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Leaked Documents Reveal Facebook's Global War On Data Privacy Laws (theguardian.com)

Posted by EditorDavid on from the leaning-in dept.

"Facebook threatened to pull investment projects from Europe and Canada if lobbying demands from COO Sheryl Sandberg were not met," reports Business Insider, adding "Canada buckled immediately."

And that's just the beginning. The Observer reports: Facebook has targeted politicians around the world -- including the former UK chancellor, George Osborne -- promising investments and incentives while seeking to pressure them into lobbying on Facebook's behalf against data privacy legislation, an explosive new leak of internal Facebook documents has revealed. The documents, which have been seen by the Observer and Computer Weekly, reveal a secretive global lobbying operation targeting hundreds of legislators and regulators in an attempt to procure influence across the world, including in the UK, US, Canada, India, Vietnam, Argentina, Brazil, Malaysia and all 28 states of the EU...

The documents appear to emanate from a court case against Facebook by the app developer Six4Three in California, and reveal that Sandberg considered European data protection legislation a "critical" threat to the company. A memo written after the Davos economic summit in 2013 quotes Sandberg describing the "uphill battle" the company faced in Europe on the "data and privacy front" and its "critical" efforts to head off "overly prescriptive new laws...." John Naughton, a Cambridge academic and Observer writer who studies the democratic implications of digital technology, said the leak was "explosive" in the way it revealed the "vassalage" of the Irish state to the big tech companies. Ireland had welcomed the companies, he noted, but became "caught between a rock and a hard place... Its leading politicians apparently saw themselves as covert lobbyists for a data monster."

A spokesperson for Facebook said the documents were still under seal in a Californian court and it could not respond to them in any detail: "Like the other documents that were cherrypicked and released in violation of a court order last year, these by design tell one side of a story and omit important context."

128 comments

  1. Facebook=Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Remember, the Facebook is good. The Facebook is love. The Facebook is life. The Facebook must grow. Walk without rhythm and you won't attract the Wyrm.

    1. Re:Facebook=Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Your mom is Facebook.

    2. Re: Facebook=Good by r_naked · · Score: 4, Insightful

      If someone has a Facebook account at this point they are a fucking moron.

      I love the rationale of: "That is the only way I can stay in touch with family and friends".

      Yeah, really, then you are an even bigger moron, and you deserve everything that comes from your stupidity.

      --
      -- http://anonet.org -- The internet the way it was meant to be. Check it out, you may be surprised.
    3. Re: Facebook=Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh well thanks for spelling it out. I think since sucker berg said Facebook will always be free then my mom must be free and since Facebook cares about my privacy my mom must care too. Oh mommy dearest can I get some milk and a lullaby?

    4. Re:Facebook=Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      slashdot today: retarded 8-year olds everywhere.

    5. Re: Facebook=Good by currently_awake · · Score: 1

      If someone builds a competing service to Facebook, either they charge for the service (and nobody uses it because "Facebook is free") or they sell their users privacy (and get corupted just like what happened to Facebook and Google). Maybe we can convice the Government to run this as a public service? To stop the Russians from rigging elections, right?

    6. Re: Facebook=Good by drinkypoo · · Score: 2

      If someone has a Facebook account at this point they are a fucking moron.

      Not having a Facebook account doesn't stop them from tracking you all over the internets. Noscript or ublock does that. I use both, plus a separate cookie mangler.

      I use Facebook because that's where discussion groups I want to participate in are located. I don't share incriminating personal information there, I just talk about bus conversions and shit. The state already knows I drive a bus conversion.

      I also block ads, so Facebook can only make money on me by what, selling my personality profile? So what, people will find out I'm interested in buses, cb radios, and auto paint? Oh noes!

      You can refuse to use Facebook, that's not stupid. But nor is using it, or at least, no dumber than using any other site you don't control personally. Most websites track and monetize you. You might as well say the same thing about using Slashdot. Noscript suggests there's four+ different trackers on the page I'm typing this comment into right now.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    7. Re: Facebook=Good by bagofbeans · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Facebook can only make money on me by what, selling my personality profile?

      It's a bit more than that. Facebook makes interfences about you based on similarities between the data it has on you and other people. That projection data profile is what it sells. If that assessment suggests to your insurer that you are a higher risk, there's nothing you can do about it, even if the alert is false.

      This is where the privacy battle is going to be. If you have a smart meter, your high resolution consumption pattern may suggest that you're growing or manufacturing something illegal - so probable cause. The ensuing no-knock invasion could leave you dead due to a false positive. Without that smart meter, no suspicion, no probable cause, no warrant.

    8. Re: Facebook=Good by drinkypoo · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Without that smart meter, no suspicion, no probable cause, no warrant.

      Wrong. Refusing the smart meter installation is itself suspicious. At minimum, you're untrusting and/or anti-authoritarian. Or maybe you're trying to hide your usage patterns. The same is true of a Facebook account. If you don't have one, many will take that as a suspicious sign. The fix isn't to refuse to use Facebook, it's to seek legislation to make it illegal to base decisions which will affect your life on Facebook metrics.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    9. Re: Facebook=Good by bagofbeans · · Score: 2

      Or maybe you're trying to hide your usage patterns.

      Yup. None of their business. Like most of my lifestyle details. There is a difference between 'privacy' and 'secrecy'.

