Facebook Users Voting On Privacy, Instagram, Other Issues 80
Nerval's Lobster writes "Facebook is letting users vote on changes to its Data Use Policy and Statement of Rights and Responsibilities (Facebook users can vote via this link). The company will also host a live Webcast to answer questions at 9:30 AM PST. One section of Facebook's revamped policies insists that the network can share information with its family of companies. This apparently applies to Instagram, the photo-sharing service acquired by Facebook earlier this year. Under the terms of the provision, Facebook can store 'Instagram's server logs and administrative records in a way that is more efficient than maintaining totally separate storage systems.' Facebook is also clarifying its language surrounding affiliates, as well. As long as Facebook continues to exist in its current form, these debates over its privacy rules will almost certainly continue to crop up on a semi-regular basis. The challenge for Facebook executives is how to best maintain that delicate dance between their need for revenue, advertising firms' desire for effective marketing campaigns, and users' rights to privacy. They run a corporation — but at moments, it also starts to resemble a messy democracy."
In Keeping with US Voting Traditions (Score:5, Funny)
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They forgot the option:
TL;DR
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Which are redundantly backed up all over the world. Have fun with that.
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As a political social engineer*, I can tell you that we consider "half truths" and the like to be the best kind of lies.
Because you can tell people that they are not lies, and people will accept that, because they think only positive lies (where you say something wrong) would be lies, and not negative lies (where you don't say something right).
That makes some things incredibly easy. You can openly lie your ass off, and they got nothing, even though they know it's all blatant lies.
(* Don't worry, I'm not wor
Re:In Keeping with US Voting Traditions (Score:4, Funny)
As a political social engineer*, I can tell you that we consider "half truths" and the like to be the best kind of lies. Because you can tell people that they are not lies, and people will accept that, because they think only positive lies (where you say something wrong) would be lies, and not negative lies (where you don't say something right).
That makes some things incredibly easy. You can openly lie your ass off, and they got nothing, even though they know it's all blatant lies.
(* Don't worry, I'm not working for either "side". I never was in the US in my life, and never will be.)
But what aren't you saying here?
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Giant Douche, or Turd Sandwich?
Your Vote Matters!
Voting Schmoting (Score:2, Interesting)
Other places where people get to "vote:" China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Cuba
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Fuck your smarmy attitude. It's a website, either use it or don't use it. Nobody's forcing you to do either, so don't make such a big deal about it.
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If your friends actually give a shit whether you use Facebook or not, then maybe they're not actual friends.
Fun Fact: You can avoid Facebook and still have a social life. Seeing people in person go a lot farther then Liking their new cat picture.
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Yeah because friends never move away from you to the point that you rarely get to see them in person very often.
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Nah, real friends don't give a fuck if you have Facebook (for reference, I don't). If they want to do something with me, they call, email, text, IM, whatever.
The real problem is with dating. Apologies to Artie Lange for tweaking one of his jokes: Tell a 25-year-old girl you just met who's trying to FB stalk you that you don't have a FB account, and she'll look at you like you're wearing a Revolutionary War outfit.
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The real problem is with dating. Apologies to Artie Lange for tweaking one of his jokes: Tell a 25-year-old girl you just met who's trying to FB stalk you that you don't have a FB account, and she'll look at you like you're wearing a Revolutionary War outfit.
Try dating girls with a brain instead..
Re:Actually, it is a big deal, in the long run. (Score:5, Insightful)
Facebook isn't just a "website". It's size and reach are helping define what people expect of privacy. I have not ever had a Facebook account, yet I fully expect my future expectations of privacy to hinge on what the masses accept on Facebook. If Facebook sticks around and sets trends and expectations for years to come, what happens there matters. If millions of Americans grant access to something I might consider private, the government may stop defining that thing with a reasonable expectation of privacy. Even if *I* never granted that access.
So, while smarmy isn't productive, some sort of attitude is relevant here. Maybe attitude is what's necessary to get people thinking about what's at stake?
Not a Democracy (Score:5, Interesting)
Never, ever mistake a company collecting feedback from its users for a democracy. Facebook's users aren't even its paying customers.
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In Facebook's business model, you are the product, not the customer.
And a perfectly legitimate response to that statement is - WHO CARES?
It's just a newish business model - OTA television has used a similar (but less interactive) model for decades... advertisers pay for your eyeballs (and offer up prayers that you are watching live instead of a recording...)
It's not automatically evil in any way.
But that doesn't change the fact that the statement 'you're the product not the customer' is relatively accurate
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*deep, annoyed sigh*
Do you emit that noise with every breath, or only when someone has the audacity to criticize your beloved corporate overlord?
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Yes, I DO mean the stuff that, quite demonstrably, very few people care about
The people who don't care about it are the ones suddenly surprised when Facebook doesn't respect their privacy. Of course they aren't interested in your privacy, the entire point of the business model is to take data about you and sell it to someone else.
You're right, most people probably don't care if they're the product or the customer... but they probably should.
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Wrong. Democracy only means that all eligible citizens have equal say in the decisions of the body politic. This can be either directly or indirectly through elected representatives. Both are still democracy.
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Yep. Facebook's users are the product. That's a big part of the problem right there.
Options (Score:5, Insightful)
"They run a corporation â" but at moments, it also starts to resemble a messy democracy."
At first, I was going to roll my eyes (as if the submitter actually implied that this gesture resembled democracy in reality in any way), but then I reliased what a genius comment this was.
Of course it resembles a messy democracy: it's a meaningless facade presented by a corporation.
