Facebook's "Evil Interfaces" 244
An anonymous reader writes "Tim Jones over at the EFF's Deep Links Blog just posted an interesting article on the widespread use of deceptive interface techniques on the Web. He began by polling his Twitter and Facebook audience for an appropriate term for this condition and received responses like 'Bait-and-Click' and 'Zuckerpunched.' Ultimately, he chose 'Evil Interfaces' from Greg Conti's HOPE talk on malicious interface design and follow-up interview with media-savvy puppet Weena. Tim then goes on to dissect Facebook (with pictures). So, what evil interfaces have you encountered on (or off) the Web?"
Re:Ok, honestly (Score:1, Interesting)
I actually deleted all the information. Waited for a month then entered false information connected to the more obnoxious bloggers and cretins on FB. A police department in upper Sandusky will likely get the spam catering to someone like Dexter. My last few acts have been to change the name on the account and forward the emails to a disposable one. I'll let that sit and stew for a time then change the emails again and wait a tad more then delete the account and then kill the disposable emails.
I have not allowed them too much info but I did allow them an annoying level of it because I had an attack of the stupid.
The Pirate Bay (Score:5, Interesting)
thepiratebay.org has something of a classic. Search, find, click, go to the download page, but wait, don't click on the big green "Download" button, that's for a toolbar or something which no doubt they get paid a little something for every time someone clicks. What you want is the smaller "DOWNLOAD THIS TORRENT" link underneath the inviting big green "Download" button.
No big deal since I like TPB, and what does one expect of pirates? "Yarrr, suckered ye good Jimmy me lad, now give us rum."
Re:Less deceptive now (Score:3, Interesting)
It was definitely an app "suggestion" that had two buttons on the dialog box: "install" or "cancel".
I have just gone back to see what it does now, and it is taking me right to the java applet, so what has happened to the advanced shiny app they were pushing, I do not know.
Aha! This page has the actual dialog box:
http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=206178097130 [facebook.com]
Now, that box strongly implies that the new plug in (no, let me rephrase: it states categorically) is required to be able to upload photos.
If you click "cancel" it takes you to another page that says "are you sure? this plugin is the best way to upload photos!" and you click cancel again, and then it drops you to a page with the link to the simple uploader.
I did not imagine it, trust me.
Re:Ok, honestly (Score:3, Interesting)
When you delete/modify your data, FB actually appends the new dataset to the end of their DB table and makes its "current" pointer point to that. The data actually never gets deleted. This is not an RDBMS.
Re:Ok, honestly (Score:5, Interesting)
If you really think you understand your privacy settings on Facebook and you have not invested a significant amount of effort to do so then you've most definitely been "zuckerpunched". There are all kinds of odd things sequested away in dark corners of the settings and profile page.
My most recent was when a bunch of people I barely knew started congratulating me on my birthday. Even though I'd disabled all the ways I though that information was available. Turns out there was another setting somewhere under "Profile", I think, with a checkbox that said something like "reveal my birthday to everyone".
Re:Ok, honestly (Score:2, Interesting)
No, because money was never limited by the supply of materials to produce it, but by the state (or in the US, the Federal Reserve). We decide that money is finite because otherwise it would be useless.
"Never" is incorrect. US-ians lost their right to own real money (gold) ca. 1932. Your Federal Reserve was forced down your throats at a time of widespread fiscal panic. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_standard [wikipedia.org]
Money (value) is NOT finite! There's a whole fscking Universe out there filled with value, if we can get to it.
Small wonder that now your financial wizards on Wall St. now consider "value" nothing more than Monopoly pieces that they move around the board. That's what fiat money is; markers. It's long since lost its connection to the value it purportedly represents.
Cf. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/fiat_currency [wikipedia.org]
When I was younger, the US was hounding a guy up here in Canada for holding gold in trust for US-ians. He eventually won as even the US thought it was a stupid thing for them to be doing.
When US-ians let those in power hijack the money supply, that's when US went Socialist/Emperialist, whether you choose to believe it or not. US back then was way ahead of us so-called socialist Canucks. They had an Empire to finance!
Real money (value) isn't created (poof!) by the state. You've just been convinced since that it is. They won, you lost.
Shouldn't you all be taking up arms against your oppressors about now?
"Fiat Currency" means "spend like crazy, and let the grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, pick up the bill." Nice.
The Oldest has to be Realplayer (Score:2, Interesting)
...with the very first 'oops-didn't-you-scroll-down-and-look-at-the-other-checkboxes' installer system
Re:I don't blame him but.... (Score:2, Interesting)
Yes, damn him! Damn him for creating a website that allows me to keep in touch with friends and family and promote my business.
Damn him for holding a gun to my head to force me to use his evil, cluttered, distracting, gawd-ugly website.
And damn him for using his monopoly status to shut out the clearly superior MySpace and Friendster and all the instant messaging clients like ICQ and AIM and Yahoo and MSN.
Damn him to hell for integrating with other web apps like Yelp that force me to publish reviews about restaurants, and for creating an open API that gives me no choice but to link my Outlook client to my Facebook account so that it automatically downloads photos into my Outlook contacts, syncing them to my phone, and giving me status updates when I'm emailing someone.
And damn him to eternity and back for giving business owners and non-profit organizations a free way to market themselves, and optionally pay for low-cost, targeted advertising, effectively forcing other saint-like companies to rethink the way they're selling ads.
Yes, that Mark is quite the devil.
Re:Ticketmaster (Score:3, Interesting)
The pirate bay Example, note the DOWNLOAD button is an add and the download torrent link is RIGHT below it and in a smaller font.
This is not a good trend.
Re:Ok, honestly (Score:3, Interesting)
Real money (value) isn't created (poof!) by the state.
Agreed. But in the current system, it isn't the state who creates money - it's banks, in the form of debt, via the mechanism of fractional reserve lending. Fractional reserve essentially creates negative value because all new money is created not just as debt, but as debt plus interest - so more money must be paid back than actually exists. Because of this, the amount of money in the system must constantly grow, regardless of the actual value of transactions occurring, or a systemic crash occurs. This distorts the true value of money immensely, and favours exploitative and abusive companies seeking short-term money extraction over long-term sustainable trading.
This distortion is not caused by the state but by the private banking and investment sector.
However, even if fractional reserve were to be abolished, and we went back to a gold-backed system, it would have its own problem, in that it pegs value to the extraction of a mineral - which has no logical connection to actual wealth either.
The problem is that all forms of 'money' are at best an abstraction several degrees removed from reality. Real wealth is the combination of the following:
* Breathable air
* Drinkable water
* Safe food
* Living soil
* A self-sustaining agricultural infrastructure
* A healthy and educated population
* Low crime
* Low pollution
* Low prison population
* Tiny police and military
* A thriving scientific establishment which is not producing weapons or destroying the environment
* A commercial culture based on respect for human life and wellbeing over profits
* Respect on the international stage (not fear but inspirational leadership)
* A sustainable birthrate
* A rich diversity of cultures
These things are true wealth. Money is only an honest reflection of wealth to the extent that it reflects these realities.
Look up Dee Hock, inventor of Visa, for some more ideas on how the current dysfunctional banking system can be improved. There were also some good ideas proposed at the post-WW2 Bretton Woods conference - such as the 'bancor', a neutral currency for international trade. But sadly, US voices prevailed and so the US Dollar was chosen instead, leading to international trade distortions which we're still paying for.
A 'basket of commodities' backed trade system, plus a 'genuine progress indicator' replacing GDP, would be a tiny start in the right direction, but these long-overdue corrections are still seen as overly radical by many.