    10. Re: Facebook=Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wrong. Refusing the smart meter installation is itself suspicious. At minimum, you're untrusting and/or anti-authoritarian.

      Sigh. Back to your paranoid conspiracy theories again I see.

    11. Re: Facebook=Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Don't forget the, "I have nothing to hide" excuse.

    12. Re: Facebook=Good by fbobraga · · Score: 1

      If you don't have one, many will take that as a suspicious sign.

      It's why I have an (almost empty) facebook profile

    13. Re: Facebook=Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Any evidence for what you claim, aside from the invisible black helicopters circling your house?

    14. Re: Facebook=Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not having a Facebook account is likely taken as an automatic indicator that you're someone to look into by certain organizations.

    15. Re: Facebook=Good by fafalone · · Score: 2, Informative

      Police were using electricity consumption to look for grow houses long before smart meters were invented. The electric company always had the information so they could bill you, and thus it's a "business record" over which you have no privacy interest and the police could freely access thanks to our courts penchant for shitting all over whatever "right" gets in the way of police.

    16. Re: Facebook=Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If someone builds a competing service to Facebook, either they charge for the service (and nobody uses it because "Facebook is free") or they sell their users privacy (and get corupted just like what happened to Facebook and Google). Maybe we can convice the Government to run this as a public service? To stop the Russians from rigging elections, right?

      If your country's elections can be "rigged" by screwing around with a social media platform, then your country deserves the end result.

      Fucking moron doesn't even begin to describe the average American voter.

    17. Re: Facebook=Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not having a Facebook account is likely taken as an automatic indicator that you're someone to look into by certain organizations.

      Nah. It means you're "not young". Lots of old & middle aged people don't have facebook. Were too old to fall for "new and shiny" when facebook came, and some were too busy. Lots had no interest in blogging about their daily life or anything else.

      Then there are failures & handicapped people. Dyslectics who cannot be bothered to read that much, and the pictures on facebook aren't that interesting. Then there are people with eye problems - a computer is too cumbersome on its own, never mind web sites like facebook. Then there are various alternative lifestyles - such as spending most of your life outdoors. Hiking, sailing around the world - rarely using electricity.

    18. Re: Facebook=Good by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      If your country's elections can be "rigged" by screwing around with a social media platform, then your country deserves the end result.

      1960: s/a social media platform/TV shows/
      1930: s/a social media platform/radio shows/
      1880: s/a social media platform/newspapers/
      1700: s/a social media platform/ye town crier/

      'twas ever thus.

      Fucking moron doesn't even begin to describe the average American voter.

      Aaaaand (picking a purely hypothetical example out of the air) British voters are so much more savvy, as they've recently demonstrated.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    19. Re: Facebook=Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "The same is true of a Facebook account. If you don't have one, many will take that as a suspicious sign."

      What a bunch of crap. They are a shady company, avoiding them is completely rational.

    20. Re: Facebook=Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I just talk about bus conversions and shit.

      What kind of data transfer rates can you get out of your buses?

      "Never underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon full of tapes hurtling down the highway."

      How many station wagons does an old full-sized school bus equal?

    21. Re: Facebook=Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I didn't realize I had a choice when they upgraded my meter, but I don't have any objections to it either. They do provide nice detailed usage reports for me even correlating usage to weather.

      I wish the gas utility would provide such reports. The way the weather has been in the past month (3 weeks mild temps, 1 week way below freezing) I suspect 50% of my gas usage occurred in the last week alone.

    22. Re: Facebook=Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > looking for citations in a comments section

    23. Re: Facebook=Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A lot of paranoids here can crow but the fact we're on this page suggests we've fallen into the info trap. Higher-degree sec freaks might be more likely to traverse IRC or the local mesh, and they already know info companies have no legal binding to give a shit that they can't undo when it's convenient for them to do so.

    24. Re: Facebook=Good by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      A typical school bus is 40' long, 8' wide, and the interior space is about 6' tall in the center. Some of them have a 6'6" ceiling, though. The walls are about 2" thick, the roof and ceiling are curved and the space between them is 2-3" thick. You may do the math and convert to tapes, and thus to LoCs.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    25. Re: Facebook=Good by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Yup. None of their business. Like most of my lifestyle details. There is a difference between 'privacy' and 'secrecy'.

      Yeah? But what are you trying to hide?

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    26. Re: Facebook=Good by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      I didn't realize I had a choice when they upgraded my meter, but I don't have any objections to it either. They do provide nice detailed usage reports for me even correlating usage to weather.

      I don't know where you live, maybe they're using decent meters. PG&E isn't. The meters they have chosen a) are failure prone b) tend to read high and not low when they fail c) sometimes literally burst into flames. We had a combi lock on our gate, we shared the code with PG&E and they were to call before using it, and not share it with third parties. Then they shared it with the contractor they were using to do smart meter installs, so we changed the lock and didn't give them the code any more. We were also photographing our meter and sending the photos to our reader, then PG&E changed their policies so that we couldn't do that any more. PG&E is a criminal conspiracy.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  2. Leaked Documents by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Data Privacy lol

  3. Re:Block Facebook & here's how to do it... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How do you add *unknown* web sites to your hosts file? Wouldn't you have to....know them?

