facebook: with friends like this

8/13/2019 Facebook: With Friends Like This

1/8

With friends like these ...Facebook has 59 million users - and 2 million new ones join each week. But you won't catch TomHodgkinson olunteering his !ersonal in"ormation - not now that he knows the !olitics o" the !eo!lebehind the social networking site

#hare

Object1

Object2

Object3

$mail

Tom Hodgkinson The %uardian&

The following correction was printed in the Guardian's Corrections and clarifications column,

Wednesday January 16 !!"

The # intelligence community's enthusiasm "or hi-tech innoation a"ter 9()) and the creation o" *n-+-Tel& its enture ca!ital "und& in )999 were anachronistically linked in the article below. #ince 9())ha!!ened in 2,,) it could not hae led to the setting u! o" *n-+-Tel two years earlier.

* des!ise Facebook. This enormously success"ul merican business describes itsel" as a social utilitythat connects you with the !eo!le around you. But hang on. /hy on %od's earth would * need acom!uter to connect with the !eo!le around me0 /hy should my relationshi!s be mediated through theimagination o" a bunch o" su!ergeeks in 1ali"ornia0 /hat was wrong with the !ub0
http://www.facebook.com/dialog/feed?app_id=180444840287&link=http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2008/jan/14/facebook&display=popup&redirect_uri=http://gu-social-share-experiments.theguardian.com&show_error=false&ref=desktophttp://www.theguardian.com/technology/2008/jan/14/facebook#http://www.theguardian.com/profile/tomhodgkinsonhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardianhttp://www.theguardian.com/technology/2008/jan/14/facebook#http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2008/jan/14/facebook#http://www.theguardian.com/profile/tomhodgkinsonhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardianhttp://www.facebook.com/dialog/feed?app_id=180444840287&link=http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2008/jan/14/facebook&display=popup&redirect_uri=http://gu-social-share-experiments.theguardian.com&show_error=false&ref=desktop


2/8


3/8

are only three board members on Facebook& and they are Thiel& uckerberg and a third inestor calledDim Breyer "rom a enture ca!ital "irm called ccel artners 4more on him later. Thiel inestedE5,,&,,, in Facebook when Harard students uckerberg& 1hris Hughes and ustin ?oskowit: wentto meet him in #an Francisco in Dune 2,,C& soon a"ter they had launched the site. Thiel now re!ortedlyowns


4/8

This little taster "rom their website will gie you an idea o" their ision "or the [email protected] is an online community o" mericans who beliee in conseratie alues& the "reemarket and limited goernment as the best means to bring ho!e and eer-increasing o!!ortunity toeeryone& es!ecially the !oorest among us. Their aim is to !romote !olicies that will resha!e mericaand the globe. The@anguard describes its !olitics as >eaganite(Thatcherite. The chairman's messagesays6 Today we'll teach ?oeAn Jthe liberal websiteK& Hillary and the le"twing media some lessons

they neer imagined.#o& Thiel's !olitics are not in doubt. /hat about his !hiloso!hy0 * listened to a !odcast o" an addressThiel gae about his ideas "or the "uture. His !hiloso!hy& brie"ly& is this6 since the )


5/8

@anuatu& the 1ayman *slands& ?onaco and Barbados. * think it's "air to say that Thiel& like >u!ert?urdoch& is against ta3. He also likes the globalisation o" digital culture because it makes the bankingoerlords hard to attack6 8ou can't hae a workers' reolution to take oer a bank i" the bank is in@anuatu& he says.

*" li"e in the !ast was nasty& brutish and short& then in the "uture Thiel wants to make it much longer&and to this end he has also inested in a "irm that is e3!loring li"e-e3tension technologies. He has

!ledged G.5m to a 1ambridge-based gerontologist called ubrey de %rey& who is searching "or the keyto immortality. Thiel is also on the board o" adisers o" something called the #ingularity *nstitute "orrti"icial *ntelligence. From its "antastical website& the "ollowing6 The #ingularity is the technologicalcreation o" smarter-than-human intelligence. There are seeral technologies ... heading in thisdirection ... rti"icial *ntelligence ... direct brain-com!uter inter"aces ... genetic engineering ... di""erenttechnologies which& i" they reached a threshold leel o" so!histication& would enable the creation o"smarter-than-human intelligence.

#o by his own admission& Thiel is trying to destroy the real world& which he also calls nature& andinstall a irtual world in its !lace& and it is in this conte3t that we must iew the rise o" Facebook.Facebook is a deliberate e3!eriment in global mani!ulation& and Thiel is a bright young thing in theneoconseratie !antheon& with a !enchant "or "ar-out techno-uto!ian "antasies. Not someone * want tohel! get any richer.

