Thursday, December 20, 2012

Irish Copy and Paste in the Data Commissioner report re Facebook

If you read the report of the Irish Data Commissioner on Facebook, you would be forgiven if you start equating using a pseudonym on Facebook with being a really, really bad person. A child molester in waiting.

If you read the report a little closer, you will find that the compilers have problems differentiating a statement of the commissioner's staff from a quote by Facebook staff.

For example, this one here is NOT marked as quoted text in the report. The nit-picker in me thinks that this is Facebook staff speaking. Why? "Many of our safety and security measures involve..."
This is only one example that makes it clear you should either use quotes or at least change the "royal our".  

--- from the report ---
The safety, security, and integrity of the Facebook Platform would be compromised significantly without such measures. Many of our safety and security measures involve removal of inauthentic accounts -- from spammers and phishers to individuals who are abusing the Platform and do not want to be discovered.
--- from the report ---

What is completely absent from the report is that you can find thousands upon thousands of hacked Facebook logins in certain corners of the internet every week.

Facebook is not "a community", sorry folks. Facebook has 1 billion users, give or take.
That means, Facebook consists of a million communities, give or take a few hundred thousand..

Yes, it is huge, and if you have any decision making power at FB, then you know (I pray) how to spot bullsh***. So, let people be.
So, if you are a Facebook user, take Dr. Who as an example: run!

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