  4. This is the profit motive at work by Mr.+Dollar+Ton · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Whenever it is more profitable for a company to invest in corrupting the political process instead of improving its services, it will invest in corrupting the political process.

    This process is unstoppable when the added benefit of unequal cost/benefit distribution makes it expensive for the other players in the market to oppose such political "investment", and multiplies the profits of the corrupting entity many times over.

    1. Re:This is the profit motive at work by CaptainDork · · Score: 0

      It's known as the "Trump Effect," whereby Republicans know Trump is bad for America but can't do anything because an outgoing tide lowers all boats.

      --
      It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
    2. Re:This is the profit motive at work by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      When? You keep saying this like a crazy person with TDS. Put a date on your prediction.

    3. Re:This is the profit motive at work by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      God, Libtards are so fucking stupid. STILL spamming for Soros, years after the election their Thought Controllers promised them they were going to win. How fucking naive can you get?

    4. Re:This is the profit motive at work by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why not just throw him over the rim of the earth?

    5. Re:This is the profit motive at work by Solandri · · Score: 2

      This process is unstoppable when the added benefit of unequal cost/benefit distribution makes it expensive for the other players in the market to oppose such political "investment"

      BS. This process is trivial to stop. People just need to read the EULA and understand exactly what it is they're giving up when the agree to use a service like Facebook. Nobody puts a gun to your head and forces you to use Facebook. It's completely voluntary.

      So fundamentally, this isn't a problem with companies or profit or a corrupt political process. At the very root of it all, the problem is people being lazy and not really thinking about what they're agreeing to give away in exchange for participation in a social media service. Equating it to corporate behavior or corrupt politics is tantamount to admitting that people are too dumb to do the right thing for themselves, and cannot be educated to behave more sensibly. Which basically means you disagree with the entire philosophy of democracy, where you trust the people to make the right decision.

    6. Re:This is the profit motive at work by dryeo · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Nobody puts a gun to your head and forces you to use Facebook. It's completely voluntary.

      I'm finding it harder and harder to avoid Facebook, too many things happening on it or requiring it. Sure i can and do not get involved in my community because it now all happens on Facebook, can't even post a letter to the editor in the local paper because you need a Facebook login, and so on.
      As the article hints at, at some point Facebook will succeed in lobbying the government to require Facebook to access government services, unless you're willing to travel a hundred miles and find the room in the basement with the sign about beware of leopards.

      The other thing with Facebook is I have to actively avoid them more and more as they're everywhere. Hidden scripts and 1 px images on unrelated web pages for example. I never agreed to their tracking me but they sure try, probably have a shadow account of me with too much info on it as I doubt that I'm 100% avoiding them.

      --
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_totalitarianism
    7. Re:This is the profit motive at work by Mr.+Dollar+Ton · · Score: 3, Insightful

      So fundamentally, this isn't a problem with companies or profit or a corrupt political process.

      So, "fundamentally", how to you explain the hard facts in TFA about Facebook trying to bribe politicians into supporting anti-data harvesting legislation then? Since this is /., I will not ask if you've read TFA, but instead quote TFS for you:

      FB has been promising investments and incentives while seeking to pressure them into lobbying on Facebook's behalf against data privacy legislation.

      And it has not been a small thing either. It is a well-orchestrated worldwide operation: documents ... reveal a secretive global lobbying operation targeting hundreds of legislators and regulators in an attempt to procure influence across the world, including in the UK, US, Canada, India, Vietnam, Argentina, Brazil, Malaysia and all 28 states of the EU

      You think this isn't a problem? You think it is easy for the average voter to confront corporate subterfuge on this scale? You must be quite ignorant of how politics works, then, because it is happening everywhere and you, the average guy, have been sidelined from the political process by corporate long before you were born.

      This process is trivial to stop.

      You don't say. How easy is it to stop an operation like the one described above? Please elaborate, I'm very interested to hear about it. How do you learn about it, how do you get access to the likes of the UK prime minister or MPs on equal footing with Zuckerberg. How do you get your ass to Davos, mister, where Zuckerberg flies on his private jet with his army of manipulators? Show me how you've done it.

      Please show me how "trivial" it is to stop a large international corporation, which business model is abusing the lack of global oversight, from shopping for politicians willing to sell out their constituency. Show me also how "trivial" it is to block Facebook from completely spying on you while you're using the Internet on all your devices if you're not a somewhat competent sysadmin.

      Equating it to corporate behavior or corrupt politics is tantamount to admitting that people are too dumb

      "Equating" what, my friend? The described facts about FB trying to influence the "race to the bottom" in privacy with various forms of bribery so that they can use their other manipulative technologies to spy on users does not show that users aren't "dumb" at all. It shows how insidious and ruthless the said corporation is.

      Do you think that you are as clever as the whole technical and marketing machine that is FB? You have delusions of competence, my dear. You saying you can stand your ground alone against FB is tantamount to you admitting you have no idea how easy a target you are.

    8. Re:This is the profit motive at work by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "How easy is it to stop an operation like the one described above?"

      Well, given the documents, it should be fairly easy. There is obviously some kind of conspiracy going on, and given that various forms of bribery is mentioned, I'm sure FBI or some ambitious attorney could have a field day with it.

    9. Re:This is the profit motive at work by Mr.+Dollar+Ton · · Score: 1

      Well, start counting. Wake me up when it is stopped. I won't be holding my breath.

