[thephyber]

> Don't like what they are doing; Don't sign up.

It's not nearly as simple as that.

The issue isn't (only) that ToCs are written in legalese (they are a contract, after all). The bigger issue is that users don't know what Facebook collects about them or how that can be used against them. And it's clear that Facebook gathers a significant amount of information on you even if you never "sign up" for an account.

In the ToCs, it is written in vagaries like "the information you submit to us", but in practical terms, Facebook has been caught doing things that users (even very technical users) didn't expect. When you type in the "comment" form but delete the comment, Facebook has actively analyzed what text was deleted. The first Facebook iOS app transferred the entire contents of my contacts list (it's possible that this was messaged previously, but I wasn't aware of this permission). It's pretty clear that LinkedIn pilfered my GMail contacts without my permission or even my knowledge.

It's not reasonable to assume that users know what Facebook 2018 might do with their data when they sign up in 2008. This counts 2x when it comes to M&A -- if a company is purchased, the new company can completely rewrite the ToCs and I, as a consumer, have no ability to withdraw my previously submitted data to them (without components of the GDPR).

GDPR's "Right to be Forgotten" is interesting to me because it's a foreign concept in US law. As an engineer, I find it difficult to deal with corner cases. As a consumer, I feel like the foundations of what we call "privacy" are only eroding without the GDPR. Congress is willing to defend the privacy of children under 13 (COPPA), medical patient records (HIPPA), some financial account records, but little else.

> Zuck isn't putting a gun to anyone's head and telling them to use to service.

This isn't about coercion (or the lack of it). It's about transparency of operations and information asymmetry.

And I don't mean to hate on Facebook. They have been the target of more reports, but there are precious few companies in the same industry which don't have many similar offenses.

[AdamM12]

But the lawsuit in question seems to be that the guy doesn't like facebook using his data for any type of analysis which is different than disclosing what they are doing with it. I am all for more details of what they do with it but again from what I read the guy wants to use FB and other services without allowing them to use his data for anything.

As far as what FB is going to do to use it against me I am not sure what exactly they can do that will actually be a detriment to my life. Can they throw me in jail for a mean comment? No. As long as there is proper due process for government's access to my data (which GDRP to my knowledge doesn't address and is a whole 'nother legal issue imo) I'm not terribly concerned.