
Facebook investigates data firm Crimson Hexagon - john58
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-44909293
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ourmandave
Crimson Hexagon sounds like something from a "nefarious organization" random
name generator.

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snikolic
It's a reference to cipher from a Borges story:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Library_of_Babel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Library_of_Babel)

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microdrum
Weird how Facebook keeps signing lucrative contracts with companies whose
behavior then surprises and astounds them.

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matt4077
Facebook did not get any money for Cambridge Analytica's use of their API.

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schwabacher
Facebook got money for the ads bought based on Cambridge Analytica's use of
their API.

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microdrum
Correct.

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Rjevski
Maybe instead of "investigating" _data companies_ , just realize that _data
companies '_ sole purpose is to profit off violating user's privacy? I mean it
says it right there in the name, no investigation required. If a company uses
data for anything else than providing legitimate service to its user, it
should be kicked off the platform.

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snikolic
In this case, it sounds like CH is using publicly available data only. That
doesn't sound like a violation of user privacy, unless Facebook is misleading
users about what portions of their information are publicly available.

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mtgx
Has Facebook investigated Peter Thiel's Palantir yet?

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908087
If you took Zuckerberg's word for it, you'd be left thinking Facebook had
never heard of Palantir.

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koolba
His word in an interview or PR bulletin is one thing. His word during
testimony before Congress is another.

Out of the entire Zuckerberg / Congress sideshow,m I thought this part stands
out as clearly lying to Congress. Not knowing the number of data points isn't
out of line (10? 1000? 10000?), but there's no way he doesn't know the term "
_shadow profiles_ " in the context of tracking people without Facebook
accounts.

> Lujan: Facebook has detailed profiles on people who have never signed up for
> Facebook, yes or no?

> Zuckerberg: Congressman, in general we collect data on people who have not
> signed up for Facebook for security purposes to prevent the kind of scraping
> you were just referring to [reverse searches based on public info like phone
> numbers].

> Lujan: So these are called shadow profiles, is that what they’ve been
> referred to by some?

> Zuckerberg: Congressman, I’m not, I’m not familiar with that.

> Lujan: I’ll refer to them as shadow profiles for today’s hearing. On
> average, how many data points does Facebook have on each Facebook user?

> Zuckerberg: I do not know off the top of my head.

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908087
I was specifically referring to his playing dumb about Palantir during that
testimony.

I agree that his pretending to be unfamiliar with shadow profiles was one of
the more egregious lies presented to congress, though.