    10. Re:This is the profit motive at work by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just because something is easy doesn't mean it will be done. That said, eventually the house will come down on them. I bet the FIFA guys didn't hold their breath either.

    11. Re: This is the profit motive at work by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      FIFA was not a CIA outfit.

    12. Re:This is the profit motive at work by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      people are too dumb to do the right thing for themselves, and cannot be educated to behave more sensibly.

      Call me a cynic, but look at history. I think it proves the point, doesn't it?

      There are perhaps counterexamples - the American revolution, England getting rid of the monarchy, England restoring the monarchy - but I suspect the reason why we study them is precisely because they are so rare.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    13. Re: This is the profit motive at work by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't see how funneling your mental capacity into a single predictable pattern makes you any better.

  5. Naughty boys and girls by tsa · · Score: 1

    Naughty boys and girls. It's time for a Europe-wide ban on selling data without the users consent.

    --

    -- Cheers!

    1. Re:Naughty boys and girls by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What really needs to happen is a worldwide ban on collecting and/or selling ANY data about someone without that person's express written consent in writing! That of course means no web forms etc... There need to be 3 digit jail mandatory sentences and 7 digit mandatory fines for each instance.

      The collection, buying and selling of people's data has become the largest business in the world, and it needs to be stopped right NOW!! Data mining sites like Fakebook and TWITter need to be shut down and all servers and physical assets totally destroyed!!! All financial assets should be confiscated and divided among the victims of these sites!!!!

    2. Re:Naughty boys and girls by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Click OK to consent to our use of personal data (link to 35-page dense legalese document in a postage-stamp-sized-viewer box) and continue to our site"

      Want to log in to FB? Click OK to be tracked. Want to use a webmail service? Click OK to be tracked. Want to check the weather forecast? Click OK to be tracked. Want to read the news? Click OK to be tracked.

      Refuse to click OK? All commercialized websites will simply refuse further requests from you.

      Any exceptions to a spying ban will be reduced to: Consent to the spying or don't use the service.

  6. context by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "these by design tell one side of a story and omit important context."

        It's true, they don't talk at all about their plans for child slave labor and genetic modification of fetuses to be more susceptible to ad bait. Without that context it just sounds like some harmless run of the mill cooperate evil.

  7. Re: Block Facebook & here's how to do it... ap by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So true you are gods gift to slash dot. We are completely unworthy of your most trivial gifts

  8. Re: Jews being Jews and doing Jewish Things by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If you still think hitler is not the same as trump you must be living under a faraday cage what else is new?

  9. Screw that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Ban spying as a business model instead.

  10. Politicians sold us out, sadly! by bogaboga · · Score: 2

    "Facebook threatened to pull investment projects from Europe and Canada if lobbying demands from COO Sheryl Sandberg were not met," reports Business Insider, adding "Canada buckled immediately."

    If I had the means, I'd have asked FaceBook to take a hike.

    I guess thy would have taken one anyway. A number of nations continue to survive [and thrive] without FaceBook. Besides, our youngsters would be more sane to a degree without it.

    1. Re:Politicians sold us out, sadly! by JMJimmy · · Score: 1

      They buckled immediately because they knew they could say anything and if it ever came down to it the courts would be the ones to decide jurisdiction not them. There was no downside to placating her.

    2. Re:Politicians sold us out, sadly! by Shotgun · · Score: 1

      "Facebook threatened to pull investment projects from Europe and Canada if lobbying demands from COO Sheryl Sandberg were not met," reports Business Insider, adding "Canada buckled immediately."

      If I had the means, I'd have asked FaceBook to take a hike.

      Then you would have lost the means. These politicians got elected by claiming they gave people "stuff", which happened to be Facebook projects of different sorts. The politician that doesn't get "the jobs" doesn't get "the job". I'll go out on a limb here and make the prediction that AOC won't be re-elected, and the deciding factor, regardless of its merits, will be her stance on the Amazon deal.

      --
      Aah, change is good. -- Rafiki
      Yeah, but it ain't easy. -- Simba
  11. Re: Jews being Jews and doing Jewish Things by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It said you and Hitler are retarded faggots. It also said Hitler and Trump were bitches.

    Therefore you are a bitch too.

  12. Canada buckled immediately by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Well, DUH! It's Canada, an obscure British colony that needs handouts.

  13. Re:INVASION of the fakebook "JuDeNoiDz" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You forgot Jared Kushner, you dumb lump of shit.

  14. Re:Block Facebook & here's how to do it... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Add threats as blocked in hosts as they become known to block them from harming you. Even DGA (dynamically generated) trackers exist for that. Apk's shown us that many times. Of course he also shows us you impersonated him too https://tech.slashdot.org/comm...

  15. Re: Block Facebook & here's how to do it... ap by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Apk providing a tool that definitely works against threats https://it.slashdot.org/commen... is better than being useless clucking hens doing nothing about it.

  16. It's sad, really by jenningsthecat · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This news should have people all over the world protesting in the streets against corporate interference in governance, and Facebook should wake up tomorrow to find at least 90% of their user base simply gone. If people had any sense, knew what was good for them, and had the will to act on the knowledge, Facebook would be a fucking ghost town within a month and entirely dead within a year.

