From Politico:
Facebook asked conservative groups for help last week in heading off European-style privacy rules, just as CEO Mark Zuckerberg prepared to apologize to Congress for his company's data scandal.
The company's outreach comes as the European Union is preparing to enforce strict new privacy rules that take effect in late May. Among other things, the EU’s rules allow regulators to impose fines as high as 4 percent of a company’s global revenues for serious violations.
The emailed invitation to a sit-down to discuss the policy, obtained by POLITICO, also shows how Facebook is seeking an unlikely alliance with conservatives, who frequently accuse the the social network of bias against their views but oppose most forms of government regulation. The email did not disclose the recipients but came from Facebook's liaison to conservative organizations.
Facebook made its plea to conservative and libertarian groups last week, just hours before Zuckerberg went before a a joint session of the Senate Commerce and Judiciary committees to express contrition for the leaking of users’ data to Cambridge Analytica and tout new steps the company is taking to boost user privacy.Mark, Mark, Mark... you two-faced, double-talking weasel.
If you were wondering whether Zuckerberg (and FB) were sincere about their determination to implement GDPR-calibre protections for their users at all, let alone outside of the EU, then wonder no longer: they weren't.
If you were wondering whether Mark Zuckerberg, who was testifying to Congress under oath, would at least have Facebook working behind the scenes on programs that were in step with the content and tone of his sworn testimony, then wonder no longer: they weren't.
If, however, you were thinking that Mark Zuckerberg was a double-talking, bald-faced liar, and utterly unworthy of any degree of trust whatsoever... well, wonder on longer, because he most certainly is. Which means that Facebook cannot under any circumstances be allowed to continue policing themselves. They must be regulated from outside Facebook, with hefty fines and even jail time being the consequence of continuing to express contrition while planning to do nothing.
“I think regulations like GDPR are very positive,” Zuckerberg said in a call with reporters ahead of last week’s congressional hearings, but he cautioned that “we need to figure out what makes sense in different markets with the different laws and different places.”Horseshit. "What makes sense in different markets" to Zuckerberg and Facebook is, very clearly, no regulation whatsoever, and a level of trust that Zuckerberg and Facebook have not only utterly failed to earn, but repeatedly proved they don't deserve. But Zuckerberg know what his Congressional audience would want to hear, so he went through the motions, even though we now know that it was pure manure.
In the meantime, though... well, you know what I think you should be doing.
#FacebookIsTheProblem
#DeleteFacebook