Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg and Congress
https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech/episodes/661?autostart=false - April 15, 2018 Episode 662
The tech talk panel of Leo Laporte, Jason Hiner and Lindsey Turrentine, along with Amy Webb via satellite, discussed Mark Zuckerberg appearing before Congress. It's been interesting to watch the way things have played out with Facebook in the last several weeks. The big news has been the policies of how information of people that use Facebook was used by outside companies and political entities. From CEO Mark Zuckerberf admitting that information was used by Cambridge Analytica to now appearing at Congressional hearings.
The almost laughable part (if there is anything to laugh about) was the way Congressmen seemed very clueless on how Facebook, and even technology in general, actually works. From one Congressman asking Zuckerberg how they were able to make money and not understanding how advertisers in online apps works...to Orin Hatch asking if Facebook and Twitter were the same thing. Zuckerberg was either lobbed softball questions or was able to avoid answering by saying he would ask his team and then get back to them with an answer. Congressmen were given 4 minutes and Senators were given 5 minutes to ask questions. That's hardly enough time for knowledgeable people to understand the seriousness of the situation, much less non-tech politicians.
Facebook is now helping to write the legislation, that will most likely pass, in Maryland. And it could set precedence for how things will work in the other 49 states. This would allow them to circumvent federal laws. This could easily be the setting to affect other online apps such as Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and others. Days before Zuckerberg showed up on the hill, Facebook was working with Maryland to make plans to regulate. This would also apply to ads place on Google platforms and other sites with at least 100,000 unique monthly visitors.
"This will transform how online ads are purchased," said Senator Craig Zucker, a Montgomery County Democrat who sponsored the bill and led negotiations. " We're going to bring transparency to websites and make sure we prevent foreign influence in our elections, when it comes to paid media." This idea of Maryland regulation found agreement across the aisle. The legislation would give the Maryland Board of Elections the authority to seek subpoenas to investigate how campaigns and advocacy groups use social media to target voters.
Maryland started trying to regulate political ads on social media in 2010, but the efforts were thwarted by heavy lobbying from social media companies. We the people are now the commodity of this era. Our information is now the oil and gold of this world .... Data. Raw data when used in well programmed algorithms can answer many questions about how people will act, think, be motivated and so much more.
Ultimately this is the issue with what Facebook has done. They have taken our data and personal information, given and/or sold it to other companies, and in turn they've turned around to essentially sell it right back to us.
The tech talk panel of Leo Laporte, Jason Hiner and Lindsey Turrentine, along with Amy Webb via satellite, discussed Mark Zuckerberg appearing before Congress. It's been interesting to watch the way things have played out with Facebook in the last several weeks. The big news has been the policies of how information of people that use Facebook was used by outside companies and political entities. From CEO Mark Zuckerberf admitting that information was used by Cambridge Analytica to now appearing at Congressional hearings.
The almost laughable part (if there is anything to laugh about) was the way Congressmen seemed very clueless on how Facebook, and even technology in general, actually works. From one Congressman asking Zuckerberg how they were able to make money and not understanding how advertisers in online apps works...to Orin Hatch asking if Facebook and Twitter were the same thing. Zuckerberg was either lobbed softball questions or was able to avoid answering by saying he would ask his team and then get back to them with an answer. Congressmen were given 4 minutes and Senators were given 5 minutes to ask questions. That's hardly enough time for knowledgeable people to understand the seriousness of the situation, much less non-tech politicians.
Facebook is now helping to write the legislation, that will most likely pass, in Maryland. And it could set precedence for how things will work in the other 49 states. This would allow them to circumvent federal laws. This could easily be the setting to affect other online apps such as Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and others. Days before Zuckerberg showed up on the hill, Facebook was working with Maryland to make plans to regulate. This would also apply to ads place on Google platforms and other sites with at least 100,000 unique monthly visitors.
"This will transform how online ads are purchased," said Senator Craig Zucker, a Montgomery County Democrat who sponsored the bill and led negotiations. " We're going to bring transparency to websites and make sure we prevent foreign influence in our elections, when it comes to paid media." This idea of Maryland regulation found agreement across the aisle. The legislation would give the Maryland Board of Elections the authority to seek subpoenas to investigate how campaigns and advocacy groups use social media to target voters.
Maryland started trying to regulate political ads on social media in 2010, but the efforts were thwarted by heavy lobbying from social media companies. We the people are now the commodity of this era. Our information is now the oil and gold of this world .... Data. Raw data when used in well programmed algorithms can answer many questions about how people will act, think, be motivated and so much more.
Ultimately this is the issue with what Facebook has done. They have taken our data and personal information, given and/or sold it to other companies, and in turn they've turned around to essentially sell it right back to us.
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