    What's almost certain to happen instead is two or three news cycles of feigned outrage on the part of governments, a similar period of feigned contrition on the part of Facebook, people swearing off Facebook for a week, and then... nothing. Business as usual will continue; what should be a brick wall that stops Mark Fuckerberg dead in his tracks, will be a minor speed bump on the road to complete abolition of personal privacy.

    --
    'The Economy' is a giant Ponzi scheme whose most pitiable suckers are the youngest among us and the yet-unborn.
    1. Re:It's sad, really by jwymanm · · Score: 0

      What the hell is less laws hurting? What did Facebook do to you so far? Where is the damage? Why are so many people triggered on this situation. It's unbelievable. They are a free product that collects data people share with them willingly (and collects knowledge about other people that don't but that also has not shown to hurt anyone). I don't get the uproar. Why do you want to attack a resource everyone uses for free and willingly to connect to one another? Why does it bother you they profit and pay employees and server farms and release utilities for other businesses to make profit from the same thing? Is this part of the whole socialism push? That is what I want to know really. What is triggering all of this hate for something that is fucking free. Of course a company that collects data is going to try to keep collection of data open and free for everyone. That involves lobbying and telling countries that they will pull out. I wish Google pulled out of EU. I wish Apple did too for their own purpose. Governments that are trying to control what people do are the enemy. Not the companies trying to keep avenues of profit open. I mean wtf. Do you even realize you're falling to a socialist narrative?

    2. Re: It's sad, really by sound+vision · · Score: 2

      Yes, the only reason people value their privacy is because of the evils of Socialism. Pay no mind as Facebook constructs the US's very own Social Credit System with the data. Even Grandma is plugged in these days. What are you, some kind of Luddite? Look, cats!

    3. Re:It's sad, really by yodleboy · · Score: 2

      Well, at least now we know what Slashdot account Mark Zuckerberg uses.
       
      Auto correct is trying to change Zuckerberg to rubbernecker. Even my browser knows he's watching me.

    4. Re: It's sad, really by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      People choose to use Facebook and pay for that with private data, or not.
      If they care about privacy, they can choose to not use Facebook.
      If they care about privacy, that's a great market opportunity for a competitor network to provide.
      But apparently, people don't care. Scandal after scandal, people keep accepting all of it.
      Outrage and complaining while still using it, is not the same as not accepting it.
      Sure, it would be nice to use Facebook without the privacy violations. And what would also be nice is a pony.
      Just take care of yourself, stand for your beliefs and say no, problem (mostly) solved. No need to outsource your personal responsibility to the authorities.

    5. Re:It's sad, really by jenningsthecat · · Score: 2

      Wow! Even when I assume that you're posting in good faith and not shilling, I still find it hard to know where to begin. Given your relatively low UID and the reasonably high coherence of your writing, it seems unlikely that you are unaware of the implications of all this data gathering. Facebook has already been outed for experimenting on its users by manipulating their news feeds and gauging their responses. Was this innocent psychological research in the name of furthering human knowledge? No, it was testing the feasibility of using the data they gather to manipulate users' emotions and behaviour toward a desired end. Can you not see that all of this data collection and profiling is leading to a state where powerful forces that are pretty much answerable to nobody, know more about us than we know about ourselves? And that's not just a figure of speech - I mean quite literally that Facebook, Google, and the like can predict their users' behaviour better than the users themselves can. It's clear to anyone who's not in denial, that their end game is to be able to influence people even more consistently and effectively than their own close friends and family members might. I'm quite sure Big Data can do that to a large number of their users right now; but even if I'm wrong in that, do you honestly believe they won't succeed in doing it in the very near term?

      On the other hand, if you really believe that they aren't using the data they gather to manipulate people without their knowledge and informed consent; or if you believe that their efforts are harmless or ineffectual; or if you think that people who fall prey to that manipulation are weak or stupid, or are lacking in character or personal responsibility; then all I can say to you is "stop drinking their Kool-Aid, give your head a shake, and get a clue".

      As for "falling for a socialist narrative", I started to gain a deep distrust of online data gathering back in the Classmates days - that was before both Facebook and Google. The only narrative involved is mine - it's based on a lifetime of observations of corporate behaviour.

      --
      'The Economy' is a giant Ponzi scheme whose most pitiable suckers are the youngest among us and the yet-unborn.
    6. Re:It's sad, really by ayesnymous · · Score: 1

      Let's buy FB stock then, at least get something out of losing our privacy.

    7. Re:It's sad, really by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What is triggering all of this hate for something that is fucking free.

      I know some homeless people who would sleep in your house for free. They wouldn't charge you anything. Gotta love fucking free!

    8. Re:It's sad, really by jwymanm · · Score: 1

      Great reply. I get that point about the data but tell me if you think Facebook is the only one that can or is doing that? I believe that the government doesn't want the competition. I mean the entire point of data collecting is to be used to as you say to "manipulate people." Either by making a product or advertisement more effective or whatever Facebook had planned. But should the laws apply to general data collection which is a freedom we all have or should the laws be applied to the manipulation act? It's like guns. Should we outlaw guns or should we outlaw killing people with guns (which is already outlawed). I guess that is what I was getting at without so much as saying it. We're all free to collect data. I don't even know how you expect to stop companies from doing it. But when it comes to use that data and "be evil" that is when you/government can do something and stop them. You conflate state with Facebook also. Facebook is a company. It doesn't pass laws (minus lobbies which I am against) and it doesn't put people in prison or take rights away from people. If Facebook were a state in the USA or country I'd be out there with a pitchfork first thing along with you guys.

