from Hacker News

Facebook Back on the Defensive, Now Over Data Deals with Device Makers

by Cbasedlifeform on 6/5/18, 3:45 AM with 24 comments

  • by merricksb on 6/5/18, 5:07 AM

    Previous/ongoing discussions:

    https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17229397 (272 points/251 comments)

    https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17223926 (700 points/200 comments)

  • by mlb_hn on 6/5/18, 4:13 AM

    This is a followup to the first article where they confused the ability to use a device to access Facebook functionality (e.g. upload photos) without using the app or browser with giving a third party the ability to access Friend data.

    The common understanding seems to be that Facebook is allowing device manufacturers to download user data the same way that Cambridge Analytica and other third party services did.

    So far, they haven't shown that device manufacturers are siphoning that data to their own databases short of the statement "Facebook acknowledged that some partners did store users’ data — including friends’ data — on their own servers" (in the original article, no explanation of context). What they have shown is that Facebook gave device manufacturers the ability to let users use the device to interact with their Facebook accounts without using the web browser.

  • by dmagee on 6/5/18, 4:21 AM

    What I think is really interesting is that there is public appetite for outrage against the tech giants. Hence why this article was published even though there is not a whole lot more information.

    Public outrage often results in low hanging fruit for political movements to pick and use for their own gain.

    If this snowballs some more I expect reactionary politicians and reactionary policies to rear their ugly head.

  • by wyldfire on 6/5/18, 4:50 AM

    > But Facebook officials said this week that they did not consider hardware partners to be outside companies, under the terms of Facebook’s privacy policies and a 2011 consent decree with the Federal Trade Commission.

    ....except for when hardware partners are discovered to have had a breach, in which case Facebook officials said that those companies would be held liable.

  • by Larrikin on 6/5/18, 4:26 AM

    Is there any feasible way to actually have the good parts of Facebook but prevent all of the data mining especially by third parties. I can't actually think of a way. Is there some subset of acceptable data to share? Is Facebook as it is right now totally broken and a new model needed?

    The use cases of automatically adding your friends pictures and birthdays to matching phone contacts was awesome when I first used it in college. Games like Words with Friends are a lot more fun when I'm actually playing with people I know. Not everyone discovers and plays games at the same time so its nice seeing when someone new starts playing and also knowing not to pester friends that stopped playing long ago.

    Being connected with actual people I know is nice, I just hope it doesn't all have to go away because there are so many people out there trying to abuse the data.

  • by dingo_bat on 6/5/18, 4:10 AM

    In the article, they haven't said why they think FB is "back on the defensive". They just rehashed the whole controversy, no new events seem to have occurred.

  • by Froyoh on 6/5/18, 4:21 AM

    Do you think the using 'facebook.com' in Apple's demonstration of their social media blocking feature at WWDC was deliberate?

  • by adamnemecek on 6/5/18, 4:58 AM

    Fb, pls die already.