We are so enamored by companies like Facebook that offer free services that we never look into the costs down the line.
Free is just a strategy and any company that leverages Free is just setting up users to be harvested/monetized in the future.
Facebook’s ‘People don’t want Privacy’ Ploy
Facebook recently made a lot of private information public by default. This gets them more traffic and helps them make more money – never mind that customers’ privacy is compromised.
To make things worse they are claiming that they did this for the good of customers.
Marshall Kirkpatrick has an excellent post about Facebook’s claim that the Age of Privacy is over.
Marshall rightly points out -
I think Facebook is just saying that because that’s what it wants to be true.
Whether less privacy is good or bad is another matter, the change of the contract with users based on feigned concern for users’ desires is offensive and makes any further moves by Facebook suspect.
It isn’t enough for Facebook to exploit customers – they also want to create the illusion that customers want all their private information to be freely available.
Ask yourself this question -
- Who does the ‘everything is public’ policy change benefit more – Facebook’s revenues and potential revenues OR users?
Facebook is incapable of admitting that their ‘everything is public’ change is driven by profits.
- Perhaps they think they can fool everyone else.
- Perhaps they’ve managed to fool themselves.
People are so enamored by Free they want to keep giving Facebook the benefit of the doubt. We’ve had Beacon, Scamville, the privacy changes – at some point you have to realize that Facebook is in it to make money.
So is every other company. Free and Altruism are just strategies.
eBooks will see the same ‘Free in return for loss of Privacy’ Deal with the Devil.
Sooner or later we’ll have one or more companies try the same ploy with ebooks.
It’ll be the Facebook equivalent i.e. we give users free books and that entitles us to use their information freely and share all their private details as we see fit.
This is how it’ll go -
- We’ll sell you free books.
- In return you let us harvest all your information and user behavior.
- We run advertising and targeted advertising.
- We compile your information and combine it with other people’s information and sell it and process it and do other unknown things with it.
What’s happening with Facebook now is exactly what’ll happen there -
- Changes will be made that are bad for users.
- Users’ privacy will be compromised.
- The Company will claim it was something users wanted.
There’s no way to avoid it though – Who can turn down free?
However, at least users can go in prepared and not reveal too much information.
Filed under: thoughts Tagged: | false altruism, illusion of free
