On Saturday 24. March 2018 06.22.41 C. Cossé wrote: > > FB enables people to connect in an ever-disconnected world.
Wait a moment! The world is more connected than ever, technologically. Isn't that one of the problems here? "Everyone" is on Facebook, but they are all in their own little bubble or silo, subject to a game of divide and rule. (I'm not saying that it isn't convenient to be in a silo communicating with your friends and family, but what I increasingly noticed on LinkedIn before I quit that as well, was that I was being "messaged" more and more by "influencers". I found that rather offensive, and I would object to other people being treated the same way, too.) > Rather than boycott it altogether how about campaigning to change it > according to FSF/E values? What leverage does the FSF or FSFE have over Facebook? The overriding motivation for anything Facebook does involves making colossal sums of money by selling advertising opportunities to organisations exploiting the company's knowledge of its users' behaviour (and of others who happen to interact with its ubiquitous online tracking assets). The people campaigning to "delete Facebook" understand this very well because the language of money is practically the only language Facebook's executives understand. For once, we are on the same page as those people who continually remind us, somewhat inaccurately, that the only responsibility a company has is to its greedy shareholders who want maximum returns on their investments. > How much change to FB code/policy would it take to align with FSF/E > "values"? The FSF and FSFE are primarily concerned with software freedom, but software freedom is beneficial in upholding values like transparency and end-user control over their technology, which itself feeds into matters of privacy and sustainability. Facebook already uses and contributes to Free Software, but you cannot "download Facebook" and run it yourself. Even if various projects used by Facebook were relicensed under the AGPL, there would still be infrastructure that is proprietary. At this point, the FSF and FSFE can only "campaign" for a change with no real leverage. It may get to the point where government regulation demands transparency around the infrastructure, the "algorithms", and so on. Given how large companies manage to evade regulatory measures by "forgetting" to comply with them - Facebook is already subject to some measures, I believe - I don't think this will ever provide a satisfactory solution. But in terms of software freedom, would you even want to have an entire Facebook implementation you could deploy yourself, anyway? Is it desirable when considering those peripheral values to try and gather large numbers of people into the same solution where the same hazards around privacy and surveillance will simply present themselves again? > That's the easiest solution to the whole dilema, not to attempt to get the > world to switch-over to whatever-the-f*ck obscure platform FSF/E deems > "acceptable". You are correct in that it generally isn't about picking specific solutions as winners because this usually just transfers the problem to something else. But in instances such as this, the FSF and FSFE should uphold notions of interoperability and choice. The only easy solutions here are pretend solutions that just deny that the concentration of power and influence is harmful and that there is nothing more to see in this ongoing controversy. The FSF and FSFE need to promote solutions that allow people to communicate with each other. Again, that is a topic for another message because it demands that we consider constructive strategies for achieving this, which is a separate thing from highlighting the perils of Facebook and similar platforms. > It's contra-reality. What are you so afraid of? I sincerely suggest you switch back to the more socially-responsible parts of the "mainstream media" to find a long list of things that are worrying about the effect of Facebook and similar data aggregation platforms on society and democracy. Paul _______________________________________________ Discussion mailing list [email protected] https://lists.fsfe.org/mailman/listinfo/discussion This mailing list is covered by the FSFE's Code of Conduct. All participants are kindly asked to be excellent to each other: https://fsfe.org/about/codeofconduct