    9. Re:It's sad, really by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      More like the idiot bastard child of Mark Zuckerberg and Tucker Carlson..

      The "whole socialism push" as he puts it is actually calling anything and everything you disagree with "socialism" and it's being perpetrated by the right.

      "Orange Man ^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H Socialism Bad"

  17. Re: Killing nazi faggots is a PROUD American tradi by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And full of graceful arm gestures

  18. I deleted Facebook ... by CaptainDork · · Score: 4, Informative

    ... on Feb 7 of this year. It won't go into effect until Mar 9 and I must not log back in because the beast will escape the steely knife.

    I used a program (FBP) to purge ALL of my Facebook data (it was time-consuming) and deleted leftover data manually.

    Then I deleted ... not deactivated. I just know those motherfuckers didn't delete a goddam thing, but I can't control them.

    I'm an amateur photographer, guitar player and singer, and a retired IT guy who can help other people.

    Facebook was a good place to share my work and keep in touch with family, friends, and like-minded strangers.

    I have no replacement. Other social media are not as high profile, but they are just as evil.

    I know that my disengagement doesn't mean a goddam thing to Facebook, but it means something to me.

    --
    It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
    1. Re:I deleted Facebook ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I deleted mine years ago when they decided that you could not delete IM's any more and actually brought back the old ones I had deleted. I guess i was the only one that could see that that zuck and that hag sheryl sandbag were the devil.

    2. Re:I deleted Facebook ... by Picodon · · Score: 2

      I know that my disengagement doesn't mean a goddam thing to Facebook, but it means something to me.

      I know what you mean but, really, this may be the only way successful social movements can really start.

    3. Re:I deleted Facebook ... by Dunkirk · · Score: 2

      I thought I deleted it my account 2 years ago. Like, I specifically went through a process, according to some web site, that was supposed to delete it -- not just deactivate it. I recently found that I needed to recreate an account. Lo and behold, I couldn't use my same email address. I reset my password. Everything was still there.

      We all understand that they never delete anything from their side, but, at this point, I'm not even sure they have removed the stuff you think you've deleted from your timeline for anyone else.

      --
      Acts 17:28, "For in Him we live, and move, and have our being."
    4. Re:I deleted Facebook ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I've been FB free for 2.5 years now. I haven't missed a thing. My partner is all over FB and defends it. Get's caught up in the politics of the day such as gender debates, sexist pay gaps or some other certifiably insane bat shit crazy puke and tries that shit on me daily that almost causes us to split. FB is cancer. It needs to die. Life is not a fake news feed.

      Captcha - heeled (the homonym is so close)

  19. Still IMPERSONATING me JEALOUS "Lil' Jowie"? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    MacOS model's not done: Stop IMPERSONATING me lying & proof portfilter err's can't happen in my work https://news.slashdot.org/comm...

    HILARIOUS u ADMIT u have a /. acct & STALK me by UNIDENTIFIABLE ac https://hardware.slashdot.org/... - YOU have ISSUES, lunatic.

    See subject & that's the "best ya got"? It proves You WISH you were ME (as your POOR imitation = the sincerest form of flattery).

    Instead of WASTING your life STALKING me by UNIDENTIFIABLE anonymous posts OR IMPERSONATING me (since you WISH you were me)? Make a Wheel https://isc.sans.edu/forums/di... as I have that gives users more speed/security/reliability & anonymity NATIVELY doing more for less vs. ANY single 'solution' out there!

    * LASTLY - the ONLY time you start IMPERSONATING me vs. STALKING me by UNIDENTIFIABLE anon posts is WHEN YOU ARE OUT OF "downmodpoints" I can easily NULLIFY by REPOSTING my posts RUNNING YOU DRY of them after you ABUSE them - I must've already!

    APK

    P.S.=> I know WHY you do it though (out of "butthurt angst", lol): I've BLOWN YOU AWAY so many times under your MANY alter-ego SOCKPUPPET /. accounts FAKENAMES you're out for "revenge" only to have EGG ON YOUR FACE yet again https://tech.slashdot.org/comm... ... apk

  20. Yes, very good, facebook spokesman by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So how about you share the full story, as in release all of the documents, hm?

    Or at least publicly ask the judge to do so. Have you done so? No? Then shut up.

  21. The more we learn about Facebook... by QuietLagoon · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ... the worse Facebook looks.

    1. Re: The more we learn about Facebook... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And we learned the sad and unsurprising truth: Facebook didn't grow because it was good... But because it was evil.

    2. Re:The more we learn about Facebook... by Miser · · Score: 1

      Heh. You're just NOW figuring this out?

      I knew it from the start. Never had a Facebook, never will.

      -Miser

    3. Re:The more we learn about Facebook... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Doesn't get any worse than steaming piles of human shit.

  22. Re: INVASION of Fakebook "JuDeNoiDz" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Didn't even read your bullshit. Have a nice day.

