
Mark Zuckerberg apologizes in full-page newspaper ads - aylmao
https://www.theverge.com/2018/3/25/17161398/facebook-mark-zuckerberg-apology-cambridge-analytica-full-page-newspapers-ads
======
bambax
> _" We have a responsibility to protect your information. If we can't, we
> don't deserve it."_

There are 2 problems with this:

1\. You didn't, so you don't.

2\. Deserve _it_? What? Why would you _deserve_ our _information_?? You don't
deserve our information, or anything, really. This is a business transaction.
You provide a service, that we pay for with our data. How much of our data is
your service worth, is what needs to be discussed.

~~~
azag0
> deserve our information

Deserve the responsibility.

------
jMyles
This kinda feels to me like making a donation to a competing propaganda firm
as if to smooth things over in the intra-politics of influence.

I mean, is he really trying to genuinely apologize to the victims here? Is
this the most sincere idea FB had? Pretty lame.

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gressquel
I will repeat my previous post:

I expected a non-conditional apology but there he is blaming on a single app
being able to extract data. We dont want apology for the breach, we want
apology for collecting all the data for so many years. We want to FB to delete
the data they have collected even if it means a massive reduction in
advertisement revenues. But I guess none of his algorithms can foresee the end
of FB.com in the western part of the world.

Good night sweet prince.

~~~
jamesrom
>We dont want apology for the breach, we want apology for collecting all the
data for so many years.

Please don't feign surprise that facebook has been collecting your data.
Everyone knew, but expected some level of privacy and security with the
platform. That's what was breached here.

>We want to FB to delete the data they have collected even if it means a
massive reduction in advertisement revenues.

That would be nice. The fact we all have to be very careful as to what we
share with facebook makes it an almost unusable platform for privacy minded
individuals.

>But I guess none of his algorithms can foresee the end of FB.com in the
western part of the world. >Good night sweet prince.

Haha, if you think this marks the end of facebook... This is just,
unfortunately, a larger political maneuver. Just watch.

~~~
portofcall
_Please don 't feign surprise that facebook has been collecting your data.
Everyone knew, but expected some level of privacy and security with the
platform. That's what was breached here._

I’ve never had an account with them, but they buy records, they get to me
through friends, family, and acquaintances. I expect some level of privacy
when I don’t even use their sinking platform. I also expect that regulation is
coming for FB, Uber, and the rest of Silicon Valley, and it’s about damned
time. It’s too bad that it’s going to hurt people and companies that do
nothing objectionable, but I prefer that to Facebook swaying elections and
Uber killing people with their substandard SDV’s.

------
cies
He used (newspaper) ads to "apologize" for allowing advertisers to use data
gathered on his ad-supported info sharing platform to increase effectiveness
of their ads.

Why did I quote the word apologize? Well, a sincere apology needs to be backed
up by a change that reflects the apologiser's understanding of what he did
wrong. I did not see any of that (yet), and I expect it to be a really hard
thing to change in a huge business that make money off what he apologizes for.

So it's not a sincere apology, it is... an ad.

------
methodover
Wait. What's weird is that they already closed the vector that CA used three
years ago when this was first reported. From the NYT interview from earlier
this week, what FB is working on now is a feature that'll let you see what
apps may have been able to see your data through a friend. I'm curious what
else they're going to do.

I wonder if Zuck's gonna be like "Fuck it, no more apps. Fuck apps. No one can
see your data but us and we're going to lock it down 100%."

~~~
erichurkman
A ton of their data is going to come from apps and third party sites embedding
scripts from Facebook. Hell, even social auth gives them a _ton_ of data.
("Oh, you recently used Facebook to sign into weddingplanner.com? Here come
the wedding ads... and the related ads to all of your friends.")

------
WheelsAtLarge
Interesting he is using newspapers, he's trying to persuade the older folk.
The people most likely to be in government and the most likely to be voters.
Got to give it to him, he's smart.

~~~
greenyoda
> Got to give it to him, he's smart.

His PR people are smart.

If he were so smart, he would have had the foresight to understand that giving
an app access to my _friends '_ personal information just because I gave it
access to mine wasn't such a great idea.

