23 March 2019 | I’m Shocked That You’re Shocked

So there’s a *new* Facebook privacy scandal? Can we call it a scandal if this keeps occurring, as if it’s some one-off thing? Seems to me we should just file it under “business as usual”.

These tech companies are run by (mainly) young people who have zero regard for privacy and accuracy. This is their MO; or, if you prefer, it’s in their DNA. Almost every day, we read of some data breach that was the result of lazy practices or a non-existent work ethic. Facebook was never designed as a privacy platform, and retrofitting attempts to address that have been incredible failures. Again, that’s because it was never made for that, and our entire tech culture is about theft and commoditizing peoples’ information under the guise of sharing memories or keeping in touch with family. That’s the lure and people willingly buy into it.

Not even the fact that hardly any of this matters to millions of users who just shrug it off is shocking. But techie boy malfeasance still remains far worse than user stupidity.