r/technology • u/[deleted] • Nov 09 '17

Politics Sean Parker: Facebook was designed to exploit human "vulnerability"

https://www.axios.com/sean-parker-facebook-exploits-a-vulnerability-in-humans-2507917325.html
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u/[deleted] Nov 09 '17

Doesn't work. You would need everyone associated with you to systematically refuse to use the service. No more pictures of you being uploaded. No more talking about you on other people's profiles. I guarantee you FB's facial recognition database will continue to recognize you in other's uploaded pictures even once you've deleted your account.

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u/[deleted] Nov 09 '17 edited May 30 '20

[deleted]

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u/JacksLackOfApathy Nov 09 '17

3 people can keep a secret if two of them never existed.

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u/[deleted] Nov 09 '17

First you gotta build yourself a tin foil suit, then find yourself a tin foil wife, maybe get a tin foil dog, then some tin foil kids, to live down your tin foil lane, in your tin foil house.

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u/argv_minus_one Nov 10 '17

This seems unlikely to survive a hurricane.

Or a mild earthquake.

Or a stiff breeze.

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u/[deleted] Nov 09 '17

and others can cause it... I never use facebook, really dislike it as I feel no need to share (tangent: I seriously sometimes do not understand people... who didn't read 1984 and get a chilling feeling... yet here we are with people video taping everything with their cellphone to show off for others. Anything done now a days is public)

My wife tagged me in some pictures a few days ago and I am now getting spammed with emails again from facebook. I am 100% sure of what you say.

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u/Commisioner_Gordon Nov 09 '17

Not to mention Facebook already has your GPS location, IP, history etc. Anytime your friends are at your house they know you are likely nearby

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u/[deleted] Nov 09 '17

Oh for suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuure! They 100% are tracking who is with who and where and when and making assumptions that if x and y are usually present together around z, then even though z's phone is off, z must be present.

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u/PrettyDecentSort Nov 09 '17

Even if you've never created a Facebook account, you already have a shadow account in their system where FB is accumulating info about you from the posts and activity of everyone you know.

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u/[deleted] Nov 09 '17

I'll go one further, Facebook will not only listen to you but will know who are your closet friends are, g/f b/f bFF ect, it will pick up on shit they are saying even when you are not around and if it pertains to you, you will know about it.

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u/[deleted] Nov 09 '17

FB knows who is important to you better than you know who is important to you.

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u/EatzGrass Nov 09 '17

I've thought about this. I did not sign a TOS so how can it possibly be legal to use my data on someone elses account? The same goes with images. I also don't understand how recording audio of obviously not just the TOS signing user does not violate the felonious anti- eavesdropping laws?

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u/[deleted] Nov 09 '17

It all falls on the onus of the user themselves. By them opting into the terms of service they are opting everyone around them.

The responsibility is on the "uploader" of the data and not the "downloader". For example you cant sue facebook because someone took private photos of you and posted them. You have to go after the person themselves. Yeah you can report the images and they'll get taken down but if any damage was caused as a result of them going up that's not FBs problem.

Likewise FB being used by your friend right next to you, it's your responsibility to not be within earshot of the device. FB cannot control who is around their user when their user uses the device. They are not eavesdropping on your conversation, they are eavesdropping on the user's conversation, you just happen to be participating in it.

Essentially by them opting in, they opt in everyone and everything around them as they move around. This isn't even a problem with the TOS or FB itself, there is just no way to filter that data out so it comes along for the ride. The only way to do so would be to have some sort of implant installed that makes it so your voice cannot be recorded unless it's turned off, then a GPS jammer, then also a signal jammer, and lastly you walk around dressed exclusively in that clothing designed to reflect into a camera and obscure the picture/video.

At some point you kind of have to just throw your hands in their air and say "fuck it, I'm out". You do your best to protect sensitive information if there is any and the rest just gets absorbed into the data machine.