~~~
thezilch
Foresight is 20/20\. I don't think Zuckerberg (and FB devs) aren't smart or
can imagine why giving such data is a bad idea. It's more likely that they
thought not many would find out, care, or that when found out that it'd touch
their bottom line much. In other words, I think they had plenty of optics and
are losing the gamble. I also think they could also only be losing in the
short term; I wouldn't bet against "everyone" forgetting about it all in a
month and going back to using FB.

It's hard to imagine FB's stranglehold letting up. Some startup, prove me
wrong.

~~~
sjwright
_Hindsight_ is 20/20.

Foresight requires awareness, attention and a moral compass.

------
mkempe
Meanwhile, his second-in-command Sheryl Sandberg has been pushing FOSTA, and
thus destroyed personal ads on craigslist. [1] When will they publish an
apology for that?

[1]
[https://www.craigslist.org/about/FOSTA](https://www.craigslist.org/about/FOSTA)

------
1337biz
A cyntic would say these are just hidden donations to opinion maker
institutions. But then again this is the right channel to reach his target
group of lawmakers and government employeers or whoever is still reading print
newspapers.

------
pasbesoin
Like when you slammed everyone's (already posted) profile picture into public
visibility?

It's been downhill ever since.

(Yes, newer FB users; you used to be able to determine the visibility of your
profile picture. The whole "my dog, my baby picture, this pretty flower,..."
profile picture thing really took off at the time of this change. No "opt-out"
on this change, either. Not to mention the "opt-in" type of change most users
actually prefer.)

------
1024core
Facebook has always played fast-and-loose with the data. I don't want to get
into specifics, but they actively ignored this shit, if it meant more user
accounts being created.

Imagine a storekeeper giving you the key to the cash register if you ask him
for change for a dollar. There are no cameras near the register, and no
monitoring.

------
Darthy
> "We have a responsibility to protect your information. If we can't, we don't
> deserve it."

Then why don't you put your money where your mouth is and delete those 5
billion shadow profiles you collected, Mark?

------
sjwright
Say what you will about the strategy, that they felt the need to shout _mea
culpa_ so publicly is telling. I doubt they're anywhere near crisis territory
yet, but a scandal like this will have a corrosive effect on numerous business
vectors.

My hypothesis—pure speculation based on nothing—is that Facebook has seen a
sudden dip or collapse in advertising revenue. Think about it, would you risk
associating your brand with Facebook micro-targeting right now?

~~~
ColinFCodeChef
This seems a pretty accurate guess. Many of the major advertisers (Proctor &
Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, Unilever) have already pulled back on spending with
the platform as an ineffective use of advertising budget [0].

[0] [https://www.wsj.com/articles/p-g-cuts-more-
than-100-million-...](https://www.wsj.com/articles/p-g-cuts-more-
than-100-million-in-largely-ineffective-digital-ads-1501191104)

------
staunch
It's so damn exciting to see the world unfold as I had hoped. The hard part is
that you have to wait for the pressure to build and society as a _whole_ to
catch up.

Watching first-generation social internet services like Facebook, YouTube,
Reddit, and Twitter has been fascinating and I cannot wait to see the next
generation.

Everyone on HN should be focused on building the replacements for these early
attempts.

------
debt
“If we can’t, we don’t deserve it.”

Ha even if you can, you don’t deserve it. Facebook’s insatiable desire for
user data is so ingrained in their approach that they can’t distangle it even
from their apologies.

It’d be like an alcoholic saying hey if I can’t hold my liquor I don’t deserve
to drink.

------
ccvannorman
Translation: "Dear customers, we're willing to sell your data for $$$$, and
take newspaper ads out for $$ for the ONE TIME you came home to see our hand
in the cookie jar.

We Promise not to take any more cookies."

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mkempe
Consider that he is likely trying to save his possible future as US President.

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omarchowdhury
Shouldn't he have posted this directly on Facebook?

