Face Reality Book
My biggest surprise at the current brouhahas regarding Facebook is that people are so shocked and surprised.
I saw this tweet from Cato Institute's Neal McCluskey (below) and I had to chime in.
When I was 15, I planned some conclave for my temple. I made some mistake and the rabbi yelled at me. Mean, but helpful. I've never forgotten what he said: "When somebody says, 'it's not the money; it's the principle,' it's always the money. Always the money."
If there's a "free" service, chances are, you're paying in some other way than money.
Also, as I wrote in "Good Manners for Nice People Who Sometimes Say F*ck":
When considering how much of the real you to share online, err on the side of assuming that whatever you or other people post or e-mail will be speedily copied, pasted, and forwarded to anyone with an Internet connection, because that sometimes happens even when you're sure you've taken stringent precautions.For example, Facebook "privacy" settings are wildly complicated and ever-changing and no guarantee that your private life will be kept private.
I also explain why you need to pre-plan what your own privacy policy will be -- and not just on Facebook but in any interaction online:
Because the Internet puts so much power right at our fingertips and it's so much fun to use, we underestimate the tendency for even otherwise responsible adults with serious jobs to devolve into mouth-breathing chimps who've just been handed the button for an info-nuke....Having a clear sense of your boundaries for exposure will also give you a better chance of keeping hold of them should you find yourself in something of a stupor. Sure, when you've had a few and somebody videotapes you naked and frisky, you can probably sue or maybe even have them prosecuted, but that won't close the barn door after the sex tape of you and Mr. Ed has gone viral on You-Porn.
I was wary of Facebook from the gitgo. I had to create an account five years ago, in order to access data I needed on some AirForce web sites.
I thought the government going all in with facebook was a bad idea then, and still think it is.
I post no information. No friends, no pictures, no birthdate. Im sure they have a pretty good idea where I am, and roughly, who I am. The good news is, based on my buying habits, (gun stuff, and parts for my travel trailer) they think I’m a man.
Isab at April 11, 2018 7:29 AM
I looked at the “ads” data FB has on me and it thinks I am Hispanic and work as an IT professional. Neither is true.
I use FB as a way to participate in my local hobby groups and volunteer orgs (all of them use FB to plan events). My husband and I got burned by a stalker situation some time ago, so that made me very mindful of what I post and it just became easier to post very little and never, ever use the check-in feature.
Sofar at April 11, 2018 8:28 AM
Starting to suspect, the dirty little secret of Facebook, which Zuckerberg is deperate to hide, is that Facebook knows a whole lot less about the users of Facebook than what they have convinced their advertisers that they know.
Isab at April 11, 2018 9:47 AM
It's political. That Facebook does this is not news. People have been complaining about it for almost a decade. The key thing is a Republican political group made use of this data. That's the problem. Only Democrats and businessmen were allowed.
Ben at April 11, 2018 9:50 AM
You pay with the information they hoover up from you.
Not the only reason, but one of the reasons I never signed up with Facebook.
Back in 2014, when I and my siblings got together back in St. Paul for the wedding of my younger brother's oldest daughter, my younger sister was trying to convince me to get on Facebook. I think she's on there a lot and most of my ten nieces & nephews are. Her son overheard her talking to me and said "Don't do it, Uncle Jim! Don't do it! They'll use your personal information and the government will spy on you. Don't do it!"
I don't think my sister would've convinced me anyway but my nephew's comments helped encourage to me to continue avoiding it. Smart kid (he's now going for his PhD in Neuroscience at Cornell.)
JD at April 11, 2018 10:02 AM
As a friend of mine likes to say, "If you're getting something for free, you are the product being sold."
You don't pay for Facebook; the advertisers do. What do they get for their money? A target audience. Facebook keeps track of the things you like, your politics (and it lists me as a Moderate) and anything you like to buy.
And Facebook tailors the advertisements you see based on what you're most likely to spend money on.
pcolliano@aol.com at April 11, 2018 10:29 AM
I thought the government going all in with facebook was a bad idea then, and still think it is.
Ah, but it streamlines a hacker's work flow. Instead of having to hack a half dozen government agencies, they can just tap into the spigot that's FB. And if they still have access to OPM's server, bonus!
Oh, and this:
is that Facebook knows a whole lot less about the users of Facebook than what they have convinced their advertisers that they know
Yasss. Very likely true. If one has access to FB's stuff and access to another good source like OPM, then clever people can come up with good guesses about you.
I R A Darth Aggie at April 11, 2018 10:30 AM
All the grilling of Mark Zuckerberg proved was that our Congressional representatives don't understand technology. It was frightening to watch people who are suggesting that they should regulate an entity show that they have absolutely no clue what that entity does.
Facebook provides a free social network for the sole purpose of gathering data. Every like, every follow, every comment, every check-in is recorded, logged, and sold as aggregate data. Your profile and your digital history can be scoured for specific information.
In meatspace, if you subscribe to a magazine, those data are being sold. Same with purchases shipped to your house, your cable TV choices (packages, pay-per-view, etc.), your credit card activity, et al. A database of what choices people in your census block have made is compiled and then sold to advertisers, demographers, and data companies (Experian, NPD, Neilsen, etc.).
Merged with Census data and other data providers, a pretty accurate picture can be created of what people in your ZIP Code buy, rent, and do for fun; how much they make, whether they own or rent, what jobs they work.
From all of that data, Experian has compiled a geodemographic database called, Mosaic, "a household-based consumer lifestyle segmentation that empowers marketers with the insights needed to anticipate the behavior, attitudes and preferences of their most profitable customers and reach them in the most effective channels with the best messages.".
This kind of data amalgamation was going on long before Facebook arrived on the scene.
A wise man once cautioned, "look around the table, and if you don't see a sucker, the sucker is you." To paraphrase, "look at the free service and if you can't figure out what's being sold, you are."
TO SERVE MAN
Conan the Grammarian at April 11, 2018 11:44 AM
I hate to break it to you Conan but tech is just one of many things they haven't a clue about. An impressive number of our elected officials struggled to make a C average. What is even more baffling is the higher the GPA of our elected officials the worse our nation does.
Ben at April 11, 2018 2:25 PM
At a time when testing was designed so that the bulk of the students would make a C.
Patrick at April 11, 2018 5:06 PM
This is a category-seven, stage-five magical piece of blog postery. One of the best of recent years:
Also, in an unrelated matter, this is one of my favorite guitar solos.
Crid at April 11, 2018 5:18 PM
I like to click on totally random things in FB. Now its algorithms are all confused. Lately I've been seeing ads for knitting supplies.
Cousin Dave at April 11, 2018 7:27 PM
So Patrick you are claiming our politicians are no better than average?
And no. Even there you are wrong. Many of our politicians went to fancy schools where B is the average. Can't have the kids of the rich and powerful looking like idiots.
Ben at April 12, 2018 6:31 AM
The problem is that far too many of them went to law school. They needed a high GPA to get in, so they took a non-rigorous liberal arts undergraduate major (e.g., Communication, Poly-Sci, etc.). Now, they have a doctorate-level degree (JD), so they think they're smart and worldly.
Conan the Grammarian at April 13, 2018 8:41 AM
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