Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by foobarchu 2931 days ago
"Everyone else is doing it" is totally a valid thing to point out here. It means that, while you can get up in arms about it, you need to get up in arms about the practice industry-wide, using the facebook name to make it sound worse than it is makes this either dishonest or ill-informed.

It's a lot easier to get one company (or person) to stop a practice only they do than it is to get them to stop doing something that everyone else does too.
3 comments
monkeynotes 2931 days ago
Not sure I agree, there is a difference between a private company that can collect covert private data on over 2/3 of the US population, and one that has access to a handful of users.

Facebook has ties to and influence over government, it is so big and far reaching that I feel it's right to be more concerned about FB doing something like this than other smaller players.

The scale of FB is what makes it a special case.

However, I think that the proper approach to something like this is educating users. Companies are gonna capture your mouse movements, it's not something we should legislate over, but users should be informed as to what it means to give companies like Facebook information about yourself.

Worrying about mouse movements when you freely send clear text messages to their data pile about your most intimate feelings and thoughts is ass-backwards.

link
philipodonnell 2931 days ago
While its fine to point out, it is not fine to use as a reason not to take action. It sort of sounds like you're saying we can't hold any company accountable for anything if at least x% of their competitors are doing it.

Going after the largest offenders and making a big splash is more effective than doing nothing until you can get every company to simultaneously stop something.

link
forgottenpass 2931 days ago
>using the facebook name to make it sound worse than it is makes this either dishonest or ill-informed

No. Not only does facebook not get cover from "everyone else is doing it," they are actively perpetuating that cover existing for others. They are one of a few entities with the weight to set "industry standard" simply by changing their practices.

>while you can get up in arms about it, you need to get up in arms about the practice industry-wide

I am.

link