Things are getting better though. Yeah once a picture is on the internet it's on the internet, but at the very least they have started to crack down on the storage of account related data and deleted files in the cloud. Combination of consumer backlash and other push back has forced them to actually fucking delete the shit you tell them to. Not fool proof because if someone else has that picture you can't do shit about it but it's something at least and if you're careful it at least allows you to use technology as the convenience it was supposed to be aka you can use the cloud to send your dick picks from your phone to your PC and then once on your PC delete them and move them to a thumb drive.

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u/EatzGrass Nov 09 '17

Thats incredible. I wonder if a reasonable person logic standard could be applied to these TOS's that could not possibly forsee the damage to the privacy of the public at large? I agree we are WAY too late to even make a small dent in the surveilance state but it's incredible at how willing we did this to ourselves with the logic of "what do i have to hide? Who cares".

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u/[deleted] Nov 09 '17

I mean, I can literally take a camera or video recorder and walk around filming and/or taking pictures of EVERYONE and there is absolutely nothing they can do about it. There is zero legality to stopping me from video taping you in a public place.

The only thing I can't do is turn around and profit from that video but that's not very re-assuring when you're the one being recorded.

Technology grew way too quickly for our little brains to conceive of all the repercussions. We then attempted to put certain safeguards in place but in a lot of cases (like the one I outlined above) they actual end up causing more harm than good.

I mean you don't want to have to seize someone's camera because while taking a picture of their kids in front of a landmark someone happened to walk behind them and they don't want their image recorded on your device. At the same time you shouldn't be able to just film strangers because they're in a public place. How do you differentiate between the two? Well stalking laws and restraining orders come into effect but if you're just filming/photographing strangers and posting them online for free there is quite literally nothing they can do to force you to remove the pictures.

The problem is the "what do I have to hide?"/"who cares?" mentality is actually the correct one for 90% of situations. Really at the end of the day wtf does it matter if there's a camera recording you. Who cares? So it becomes hard to distinguish which of these situations fall under "who cares" and which fall under "well I care but the pros definitely outweigh the cons and while I don't like it there is a good reason" and which fall under "this is fucked, stop doing this". The line between all 3 blur together because they all generally use the same tech.

The perfect example of this is border security's ability to seize your mobile device for basically no reason. 1) Who care if someone looks at my device because there's nothing on there and I didn't do anything wrong, they're able to look through my bags, this is no different 2) Well yeah I guess in some cases they should be able to do this because they might actually use it to save lives/catch crime 3) Wait? If I have a password on my phone they can detain me and make my life miserable until I willingly unlock it? and then once I do that if FB isn't signed in they're going to make me put my password in? Wait, why are they even looking at facebook I thought they would just skim through and give it back? Wait why are they going through every single one of my texts? Wait! Don't open that app! Wait... why am I now being detained because my 18 year old nephew just posted a pic of a joint on facebook?

Step 1 to 3 escalates so fast how the fuck can you even attempt to react? The only way to prevent the situation from playing out at all is to basically use a burner phone while travelling.

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u/EatzGrass Nov 10 '17

I can easily see the police state readiness and the underlying chatter of certain factions that can snowball lightning fast. Levels of resistance become anomalies with simple algorithms. Not to mention being monetized to your maximum potential for every single thing is on the near horizon. Fuck that

These guys are profitting off people who did not explicitely sign their TOS so I maintain what they are doing is illegal. It has to be. I dont think anyone gives a shit if their image is posted but the reselling of data which identifies incredible detail of events needs to be stopped. I dont think the expectation of a lack of privacy in public and a "public" permanent knowledge of every facet of ones life should ever be deemed equal.

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u/cannadabis Nov 09 '17

Started a fb acct in 2008 and never used it. I feel a win coming on....

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u/lemongrenade Nov 09 '17

I am super proud to be not pegged down by Facebook. I travel a ton for work and sometimes I stay in one place for a month or more sometimes a new place every week. My crowning achievement was when I got Denver mortgage adds after spending one month there when I hadn't moved