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back to article Obama Zucker-punched: 'NSA PR bungle whacked public trust in web giants'

This year's bombshell news about the NSA's global internet snooping has shattered public trust in US web giants, claims Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg. You could say that those companies' wildly oscillating privacy policies had something to do with the erosion of netizens' faith in privacy protections. But Zuck adamantly blames …

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  1. Steve Knox
    Big Brother

    Great Moral Compass, There

    Zuckerberg claimed that when his social network cocked up with people's privacy, "what we found is that that stuff tends to not actually move the needle that much in the grand perceptions around trust," adding, "The NSA stuff did."

    So, he's got no problem actually abusing people's trust, only problems with people finding out about it?

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    1. Jim Mitchell
      Reply Icon
      Black Helicopters

      Re: Great Moral Compass, There

      I would hope that most Facebook users realize from the get go that they are the product being sold, Facebook makes money from somewhere else, not them. The fact that the government might be somewhere in a dark corner sucking down data is not as obvious.

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    2. noominy.noom
      Reply Icon

      Re: Great Moral Compass, There

      He's just saying that people didn't care about FB privacy cock ups. I think he is correct. I don't think he gives a whit about people's privacy, but he wants FB to succeed commercially so if he sees a backlash he'll back off.

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      1. Graham Marsden
        Reply Icon
        Thumb Down

        @noominy.noom Re: Great Moral Compass, There

        "He's just saying that people didn't care about FB privacy cock ups."

        No, he's saying that Facebook doesn't care what people think about their privacy cock-ups.

        Remember these are the people who change all their your privacy settings on a whim and, when you complain, say "you can always leave Facebook..."

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        1. Chairo
          Reply Icon
          Coat

          Re: @noominy.noom Great Moral Compass, There

          Remember these are the people who change all their your privacy settings on a whim and, when you complain, say "you can always leave Facebook..."

          Yes, you can!

          (Sorry, couldn't resist)

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        2. Oninoshiko
          Reply Icon

          Re: @noominy.noom Great Moral Compass, There

          No, he's saying that Facebook doesn't care what people think about their privacy cock-ups.

          Remember these are the people who change all their your privacy settings on a whim and, when you complain, say "you can always leave Facebook..."

          No, the person you are replying to is correct. He is saying people don't care about FB's privacy policies (and he is correct, people don't). It may ALSO be true that he (and FB) don't care about people's privacy, but that is completely orthogonal to what the Zuck is saying. Strictly speaking, because people don't care, he has no incentive to care anyway.

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    3. ecofeco Silver badge
      Reply Icon
      Holmes

      Re: Great Moral Compass, There

      "So, he's got no problem actually abusing people's trust, only problems with people finding out about it?"

      What's that old saying? Most crooks' only regret in doing the crime is that they got caught?

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    4. John Smith 19 Gold badge
      Reply Icon
      Unhappy

      Re: Great Moral Compass, There

      "So, he's got no problem actually abusing people's trust, only problems with people finding out about it?"

      What trust?

      The NSA merely took the data through various means.

      This was not buried in the T&Cs of any company, unless you'd read (or were aware of) THE PATRIOT Act.

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  2. Brian Miller

    No gratuitous use of "bitch?"

    A Zuckerberg article and no headline with "bitch" in it? El Reg is falling down!

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    1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
      Reply Icon

      Re: No gratuitous use of "bitch?"

      Arrrrr! Matey Zuck is taking the french way off this brigantine. Why enliven his departure with the mention of bung hole wenches and hornpipe players?

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    2. oolor
      Reply Icon

      Re: No gratuitous use of "bitch?"

      >El Reg is falling down!

      About time someone went all Micheal Douglas on these bastards... oh wait, nevermind.

      I'd have to say it was so us dear readers would not think it was satire. Regardless, screw that hack (he certainly is no hacker) probably why he has to hire from offshore as the competent local devs might want to do things properly.

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  3. Dan Paul

    What does the Pot, Kettle, President, Zuckerberg, & NSA have in common?

    Trust me when I say it's not a heart o' gold, BITCH......the whole lot of them have hearts blacker than a singularity. FWIW, this has NOTHING to do with skin color.

    A government (or a corporation) populated by liars, thieves and posers can have no trust placed in it.

    Any trust that had existed has long since evaporated.

    But isn't this article (and probably my comments) overstating the ruddy obvious?

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  4. Rol

    Which side of the fence, Mark?

    "the trust metrics for all of them went down as a result of Snowden's whistleblowing"

    and in similar news people who report crimes have been blamed for the increase in crime.

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  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "Facebook has launched a legal bid to be allowed to publish details of spooks' requests for users' private data, joining Google, Yahoo and Microsoft, which have all fired off similar action. Such requests are classified secrets and rubber-stamped by America's Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which is supposed to oversee the NSA's operations."

