.=> Linux model's faster/more efficient + BETTER merge feature - More coming... apk
(APK) is still right a hosts file really does work. It even blocked a some of the video ads that were inserted into a stream OrangeTide February 10 2016
the Host File Engine performs exactly as promised - by mmell (832646) on Thursday February 16, 2017
I do use APK's host file on all my systems at home by OrangeTide December 01 2017
I've never tried to belittle (APK's work), I've flat out said it's good - by BronsCon (927697) on Thursday February 11, 2016 @06:48PM (#51491263)
(Toss on 100,000++ users worldwide too!)
* For the Win32/64 model.
APK
P.S.=> Linux model's faster/more efficient + BETTER merge feature... apk
"Not as clumsy/random as a blaster - An elegant weapon 4 a more civilized age" https://news.slashdot.org/comm...
* "For over a 1,000 generations Jedi Knights were guardians of peace & justice in the old Republic. Before the dark times. Before the EMPIRE"
(Hosts = light sabres & wildcard tools = blasters above)
APK
P.S.=> Many here know https://linux.slashdot.org/com... & enjoy greater speed/security/reliability & anonymity hosts yield natively speeding you up 2 ways (adblocks & hardcodes that protect vs. DNS security issues in redirect poisoning + request tracking logs & RESOLVE FASTER locally from RAM driven by KERNELMODE speed vs. slow usermode in "solutions" packed w/ security issues (DNS/Antivirus) OR not working fully by default (adblock) in usermode addons easily detected by webmasters & blocked doing less but using more)... apk
Stop calling CNN a news organization
Its more like a town square
no, it's not a "town square", it's the Mall, private property, where you can be banned for arbitrary reasons
my GOD you are stupid
of labeling companies with a single arbitrary label we instead list the things they are involved in to help get a clearer picture of what companies are and aren't.
Calling Facebook a technology company instead of an advertisement provider is silly.
Calling Facebook an advertisement provider instead of a social network is silly.
Calling Facebook a social network instead of an open source software developer is silly.
Calling Facebook an open source software developer instead of a VR company is silly.
So is NYTimes, WaPo, NBC, etc.
If you think otherwise, you're a pedophile.
I didn't know about their unusual policy of not advertising unrelated products, but they have advertised products related to Mad, and those ads are subject to truth in advertising laws. The point is we don't have similar "truth in articles" laws that allow the government to come after you for printing things it doesn't agree are true. Having ads doesn't mean the articles have to be true.
(Though if you engage in outright libel, the *victim* can sue.)
Nobody ever died from a Facebook post. They may have died because of the actions of mentally ill individuals reacting to things they saw on Facebook, but they could have seen those things anywhere. Unstable buildings can kill people, but in order for Facebook to be involved in a death, unstable people are required.
Lots of people want to use Facebook as an excuse for their actions, but that is not how it works. It doesn't matter where you go, there are liars everywhere and checking up on things before reacting to them is your due diligence.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
But I have to agree. Fakebook are a data-collection and ad company, period. So are Google and so many more. None of this been about real tech for a very long time.
Big banks & financial firms develop tons of cutting-edge tech as a platform to support their core business. Not to mention governments.
Does that mean banks and the gov't are tech companies?
(Open sourcing is an unrelated matter. Note that plenty of true "tech" companies don't open source anything, but the US government does so big-time.)
As is explained in the documentary, people are accepting social media as news. But social media has no editor, in many cases. So, often people, especially those with little education, are accepting fake news stories on social media as true.
... and basically being ignored."
Social media managers, especially the Facebook managers interviewed for the linked PBX Frontline documentary, say they have no responsibility.
"News" without an editor is a social problem that existed far less before the Internet became available because it was too expensive to distribute.
Look at this in the 2nd part of the documentary, The Facebook Dilemma, starting at 43:11. Zeynep Tufekci of UNC Chapel Hill (University of North Carolina), Associate Professor, UNC School of Information and Library Science; Adjunct Professor, Department of Sociology says this about deaths as a result of people accepting a Facebook post as news:
"years and years of people begging the company [Facebook]
The author is correct that this is an important distinction and breaking it down into the simplest of terms is absolutely essential. For regulatory bodies to successfully exert authority over a business it is important for that business to be neatly classified. We can see this issue popping up when we see broadband service providers rejecting FTC due to their business classifications, opting for FCC rulings instead. This might cause further problems for Facebook down the line. The trust busters might decide that the technology part of Facebook is truly independent of the marketing and sales department and could force them to split into different companies. With so much of Facebook's technology being released open-source, a split like that would force the technology department to monetize the technologies they are building in some useful way. It could get ugly.
- Tech -> adjective referriing to the state of Texas (pr: tech-ass) (e.g. for companies headquartered there)
- Mech-> ref. 2 Mexico or New Mexico (Taco Bell sell Tech-Mech food)
- Call -> ref. 2 California
- Mass -> ref. 2 Massachussetts
- Wash -> ref. 2 Washington or Washington DC
- Miss -> ref. 2 Mississippi or Missouri
- Arch -> ref. 2 Arkansas
- Mitch -> ref. 2 Michigan
- Soda -> ref. 2 South-Dakota
- Poor -> ref. 2. Puerto Rico
Suggestion: Look around you. Most people aren't as logically-minded as you.
"For media companies that run ads, especially ones that use public networks, we tell them that they can't lie or mislead"
For the US this is absolute BS. A whole half of voters think government regulation is stupid and nothing but waste, and half of legislators which those same people support believe that scams like payday loans, prosperity churches, MLMs, etc... should be totally legal/unrestrained and not exploitative or misleading.
CNN is nothing but the left wing version of fox news.
True. What Mad shows is that private enterprise can have a lot of power over what is said as well. While not put in jail power, it can be take away means of making a living power.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_totalitarianism
Facebook is neither an advertising company or a tech company. It's a databroker. Their true power lies in getting data about user behaviour into the hands of banks, insurers, governments, etc. That can be used to inform ads. Or it can be used to inform hiring decisions, manipulate elections, etc.
"Facebook, longtime friend of data brokers, becomes their stiffest competition"
https://www.washingtonpost.com...
"Facebook, the new king of databrokers?"
https://www.wired.com/insights...
"Senator, we run ads [placed by foreign countries run by hostile dictators to destroy democracies]."