e-Patient Dave

Democratizing Healthcare

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Criminal investigation of Facebook begins

Chances are you’ve heard about this already but the news coverage hasn’t been saying what I think is significant, so I’m posting. The New York Times piece starts thus:

Federal prosecutors are conducting a criminal investigation into data deals Facebook struck with some of the world’s largest technology companies, intensifying scrutiny of the social media giant’s business practices as it seeks to rebound from a year of scandal and setbacks.

I heard about this while out for pizza with my chorus buddies after a performance. Friends on Twitter were talking about #FacebookDown, so I popped open my phone’s browser and got this: Facebook was down.

“Something went wrong” indeed. :-)

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For patient groups, leaving Facebook isn’t easy: the connections can be valuable

Graphic adapted from TNW (TheNextWeb)

My post January 7 about why I stopped participation on Facebook has drawn lots of discussion, which is great. In this era, it’s increasingly important for us all to THINK about the information that floats past our eyeballs: “Wait – who put this here??  Do I trust it?? What if it’s wrong??” 

It’s true for the news feeds that we watch (online or off), as well as everything we see on Facebook and everywhere else on social media. The hard truth is that sometimes what “broadcasters” show us (and make no mistake, Facebook is both a broadcaster and an editor, because it modifies what it shows you based on your past likes) is NOT a random feed of stuff that happened, but something chosen to keep YOUR eyeballs glued to YOUR screen. 

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More about Facebook’s privacy and security

This is a quick update on the status of Facebook’s issues. I could have written several such posts as the weeks have gone by since I posted that I quit FB on January 7, but this will do. 

I’m bothered that this isn’t in the news more about healthcare, but it is in the news for high tech and investors, especially since the Feb. 5 publication of the new book Zucked, by Roger McNamee, who was an early advisor to the company and continues to be a big fan. It might sound like a tell-all scandal book (and “catastrophe” in the subtitle is certainly scandally) but I’m listening to it on audio and the book itself is not, at least so far. The guy believes that Zuck (whom he personally coached) and COO Sheryl Sandberg (whom he recruited to join FB long ago) have just gone too far in their belief that they’re not responsible for what anyone does with their software.

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Facebook, I’m out. Your irresponsibility with patient groups has gone too far.

I have stopped participating on Facebook.  I’m leaving my account live (so that my post about why I’m leaving is visible), but everything will be shut off as much as possible, and the rest will be ignored. No Messenger, no more posts on my timeline, no notifications, no tagging, etc.

I’ll be spending more time on LinkedIn and Twitter. I hope you’ll follow those pages, or use the Subscribe form on the right side of my blog page.

This isn’t an easy decision because it will be harder to keep in touch with everyone in my life, not least my family (including famous daughter and grandchild) and the many friends I’ve made in my travels. But I’ve decided we must stand up.

The rest of this post explains why; if you don’t need that info, ignore it – but  please keep in touch.

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