【】
If the Cambridge Analytica mess has convinced you it's time to finally kick Facebook out of your life for good, you're not alone.
Anti-Facebook sentiment is at an all-time high. The #deletefacebook hashtag has been trending on and off for days (it was even endorsed by the Facebook-made billionaire founder of WhatsApp), and Google searches for "delete Facebook" are at a five-year high.
And deservedly so. While it will be weeks or even months before the many investigations into Facebook and Cambridge Analytica conclude, it's more clear than ever the company doesn't deserve our trust.
SEE ALSO:The conversation will be weaponized: Why Facebook, Slack and Cambridge Analytica are the futureFor years, Facebook encouraged a platform that allowed third parties to freely scrape as much personal data as they could get their hands on. Worse still, it turned a blind eye to those who abused the few rules they did have.
But while it may make you feel better (and make you a better IRL friend), deleting Facebook won't fix the data privacy nightmare we're only just waking up to.
For years, developers routinely gathered incredible amounts of personal information just by getting us to log into a quiz app or farm game.
Cambridge Analytica is getting the bulk of our attention for the moment, but it's far from the only company to profit from our information (even if it is the sleaziest). For years, developers routinely gathered incredible amounts of personal information just by getting us to log into a quiz app or farm game -- it was just how the platform was designed. Or, to use Silicon Valley parlance, it was a feature, not a bug.
We're now getting a sense of just how much we pay for all those times we eagerly smashed that "login with Facebook" button.
Mark Zuckerberg has promised the company will investigate every app that misused its platform and that Facebook will let people know if their personal data was impacted. But there is no way to undo the damage that's been done. Scores of developers could still be hoarding our old Facebook data and there's nothing we can do about it.
Moreover, it's not just Facebook you should be worried about.
Almost everything you touch in your digital life is tracking you in more ways than you know. Search engines, advertisers, e-commerce platforms, and even your wireless carrier and internet service provider (ISP) have an uncomfortable amount of information about who you are, where you go, and what you like.
They may not be turning around and selling that data to political operatives, but they are engaging in their own kind of profiling.
"Any of the common big platforms that we use on an everyday basis is collecting various kinds of data about us that is being used to develop personalized profiles about us," says Luke Stark, a postdoctoral fellow at Dartmouth College and privacy researcher.
For too long, we've been more than willing to hand over this kind of access in exchange for being able to use whatever service is being offered. And there are very few structural protections in place.
We can't undo the damage of the past, but our best hope for the future is not to stop using these services, but shift our expectations entirely. We, as digital citizens, need to take more responsibility for our data and who we let have it.
And companies (likely with the help of some good, old-fashioned government regulation) need to fundamentally change as well.
It's the only way our privacy nightmare ends.
Featured Video For You
Facebook is using facial recognition — here's how to turn it off
TopicsFacebookSocial Media
相关文章
17 questions you can answer if you're a good communicator
Whether you regularly speak in public and write online, or you mostly express yourself over email, b2024-09-20- 萊萬真去皇馬?續約談判停滯 格納布裏加薪也難產_拜仁_科曼_克裏斯滕森www.ty42.com 日期:2022-02-23 10:01:00| 評論(已有331940條評論)2024-09-20
- 梅州主帥有望繼續帶隊出戰中超 泰山球員楊意林已跟隊訓練_客家_機會_獲得了www.ty42.com 日期:2022-02-21 15:01:00| 評論(已有331682條評論)2024-09-20
- 奧斯卡已歸隊海港集中開啟冬訓 補強或從鋒線下手_球員_賽季_訓練www.ty42.com 日期:2022-02-21 15:31:00| 評論(已有331687條評論)2024-09-20
This coloring book is here for all your relationship goals
LONDON -- We are living through the golden age of celebrity relationships. Gone are the days of tort2024-09-20- 曝中超超過70%俱樂部存在欠薪事實 且有降薪訴求_中國球員_法律_行業www.ty42.com 日期:2022-02-21 10:31:00| 評論(已有331650條評論)2024-09-20
最新评论