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Comment by rinze | Hacker News Reader

To save time, they can already put out the PR release saying that they're sorry, that they didn't expect this, that anyway everything is very clear in paragraph 2.4.5.C.& of the Terms & Conditions, and that it won't happen again.

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And 99.999% of Facebook users won't care. Most of those that do, can't leave Facebook because of "events." The rest of us will keep preaching to each other about how we're in a better place having never been of Facebook or having deleted our accounts.

And most importantly, they don't sell user data, so you can sleep tight.

Exactly, giving it away to anyone who signs up isn't _selling_ it.

and that they are only doing this to provide even more meaningful value for the Facebook community

'Our mission is to give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together. People use Facebook to stay connected with friends and family, to discover what's going on in the world, and to share and express what matters to them.'

We believe these changes further our goal of creating a product that is used and loved by the world, and that the best way to do that is for a price everyone can afford -- free.

and to "compete with China" according to the recent hearing.

But at least it will make the world more connected.

Could it be automated? that would really save time... for Facebook.

Can I apply to YC if I turn this text into a template? Fortune 500 company right here.

sure, I'll take 0.001% if you don't mind.

Right... And don't forget the part about how your privacy is important to them and they think about it a lot.

The tech industries proverbial "thoughts and prayers"

Most of the HN community despises regulations against tech companies, but it seems like nothing short of strong regulations and severe financial penalties will rein in the bad actors. We can't expect the companies and their CEOs to act out of the goodness of anything save for their pocketbooks. We've lost the presumption of good faith

I think bad PR and vicious backlash from the consumers against foul play is a stronger deterrent than some one time fines.

Yes, but the mechanism need not be "voting with your wallet". Instead, I put forward the mechanism "voting by voting". That is, such vicious backlash gets picked up by politicians, who act on it with regulation.

It's arguable whether bad PR and vicious backlash are working, or happening. As evidence I present... well, here we are.

Edit: added a word

I think there are no 'obvious' repercussions to the privacy and security issues that are affecting the general public.

For example, lots of companies have been hacked(Target, Equifax), and AFAIK there hasn't been credit card fraud on massive scale that has been reported in the media. It kinda makes people think that media is over inflating the issue(which it lots of time does), and just not care. We have been hearing about how this data will be used to say deny loans etc. but nothing has happened.

I mean even Snowden spying scandal just revealed the extensive spying. What exactly are the agencies doing with the data and how that negatively impacts me is not really clear for a general person. And I am speaking as somewhat tech literate person. Why exactly would an average person care?

Giving up privacy has, I think, almost become 'normal'

When it did work, like when Bill O'Reilly was pushed out of Fox News, the PR and public outrage aligned with a large faction within the company. It's a lot easier to push out or target individual bad actors than to reform the whole corporate structure.

How do you out-PR Facebook which is the biggest PR machine, in the long run?

The worst PR issue Facebook has in Zuckerburg.

Worst case scenario, he steps away and they hire a new likable CEO with a higher EQ. That's exactly what Uber did.

Why not both?

Nothing happened last 100 megabreaches, why would now be any different? The public doesn't care. Only media cares and only because Trump benefited.

Mark "hears you". He has it on a note to always remember it.

And the part where HN folks start complaining about it's super obvious and everyone who uses any internet service should clearly know that all of their data is going to be used for any and all nefarious purposes we could imagine, you moron.

Not that it won't happen again, but that "if we can't make sure we can make people's data be safe, we don't deserve the to be our customers".

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