We know and agree what Facebook's business model is: they do their
utmost to get more and more people to join and then they use all the
private stuff to target very focused adverts. Then there is also a
natural tendency for the rich to become richer (Epstein and Axtell's
"Sugarscape) and more powerful and then to abuse their money and power.
My question is: how do you know when this is good or bad for society.
Well, I don't argue that the extreme of this is evil, but where is the
extreme? And further, what is a good way to keep the rich and powerful
in check? Is it good to regulate it, and to what extent do you regulate
it? If we regulate it, how do we prevent the regulations from getting
out of hand and limit our freedom too much? When are regulations
unnecessary and is it good enough to just tell everybody about the
"evil" things they do?
Pieter
On 2010/09/26 09:07 PM, Jochen Fromm wrote:
I admit that's a good point. I don't accuse Facebook of forcing anyone
to join them,
it doesn't do this yet. But they try to force users to stay there once
they have joined. Many users are lured in, or join out of curiosity,
but Facebook doesn't let them out again. That's evil,
especially because the high number of users
is a key element in their advertising strategy.
Another problem is that some data of your friends - photos, videos, or
information about events - may be inaccessible for you if you don't
join. Information is no longer freely available on the internet.
Finally all the buzz generated around Facebook suggests that it is a
wonderful place. It is not - only if you
have something to sell. The buzz is generated partly because the media
itself is involved in it - many journalists and newspapers have an
account themselves.
Imagine the language we speak would belong
to a company. Every 5 years the company would invent a new version of
the language with plenty of new words, and every time we would
have to learn the new words and rules (and print new books). The
language we speak belongs to us.
Our private life, too. The Facebook operators don't violate privacy
occasionaly, it is their core business to violate privacy. People
should be aware of this.
-J.
----- Original Message ----- From: "Pieter Steenekamp"
<[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Sunday, September 26, 2010 1:23 PM
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] You Have 0 Friends [why Facebook is evil]
If a grocery store offers to sell you a bread for a dollar, do you
accuse them of forcing you to give you a dollar? Then why do you
accuse Facebook of forcing you to do anything? If you don't like it,
simply don't open an account with them. If you don't buy bread then
you die, so I would rather accuse the grocery store of forcing me to
part with my dollar. If you don't open a Facebook account, at least
you don't die.
Pieter
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FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
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============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
