Comment by rdiddly | Hacker News Reader

Comment by rdiddly | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

I was thinking about the mere leakage of the data itself, but you make a good point. I pretty quickly figured out the nature of Facebook years ago and deleted mine. But all the people coming out of the woodwork now to hate on Facebook all of a sudden, you have to assume 1) they accepted all the things about Facebook that we all knew, including the use or misuse of data, and 2) what made them finally object was Facebook's sudden supposed intrusion into the (supposed) democratic process (though Kogan said profiling and ad targeting was worse than useless[0]), and specifically the fact that Trump won and now they're mad and looking for someone/something to blame.

[0] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-21/facebook-...

I understand this line of reasoning from a butt-hurt nerd perspective, but surely we can agree that it's a good thing that the consequences of 'all this' is finally hitting the mainstream?

And if so, what is the value of such an attitude other than some kind of petty 'told you so' need? Do we demand badges for our wokeness?

I don't claim my attitude has value.

It's fine if it hits the mainstream, but if it's because of Trump, and not because of what Facebook is, then it will end up being just another half-assed initiative by only half the population - the half that happens to disagree with one flash-in-the-pan, here-today-gone-tomorrow, and ineffective-to-boot, President.

I'm among those who think the world would probably be better off without both Facebook and Trump, but the consensus out there in the world doesn't agree with that. They elected Trump and continue to make Facebook rich. Somewhat counter-intuitively, there is really not a lot of fodder there for feeling superior about oneself.

I see your point. It's depressing, but still.

On one hand I don't want to look this gift horse too closely in the mouth, because I do support better control over my private data.

On the other hand, the broader responses by the big tech firms seems to be a heavy-handed punishment of run of the mill right wing media. While not illegal it is pretty terrifying to see so much modern day book burning.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com