ROTFL
"We want to do this research in a way that honours the trust you put in us by using Facebook every day."
Title says it all.
Facebook has attempted to reassure users upset by the fact that it allows organisations to experiment on them by promising stricter guidelines for researchers. The social network will still let organisations experiment on its users – it’s just going to make them go through an “enhanced review process” to do so. Facebook CTO …
Orson Wells did it by accident. He fell victim to the same flaw other intelligent people routinely suffer from - assuming other people are intelligent as well.
I doubt Facebook management even assumes their users are people. Just statistics by that point. They're probably as confused as you would be if a graph started complaining to you from the paper you'd drawn it on when you changed a line. Users == Money to them, Users =/= People.
Nobody should be treated like lab rats in an experiment without their knowledge or consent, it is ethically wrong. Standard scientific practice when conducting experiments on human subjects is to ask for volunteers. Why is this so difficult for Facebook to understand, they are supposedly pretty smart?
In an interview earlier today, Facebook CTO Mike Schroepfer issued the following statement:-
'We take the concerns and frustrations of our users very seriously, and are working to ensure that the comfort and mental well-being of everyone on Facebook is our highest priority.
Oh, and have a banana. Go on, dance, monkey, dance...'
"Facebook really cares about our revenue stream, and thoughtlessly allowing researchers to do what they liked clearly undermined the trust our advertisers place in us. So in order to ensure that we keep our hooks in all you gullible sheeples, we've added an extra tickbox researchers have to fill in that says 'I am not a psychopath'.
"Now that's enough complaining, children. Go back to Farmville, squandering your precious information and sharing baby pictures so we can advertise worthless tat to you, you dim-witted sheep."
There. I fixed their press release.
To stop people feeling violated again, Facebook says it has given researchers clearer guidelines and will review their proposals more closely if they’re aimed at ... deeply personal things...
To translate: People are still going to be violated. However, Facebook will work to make sure people don't notice. Bastards.
It seems to me that if you want to run psychological tests, don't ask for volunteers, do it without their knowledge if you want pure results. Knowing a test is running will make the average person more guarded in their responses. I suspect that the researchers get their pure results but then when they publicize after the fact and everyone gets pissed. Sorta' like finding out that NSA, etc. read your email to your lover. Maybe nothing should have been said? I'm hypothesizing here. So bear that in mind.
Yes, there's a pool of mass population to study, tweak, probe, and fiddle with and most are willing guinea pigs if they get their games and all the dirt on everyone else. But's still damn unethical of FB to allow it in the first place and then start tossing words around about "trust", "faith" and responsibility.