Tag: facebook

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The Data that Facebook has

Mark Cathcart

Much has been written about the facebook data, Cambridge Analytica sh*t show. I was among those years ago who were warning friends not to play games that require users to permit the game access to their friends Facebook profile. However, even I couldn’t have foreseen how the data would be used. Stunning. I have my Facebook archive from yesterday, and will be going over it in the next few days. I’ll finally #deletefacebook – deleting permanently my Facebook ID later today. In another week or so, I’ll create a new ID, strictly limited to family as friends. The worst, in … Continue reading The Data that Facebook has

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External link to Zuckerberg/Facebook called to UK Parliament

Zuckerberg/Facebook called to UK Parliament

Mark Cathcart

Official now: UK Commons committee writes to Mark Zuckerberg asking him to get on a plane and front an inquiry in London. pic.twitter.com/VHxd2opClh — Mark Di Stefano 🤙🏻 (@MarkDiStef) March 20, 2018 Of course as a US Citizen, Zuckerberg can’t … Continue reading Zuckerberg/Facebook called to UK Parliament

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Facebook has a lot of questions to answer

Mark Cathcart

I teetered on the brink of deleting my facebook account last year. I removed the main app from my phone and a Windows tablet, and have never installed messenger. When it came down to it I balked at the final step. I did ulike pretty much all businesses and pages, as well as unfriended anyone not a real contact/friend etc. The utility of facebook is still too great to remove myself completely. Although frankly I’ve had better results contacting businesses through Twitter and getting things done. Given it’s reach, facebook still remains useful. Delete the apps Facebook, Facebook Messenger, Instagram … Continue reading Facebook has a lot of questions to answer

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Bringing Jobs Back to the USA

Mark Cathcart

As the GOP push through their tax bill, without any transparency, one of the big ticket items is corporate tax breaks. My opinion is the government are really wasting their time, and our money giving tax breaks, especially to companies to repatriate their overseas earnings, in some kind of swap for jobs. No such thing will happen, sure there will be a few winners here and there, but nothing substantial and certainly nothing overtime. If the government wanted to do this, they’d have been better creating an incentive program, which gave them tax deductions for each net new job they … Continue reading Bringing Jobs Back to the USA

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Why I’m Leaving Facebook

Mark Cathcart

It’s not strictly true, I will have a facebook ID again in the coming months, but it will be an output only ID. By that I mean it will be an ID that I can post things to, but little more than that. As I said in my “evil empire” post, I’ve become more and more concerned about not just what data they collect, but what you can learn from it. They sell our data, and it’s pretty easy to drill down on the data and learn all sorts of things, even though the data is supposed to be anonymous. … Continue reading Why I’m Leaving Facebook

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The Austin media lynch mob

Mark Cathcart

aka The Interwebs attack I’ve been online in one form or another since 1978. I had an “output only” blog at ibm.com back in 1996. The one thing that has most visibly changed over that time is the attack dog that is the facebook thread, the blog comment storm, the faux outrage of people who have no real stake, no real interest, but for whom it makes them feel important by having an opinion, and better still when they can be outraged. “Don’t read the comments!” has been the mantra for years but lately, it has been the mainstream that have … Continue reading The Austin media lynch mob

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Facebook socialgraph

Mark Cathcart

Yesterday the menu bar on my browser facebook page changed. I realized I’d been given access to their new SocialGraph feature but didn’t immediately realize the power of it. I tried it out a few times, did some obvious searches and went back to work. Then late yesterday evening I came back to it, tried a few more things out and then suddenly, it was 3:05 a.m. The power of this is truly awesome. With power comes responsibility, in this case the responsibility lies with facebook users. Remember, when you are not paying for something, YOU are the product. So, … Continue reading Facebook socialgraph