  23. Re: INVASION of Fakebook "JuDeNoiDz" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You don't have to read it Judenoid. You believe and live it. Everyone else did. You lie Schabouth Hag. 6d: "Jews may swear falsely by use of subterfuge wording." The world's onto you.

  24. Re: INVASION of Fakebook "JuDeNoiDz" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    APK, seel help.

  25. Corporations At War With Our Freedoms by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Time we start killing some COOs and midlevels executives at random. Theyre randomly killing us, the least we could do is return the insult.

  26. Re: INVASION of Fakebook "JuDeNoiDz" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You jews are the best help to whoever posted that. It shows what you really are https://tech.slashdot.org/comm...

  27. "tell one side and omit important context" by mrspoonsi · · Score: 2

    Let me help fill in that missing context, facebook wants to collect as much data as its servers can hold on everyone on the planet, even those not signed up to facebook. They want to use this data to further their own aims, be it sell adverts, or ensure facebook retains its position in the market through all means available to them...

    1. Re:"tell one side and omit important context" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      When Facebook complains about missing context, a suitable response to them would be:
      "It is well within your power to provide that missing context. So why don't you?"

  28. sloppy reporting by the Guardian by epine · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I normally like the Guardian, but I'm annoyed they didn't mention the names of the ministers in Malaysia and Canada who immediately buckled.

  29. GLOBALISM IS NOT YOUR FRIEND by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Don't think it's just money Facebook is after. My instinct (and some people will say "Duh!") is that Zuckerberg & Co. are part of the Globalist cabal that wants to turn everyone's information into a mammoth databank for purposes of totalitarian control. Global totalitarian control. Every time you sign up for a rewards program, online or in a brick-and-mortar store, every time you go to the doctor, the library, use your debit/credit card, get your DNA tested for genealogical purposes, surf the web, whatever, not to mention social media, you are adding data that can be used to control you when the singularity comes. And by singularity, I mean not only the computer-brain link that "visionaries" actually tout, but the single government of the human race that Globalists are aiming for. Why do you think Progressive leaders want no borders, insist on making policy in foreign countries, are fanatical about lowering population, focus on climate change when there are more pressing environmental problems that we could actually do something about? Control over the masses. Socialism and capitalism meet on the other side. The Antichrist cometh. Whether you're Christian or not, stay tuned.

  30. Missing context by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 2

    Business Insider: "Facebook threatened to pull investment projects from Europe and Canada if lobbying demands from COO Sheryl Sandberg were not met," ...

    Facebook: "Like the other documents that were ... released ... these by design tell one side of a story and omit important context."

    Missing Context: Facebook also threatened the politician's families -- including their dogs.

    --
    It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
    1. Re:Missing context by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      John Wick: ... did someone threaten a dog?

  31. GET OFF FACEBOOK by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 1, Interesting

    It's time for Zuckerbook to DIE, plain and simple. Start by deleting your Facebook account and going back to actually being social with people you actually know.

  32. Can you hear me now? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What will the named and shamed politicians do now? What happens next ought to be fun.

  33. In China, you mean? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Suspicious" means nothing. I have never had a FB account, always saw through it from the beginning. I also refused a smartmeter, I don't want to be trivially hacked or disclose when I'm using power. I have no obligation to share that on wifi.

    I have nothing to hide. If their suspicions based on not having FB make them search, search. You won't find anything. If they tried to "do" anything based on those suspicions alone, my lawyer makes money on the deal.

    IDGAF what you or they find "suspicious" - it's what is actually done on that which matters. Nothing. Opting out of smartmeter was the easiest no-brainer, opting out of FB was the easiest no-brainer. Anyone who didn't deserves whatever happens as a result of their naivete, probably nothing, but you never know. It's safer to be safer.

    I've never once had a problem. Fearing creeping surveillance is one thing, apologizing for and accepting it as "the norm" will never be something I allow in my life. YMMV, but that's weaksauce.

    1. Re: In China, you mean? by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      If their suspicions based on not having FB make them search, search. You won't find anything. If they tried to "do" anything based on those suspicions alone, my lawyer makes money on the deal.

      Tomorrow's headline: Internet tough guy shot while resisting arrest.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  34. Hosts by betsuin · · Score: 1

    cat /etc/hosts | grep face
    # localhost is used to configure the loopback interface
    127.0.0.1 www.facebook.com
    127.0.0.1 facebook.com
    127.0.0.1 login.facebook.com
    127.0.0.1 www.login.facebook.com
    127.0.0.1 static.ak.connect.facebook.com
    127.0.0.1 connect.facebook.net
    127.0.0.1 www.connect.facebook.net
    127.0.0.1 apps.facebook.com
    ::1 www.facebook.com
    ::1 facebook.com
    ::1 login.facebook.com
    ::1 www.login.facebook.com
    ::1 static.ak.connect.facebook.com
    ::1 connect.facebook.net
    ::1 www.connect.facebook.net
    ::1 apps.facebook.com
    127.0.0.1 facebook.com
    127.0.0.1 www.facebook.com
    127.0.0.1 connect.facebook.com
    127.0.0.1 developers.facebook.com
    127.0.0.1 ads.interfacelift.com
    127.0.0.1 ads.ak.facebook.com.edgesuite.net


    I've probably missed a few.

    1. Re:Hosts by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You missed that most browsers now days actively avoid the OS-based DNS resolution and use their own, making your HOSTs file useless. Unless you use IE/Edge.