The third board member o" Facebook is Dim Breyer. He is a !artner in the enture ca!ital "irm ccelartners& who !ut E)2.


6/8


7/8

"or "ree. The other is that Facebook can target adertising with "ar greater !recision than a news!a!er.dmit on Facebook that your "aourite "ilm is This *s #!inal Ta!& and when a #!inal Ta!-es7ue moiecomes out& you can be sure that they'll be sending ads your way.

Facebook "ounder ?arkuckerberg 4hoto6 aul #akuma(

*t's true that Facebook recently got into hot water with its Beacon adertising !rogramme. sers werenoti"ied that one o" their "riends had made a !urchase at certain online sho!sM CO&,,, users "elt that thisleel o" adertising was intrusie& and signed a !etition called FacebookP #to! inading my !riacyPto say so. uckerberg a!ologised on his com!any blog. He has written that they hae now changed thesystem "rom o!t-out to o!t-in. But * sus!ect that this little rebellion about being so ruthlesslycommodi"ied will soon be "orgotten6 a"ter all& there was a national outcry by the ciil libertiesmoement when the idea o" a !olice "orce was mooted in the = in the mid )9th century.

Futhermore& hae you Facebook users eer actually read the !riacy !olicy0 *t tells you that you don't

hae much !riacy. Facebook !retends to be about "reedom& but isn't it really more like an ideologicallymotiated irtual totalitarian regime with a !o!ulation that will ery soon e3ceed the ='s0 Thiel andthe rest hae created their own country& a country o" consumers.

Now& you may& like Thiel and the other new masters o" the cybererse& "ind this social e3!erimenttremendously e3citing. Here at last is the $nlightenment state longed "or since the uritans o" the )


8/8

reert to an old !iece o" technology. *t's "ree& it's easy and it deliers a uni7uely indiidual e3!eriencein sharing in"ormation6 it's called talking.

#ace$ook's pri%acy policy

Dust "or "un& try substituting the words 'Big Brother' wheneer you read the word 'Facebook'

1 We will ad%ertise at you

/hen you use Facebook& you may set u! your !ersonal !ro"ile& "orm relationshi!s& send messages&!er"orm searches and 7ueries& "orm grou!s& set u! eents& add a!!lications& and transmit in"ormationthrough arious channels. /e collect this in"ormation so that we can !roide you the serice and o""er!ersonalised "eatures.

&ou can't delete anything

/hen you u!date in"ormation& we usually kee! a backu! co!y o" the !rior ersion "or a reasonable!eriod o" time to enable reersion to the !rior ersion o" that in"ormation.

(nyone can glance at your intimate confessions

... we cannot and do not guarantee that user content you !ost on the site will not be iewed byunauthorised !ersons. /e are not res!onsible "or circumention o" any !riacy settings or securitymeasures contained on the site. 8ou understand and acknowledge that& een a"ter remoal& co!ies o"user content may remain iewable in cached and archied !ages or i" other users hae co!ied or storedyour user content.

) *ur marketing profile of you will $e un$eata$le

Facebook may also collect in"ormation about you "rom other sources& such as news!a!ers& blogs&instant messaging serices& and other users o" the Facebook serice through the o!eration o" the serice4eg& !hoto tags in order to !roide you with more use"ul in"ormation and a more !ersonalisede3!erience.

+ *pting out doesn't mean opting out

Facebook reseres the right to send you notices about your account een i" you o!t out o" all oluntaryemail noti"ications.

6 The C( may look at the stuff when they feel like it

By using Facebook& you are consenting to hae your !ersonal data trans"erred to and !rocessed in thenited #tates ... /e may be re7uired to disclose user in"ormation !ursuant to law"ul re7uests& such assub!oenas or court orders& or in com!liance with a!!licable laws. /e do not reeal in"ormation untilwe hae a good "aith belie" that an in"ormation re7uest by law en"orcement or !riate litigants meetsa!!licable legal standards. dditionally& we may share account or other in"ormation when we beliee it

is necessary to com!ly with law& to !rotect our interests or !ro!erty& to !reent "raud or other illegalactiity !er!etrated through the Facebook serice or using the Facebook name& or to !reent imminentbodily harm. This may include sharing in"ormation with other com!anies& lawyers& agents orgoernment agencies.

facebook: with friends like this

Documents