LOL, epic fail ... (Score:5, Informative)
So if you already have your permissions a little restrictive and don't allow apps, when you go there you get confronted with this:
So, in order to participate in this voting, you need to agree to even more access by this thing just to find out what it looks like.
Facebook really are a bunch of asses aren't they? This is the same setting which wants to be used by apps and games to give them access to all of your data.
Will someone please lock Zuckerface into a room with a bear or something?
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So if you already have your permissions a little restrictive and don't allow apps, when you go there you get confronted with this:
So, in order to participate in this voting, you need to agree to even more access by this thing just to find out what it looks like.
Facebook really are a bunch of asses aren't they? This is the same setting which wants to be used by apps and games to give them access to all of your data.
Will someone please lock Zuckerface into a room with a bear or something?
I believe you are prompted with this request for permission because I don't think this is an actual application or voting page from Facebook. This is an application from a social media company called Thuzi. The 'voting page' linked in the summary contains an iframe to https://fbgovernance.thuzi.com/ [thuzi.com]. I don't think this is legitimate.
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No, you specifically need to allow the app in order to cast your vote. That's because it's the only good way to interface the module with your account. It doesn't make sense to somehow plug it directly into the backend and feed it through your Settings or something.
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So, in order to vote on Facebook's privacy policy you need to allow a 3rd party access to your data, and possibly against what you've already chosen as your privacy policy.
They're not even trying are they?
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Will it really matter? (Score:2)
failbork (Score:4, Interesting)
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THANK YOU. I don't get why everyone's always up in arms about Facebook privacy. The rule is simple - don't post anything on Facebook that you don't mind the rest of the world knowing/seeing/indexed forever/whatever.
It's the price to pay when you're using these sorts of websites. We weren't forced to create an account there.
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What the hell are you talking about? In that case, all privacy is an illusion.
There are privacy settings on Facebook which you can set to restrict other people, applications or websites from seeing the data that you have chosen to enter into Facebook. I just went to the privacy settings and saw the you can stop Facebook from interacting with other websites and applications entirely, but I'm leaving the capabilities enabled because I find it convenient to use the "login with Facebook" button on some sites. (
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Oh. Yep, I'd say we're in agreement then :p It's nice to see someone who is taking a rational and realistic stance on the issue for once.
I went to this voting app hoping that it would be about voting on default privacy settings. When I saw that it was voting on one of two Facebook-defined privacy policies, I left.
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Vote no or vote no more (Score:5, Informative)
As of 2012-12-04 17:00 UTC (Score:1)
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If I recall correctly, FB is free to ignore any vote with less than 40% participation. So please ask 400,000,000 of your FB Friends to participate. When I voted 3 hours ago, about 60,000 had done so.
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To expect 30% to actually read the proposed changes or even care to vote... well, I guess that's a little optimistic. I wouldn't expect the vote to actually have any effect at all so the changes will probably be implemented anyway. Not that I suggest not to vote but this "democratic approach" seems like it's just for
Is this even a legitimate voting app from Facebook (Score:1)
I checked the link in the summary: https://apps.facebook.com/fbsitegovernance/ [facebook.com] and it consists of an iframe that loads the remote site https://fbgovernance.thuzi.com/ [thuzi.com].
Was Thuzi contracted by Facebook to perform this vote? Why would they be? Thuzi appears to be some sort of online social media marketing firm. Looks fishy to me.
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I checked the link in the summary: https://apps.facebook.com/fbsitegovernance/ [facebook.com] and it consists of an iframe that loads the remote site https://fbgovernance.thuzi.com/ [thuzi.com].
Was Thuzi contracted by Facebook to perform this vote? Why would they be? Thuzi appears to be some sort of online social media marketing firm. Looks fishy to me.
I did some further digging and on the Facebook legal terms & conditions page I found a reference to the Facebook Site Governance page, so it appears to be legitimate.
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Doesn't make it any less fishy, but it's more info about them...
trust FB with your votes...? (Score:1)
Let's vote on this: (Score:1)
Doesn't count (Score:2)
The vote isn't even recognized unless 30% of all Facebook users vote.
http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=76815337130 [facebook.com]
30% of 1 billion = 300 Million
So 300 million people have to vote for them to even consider the results.
Good luck. This vote is just for show.
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There is no democracy without accountability. (Score:3)
There is nothing about the current FB process that contains any true accountability. This is a marketing exercise designed to give the noisiest contingent of FB users something they can do to create the illusion that they have a voice. Consider:
1. The current voting process has a minimum participation requirement for decisions to be binding. This participation threshold has never been met.
2. One of the changes being voted for is doing away with the voting system.
This is how it's going to play out: Facebook is going to work harder and harder to monetize the details of your personal life until somebody powerful and/or well-loved by the public is burned by their behavior, a la Gen. Petraues. Then there will be legislation to curb the powers of private entities like Facebook as a knee-jerk reaction. That is what a real "messy democracy" looks like.
I actually have to READ the privacy statement? (Score:2)
Why all the grumbling? (Score:2)
At least there isn't an electoral college involved.
IMPOSSIBLE - 30% FB voting. What % will? (Score:2)
Ok, let's stop to consider this for a moment. 30% of the Facebook subscriber base needs to participate if the measure is to pass. What's the liklihood of that happening if:
(1) A significant percentage of all FB subscribers are spambots (estimated at 6-10% - http://www.insidefacebook.com/category/spam-2/ [insidefacebook.com] )
(2) The average turnout of a normal adult voting population for US elections is ~50% (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voter_turnout)
(3) There is a gap between "all users" and "monthly active users" - hard t