  35. I'm ashamed to be Canadian by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...but would love to know the names of those 3 ministers who colluded with Levine and sold us out in a blink.

    “We were out of there in 20 minutes”

  36. What did you expect? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    "Dumb fucks" - Marc Zuckerberg on his first few 100 users.

    Then he got filthy rich. To him his strategy and way to treat users obviously worked. Why change?

  37. Re:Still IMPERSONATING me JEALOUS "Lil' Jowie"? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why don't you take a hint and go someplace where your talents and insights are more appreciated?

  38. so, let the docs be revealed by AndrewFlagg · · Score: 1

    so what, let the docks be revealed. what harm can be done by telling the truth. if profit, greed, and motivation to skirt the laws and wield influence over some politicians... uh... that's nothing new... its legal.. called lobbying though heavily corrupted when $^7 or greater is exchanged in the alley.

  39. Yet you have a WhatsApp account. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Which is literally the same thing, from a privacy standpoint.
    Or an Instagam one by the way.

    Or maybe you have an Android smartphone and didn't install a free AOSP-based distribution. Or use Gmail.

    Or you use Windows (e.g. 10), and haven't gotten around to fully closing all the home-phoning leakage.

    If you don't do a single of those things, congratulations, you are an awesome human being.
    If your friends don't either... please tell me how to get to Narnia too. :)
    (Seriously, please do!)

    But forgive, if I based my assumptions above on statistics. It would be silly, not to.

  40. Re:Still IMPERSONATING me JEALOUS "Lil' Jowie"? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why? Apk proved you're imbeciles e.g. https://tech.slashdot.org/comm... which made us laugh at you.

  41. Lobbying 28 states of the EU by manu0601 · · Score: 1

    They lobby the all 28 states of the EU, but they must also lobby the EU commission, which is the only institution in EU that can start a new directive.

  42. You are the product by FeelGood314 · · Score: 1

    Until people actually start paying for the social media sites they use then you will continue to be treated like the pigs in a factory farm than. I know of one good pay to use social media site and they do an amazing job. We need to get over this free mentality. It's not free.

  43. Whatsapp's ties to Facebook by twosat · · Score: 1

    A cousin of ours in Italy was almost screaming to my sister during a phone call the other day to use Whatsapp. She uses Whatsapp with other family members, but I am leery about getting involved with something that has ties with Facebook. She is not interested in using other programs like Hangouts or Signal that I was suggesting. I was thinking about getting a cheap mobile phone and a SIM with no other contacts on it to use Whatsapp exclusively with her. Anybody here have any experiences with Whatsapp to relate?

    1. Re:Whatsapp's ties to Facebook by havana9 · · Score: 1

      I have for them this old advertising. By the way I have a flat VOIP number with a landline number and unlimited calls and I am using the exact white and light cyan phone you see there. Excellent audio quality.I don't understand why people doesn't make phone calls, I know that whatsapp does more than phone call, but I know also that cost isn't a problem because nowadays there are a lot of flat plans with it. Una telefonata allunga la vita

  44. Billions of dollars at stake, did YOU arm Zuck? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Zuckerberg and Facebook would have no money and no power if average people did not freely give it. If you have an account, you have provided the revenue stream that Facebook is using against you. You have been conned into thinking that all your personal info and the info about your friends and family which you have freely put onto Facebook has no value --- yet that very information has been worth BILLIONS of dollars to Zuckerberg and his investors and the politicians who want to use it to manipulate you. People who stand to lose BILLIONS of dollars if people change things are likely to go to great lengths to prevent those changes.

    I see morons calling for violence against Zuck or Facebook or all corporations. This is stupid on many levels:

    First: it's a criminal act to call for violence against somebody. You may not get caught, but if some stupid hothead heeds your call you will not enjoy the jail time.

    Second: I suspect that the very idiots who call for the violence are people who have Facebook accounts and cannot go 10 minutes without checking [anti]"social media" from their cellphones instead of living a real life in the real world with real friends and family.

    Third: All corporations are not the same and they're not all guilty of anything. 99% of corporations are NOT spying on people and intimidating governments.

    Fourth: Even for those who hate Zuck and have deleted (or never had) a Facebook account, I have to ask a question: how much time have YOU spent explaining to friends and family why they should not have Facebook accounts? If you have never even tried to peacefully convince the people in your life to kick the habit, then why would you immediately think of calling for violence? What bizarre form of laziness is this?

  45. electricity consumption by bagofbeans · · Score: 1

    Meters read once a month don't tell a lot. Grow houses use electricity all day, all night - which a smart meter has the resolution to report.

    1. Re:electricity consumption by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Grow houses are going to show unusually high electricity usage. It's somewhat trivial what the daily pattern is if a 3 bedroom home uses 10 times as much electricity as similarly-sized homes in the area.

      And I'm no marijuana farmer, but the store where I buy it has windows on one of their grow rooms so customers can marvel at the pot growing and sometimes it's dark and the shades are drawn even during the day. Why would they sometimes hide their plants from customers? Oh, maybe because they get better electric rates at night and in my rudimentary understanding of marijuana farming they need both light and dark cycles to flower.

  46. This is an example of why real democracy is by PJ6 · · Score: 1

    impossible without controlling the international flow of capital.