    Just publish them while pointing to the 1st and 4th Amendments. None of the FISA acts are constitutional and any government action to suppress the truth will be overturned, so why are Americans so sheepish about this? It's the Pentagon Papers all over again, but this time the government has a secret court to gag and silence those who want to speak out.

    SPEAK OUT ! The US Government is YOUR government. They do what YOU tell them to do. Stop faffing about.

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    1. ecofeco Silver badge
      Reply Icon
      Paris Hilton

      The Plutocracy answers to no one.

      "SPEAK OUT ! The US Government is YOUR government. They do what YOU tell them to do. Stop faffing about".

      I want what ur smoking.

      See that? ---------------->

      That's why it will never happen.

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  6. Gannon (J.) Dick

    "This year's bombshell news about the NSA's global internet snooping has shattered public trust in US web giants, claims Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg."

    Just in case world+dog is wondering, I stayed up real real late and cleaned up pieces of shattered trust. I threw them all out where they will never be found.

    I don't want any thanks, or Nobel Peace Prizes, just the adoration of Historians.

    Oh, and please pay $1,000 immediately for my services or I will be forced to access late fees. Zuck, Fido, you too.

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  7. Don Jefe
    Pint

    Poor Kid

    Zuckerberg has gotten rich, but he hasn't gotten very smart (funny how that happens a lot). Zuckerberg has no influence or power and the people in DC will stop listening to anything he has to say the minute his donations stop. The kid has no business in Washington; he's being played and will be undone for it.

    He is already losing, acting like a submissive puppy, showing them greater 'respect' than he shows his investors or employees. Believe me, those lawmakers noticed and they'll have commented on it amongst themselves: "I made Zuckerberg my bitch, Bitch!" They'll suck him dry and roll his corpse down the Capitol Steps.

    Look at Bill Gates, he stayed away from politics until he was old enough and powerful enough to understand how it worked and have all the advantages. Lawmakers and heads of State schedule time with Gates, not the other way around.

    Zuckerberg should go home now. Take his money and do what every kid dreams of doing with nearly unlimited money. There's nothing for him to gain in DC, only lose.

    Have a beer Zuckerberg, if won't hurt as bad if you get drunk and loosen up first.

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  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Is it talk like a pirate day?

    Or is it just a coincidence that all bylines today appear to be nautical-themed?

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    1. Don Jefe
      Reply Icon
      Pirate

      Re: Is it talk like a pirate day?

      The count of days says 19th of September does it not? Or did yur whore of a mother not learn ya the letters afore she died of the pox?

      :)

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  9. ecofeco Silver badge
    Childcatcher

    Shattered public trust?

    Only for the mind numbingly stupid who were so clueless to begin with that they never thought that private sex tape would surface on the Internet either.

    But that's what I love about the Internet. It automatically "routes around" problems, be it cable breaks or attempts by large organizations to build walled gardens or masses of people who think Facebroke is the pinnacle. (I'm almost certain they were former AOL users, but I can't prove it... yet)

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    1. oolor
      Reply Icon

      Re: Shattered public trust?

      >Only for the mind numbingly stupid who were so clueless to begin with that they never thought that private sex tape would surface on the Internet either.

      Ha! I once saw film of my own ass flitting across the screen when the university first set up the network in on-campus residences in '99. Thankfully back then the quality was very poor and my face not visible. I was smart enough to realize the enduring nature of digital to keep out of future (self-)production of such material as well as disappearing when pics were taken during drinking. It also taught me that the female of the species was just as nefarious at sharing such material as guys are (for bragging rights no less).

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  10. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    Zuck in dc sucking up for more h1b's

    Bad enough he's the NSA's bitch, but he's championing a tripling of H1B visas while unemployment and underemployment are running percentages well into the teens.

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    1. KrisMac
      Reply Icon

      Zuck in dc sucking up for more h1b's - and you are surprised WHY exactly?

      Zuck is not in the business of championing the public good - he is in the business of exploitation! Whether that means exploiting the personal data of millions, (billions?) of people's personal information or the sweated labour of a few thousand underpaid but extremely gifted programmers from what we euphemistically refer the third world - (at label I find increasingly redundant given the fact that the worlds economies are increasingly centred on those locales).

      Zuck does not care where the filthy lucre comes from, so long as it keeps rolling in....

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  11. Benjol

    Missing word, or I'm missing something?

    "Took time to go off on one..."

    One what?

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  12. zooooooom

    "political leaders should be a bit more open about their tactics."

    or, yanno, maybe just not do it?

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  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    A bit rich..

    Facebook is one of the companies that have grown rich on the back of the wave of privacy violations post 9/11, but now he has made his money he wants to talk about lost trust?

    Clearly the guy is bored out of his skull.

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  14. dssf

    One way FB might regain some cred

    http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2013/09/17/google-cookies-advertising/2823183/

    What can FB do to follow this? Is it just javascript (which if not used, apparently still lets mobile users interact with the site...)? Or is fb making heavy use of cookies?

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