Early Facebook and Google investor slams them for “aggressive brain hacking” | Hacker News Reader

Early Facebook and Google investor slams them for “aggressive brain hacking”

businessinsider.com

Earlier discussion:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14959031

It's definitely true. Google and Facebook do not care about their users in any way other than a venue for making more $. Advertising is a toxic business model that is built around exploiting customers.

I think it will take time, but maybe eventually users will learn and begin voting with their $ towards non-ad funded platforms.

A big reason why these companies can take advantage of users, is because of the lack of education around technology. Very few people really know what data can be collected / inferred.

It's a real problem. Anecdotally, I've talked to several people struggling to stop clicking on ads so they can keep getting things done. I struggle with it sometimes as well.

I've never even heard of this problem before. Please could you explain?

Person sees an ad while browsing the internet

Person clicks ad

Person potentially buys something

Repeat

Targeted ads. They look like interesting articles but then when you get there it's just a few facts and then more ads. You end up making somebody money from ad clicks but never find out the information.

Ironically, the solution is to usually just google the topic, satiate your curiosity and move on. But I can get stuck in a looking at ads for an hour before I realize what is happening. It's such a waste.

I was really hoping to read that he plans to dedicate all the resources he made from the success of these companies to creating the solution. Did I miss that?

Maybe he's just trying to get a bit more attention for himself? (Also, feels like there is some amount of irony in the click-baity title and that he published this in an ad supported media outlet.) "I invested early in Google and Facebook and regret it. I helped create a monster." Original story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2017/08/08/my-google-...

I think it is time for gov regulations on social networks and search engines. For starters, enforcing basic rights like freedom of speech. Also more scrutiny into what (ads and content) get shown to minors.

> freedom of speech ... scrutiny into what (ads and content) get shown to minors

You're aware you can't have both of these things, right?

I don't see how censoring content to minors only conflicts with freedom of speech. For example, You can't vote until you are 18 even if you are a us citizen.

> I don't see how censoring content to minors only conflicts with freedom of speech

There are several reasons:

* It immediately creates the role of a censor, enforced with the power of law. History has shown that such censorship is very rarely limited only to minors (consider the Internet filtering going on the UK).

* It creates a regulatory barrier to content that is deemed 'offensive to minors'. For example, that barrier might be compliance with laws around proof of age, etc.

* The closer technological measures come to _actually_ preventing minors from accessing 'offensive' content (e.g., requiring a valid credit card), the more onerous those are to adult users, and the more likely they are to curtail free expression.

Enforce the basic right to freedom of speech? You mean the right to hate speech, incitement to violence, bullying, slander, and the freedom to to abuse protected groups like children? I don't believe in ignorantly pursuing what has become a slogan for the unthinking.

Apparently you've never lived in a state with censorship like I did (it was USSR). Never again.

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