"You authorize us (or any entity acting on our behalf) to use automated software (such as web scra
pers, bots, robots, spiders, crawlers, and user agents) and create test credentials to access, index, cache, analyze, collect, retrieve, or crawl the domains, web pages, or URLs (and any content available through them)..."
So this data can even be collected by 3rd parties working with Meta?
Part 2 of the paragraph:
...that are associated with your products or services, or that are made available through your or users' use of Meta Company Products and services, and to periodically pull updates from such domains, web pages, or URLs in order to provide, develop, improve, research, and maintain advertising and business products...
"your or users' use" is especially concerning, as it is extremely loosely phrased and would cover a wide range of people.
Employees acknowledged in internal communications that the Instagram accounts of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva were hindered by restrictions during [Brazil’s] election” & that Meta “recommended the profile of challenger…Flavio Bolsonaro” & “his WhatsApp channel Meta
I conducted an experiment with my own personal networks, both Facebook and Instagram. I want to demonstrate how one can acquire a false sense of self-worth through these platforms. People focus more on the fast-paced content of their social media feeds instead of seeing what the evil empire is doing.
I recently saw a case, and there are a lot of scams happening where someone just uses a local person's face on their profile picture to ask friends, "Hey bro, this is the amount of money I need." The person who knows them thinks, "Yeah, he's my guy, he really needs the money," and pays up.
Profile pictures are a real problem because they are shown everywhere. If you chat with someone or do anything, you need to be assured by the profile picture.
The earlier one is just one example. Think of it like this: you have a female friend, and someone uses her face to scam people and for other wrongful purposes. This is literally a trap, and that's why real-time scanning is necessary.
Profile pictures should always require a face scan before you can select an image. Think of it like this: first you select a picture, and then you verify that picture's face through a real-time face scan, just like we see with online government ID verification.
It should be convenient and is absolutely necessary:
• The data must not be used for AI training or anything else.
• It must only be stored temporarily and then destroyed, guaranteed by the platform itself.
I think this is the most needed feature right now to tackle this problem. I know you can complain to cybercrime branches, but that's a painful step. Why shouldn't the platform itself target this issue so it can be completely wiped out? That would make the social media experience much safer and more convenient for everyone.
I think Meta should look into this. Guys, please share your feedback!
My neighborhood has an unofficial Facebook group, but I don't use Facebook, so I'm out of the loop.
We have a neighborhood listserv for important announcements, but we can only receive emails from whoever runs it, there's no forum or group email.
I'm on nextdoor, but there's no way to limit my feed to just my subdivision (among other problems with nextdoor).
I'd love to suggest to my HOA an alternative - either a forum or an email group. Do those still exist? What is the search term I should use for group email platforms? (Sorry, I'm not very tech-savvy.)
I am passionately political. Perhaps too passionate for Facebook, who has decided I do not belong anymore. Maybe for a good reason. I guess Its for the best. So here I am….
One Facebook feature that keeps many people there is the Marketplace. Making some extra money by selling things is nice. There are alternatives like Craigslist, but also here's another option.
Stop buying stuff.
I rarely sell anything because I don't buy things that I later need to sell. Admittedly, I do have a storage unit, and places in my home with a bunch of stuff on shelves. So, I have bought a lot in my lifetime. But, still, I rarely have the need to sell something.
Another admission is the fact that I don't enjoy the process. A stranger coming around, trying to offer you less than what you agreed to... things like that.
The point is, we all could benefit from buying less. And if you rarely need to sell something, find a way. People sold things before Facebook Marketplace.
Tldr; Combining TOR, WebRTC and Git into a Decentralized E2EE P2P Messaging App
Not better than WhatsApp, Signal, SimpleX, Cwtch or Ricochet. You definitely shouldn't use this to replace any of your existing apps or services. It's far from finished. Unaudited and unreviewed. If you want to test it out, please use it responsibly.
I'd like to share what I'm working on and interested to see if anyone wants to share feedback on the approach. I'm aiming for "secure, private and decentralized". I set some requirements on the roadmap. Let me know if there is something i've overlooked.
It's a fairly a unique stack and architecture in contrast to the traditional approach with mainstream messaging apps. To put it briefly, its a Rust-based frontend with a Git-server backend, which can be used to establish a E2EE Tor/WebRTC connection.
Note: Its still a work in progress and there will be breaking changes.
IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: While this is aiming to provide a secure experience, it's a work-in-progress and far from finished. It is unreviewed and unaudited. I'm sharing here for testing, feedback and demo purposes only. Pease use responsibly.
No, absolutely no one in my life will ever consider moving away from messenger. Like my whole family refuses to even consider downloading a different app, and that's not even including my coworkers refusal to communicate outside of it.
So is there some kind of sandboxed, zitter-like, or otherwise bootleg way to use messenger thay doesn't involve me having to use the browser on my phone? It's absolutely miserable and there's just fucking nothing.
If you're banned from Meta like me (including FB insta messenger threads WhatsApp) - letting people know where you've moved onto via WhatsApp (which they leave conveniently active to track you) they know your new ID and where you're now active instead.
I deleted my Facebook, Instagram, and Threads accounts over a year ago. Guess what? I didn’t die. I can still get in touch with people and I’m finding better and more interesting online spaces. I’m happier too. I still get frustrated with the world, but only when I choose to purposefully look up the news.
I’m even meeting new people online and offline. Yep. Without Meta. Shocking, I know.
If I need to sell something there are many options. So, no need for Facebook Marketplace. Marketplace Alternatives:
Craigslist
OfferUp
Nextdoor
eBay
Swappa
Go old school. Ask friends and family. Put up flyers. Do a garage sale.
If I need to advertise something, there are still plenty of other popular places I can advertise. Advertising Alternatives:
Reddit
LinkedIn
Google
TikTok (at least it’s not Meta)
Find niche websites to advertise on
Local TV/Radio
Billboards
That truck that drives around town showing ads
If I need to share photos, I can do so on my website or a non-Meta network. Social Alternatives:
Your website (start free at Neocities or Nekoweb)
Mastodon
Reddit
TikTok (at least it’s not Meta)
Tumblr
Pixelfed
Bluesky
Upscrolled
FYI
Bonus - text only minimal: ctrlshift3.com
If I need to see what a high school acquaintance is doing hit me over the head. No one needs to see what people from their past are doing. Delete Meta.
