Mark Zuckerberg to the governments of Canada, UK, Australia, Ireland and Argentina: "Go fuck yourselves"

Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/11/15/404-ceo-not-found.html

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Then the proper solution would be to make sure any profit Facebook makes in those countries becomes equally “unavailable”?

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The Zuck is having the time of his life, on our dime.

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Not a problem. It is just a matter of backbone filtering to make Facebook access “unavailable” in each country, and hit Facebook in the wallet, where it hurts the most. Wanna bet he’d immediately become available again?

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“All your country is belong to US!”

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Another option is for them to initiate their own anti-trust proceedings against the company. Watch how quickly his calendar clears. Or both. Why not both?

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I’d prefer my government, and governments more broadly not take it upon themselves to decide what books I am permitted to read or which websites I am permitted to access.

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You think the government should have the power to filter the internet?

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Government scrutiny is great, we certainly need more of it. But one thing and one thing only will bring Facebook to bear, and that is when people start deleting their accounts. There are eight comments on this post right now as I’m typing this, I wonder how many of you have Facebook accounts, and how many of you would be willing to cut them loose.:thinking::thinking::thinking:

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How about you delete your account? That’s the only effective and ethical solution.

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what are you, Al Gore?

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Actually, what will bring Facebook to bear is severe government regulation.

Boycotts of giant corporations almost never work. You can almost never get the critical mass necessary to get the company to change. What works is setting rules that companies have to follow and then enforcing them ruthlessly - making sure that you make your fines large enough that it hurts them if they break them, or enforcing criminal penalties on executives who give the orders to break the rules.

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I think that is a bad choice of using quota-ma-tion marks, d’here.

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While I agree with everything you’re saying, and I am firm staunch believer in regulation and enforcement, government didn’t kill friendster, for example. Friendster died when people stopped using it. If people want Facebook to change, they should not only support government efforts but they should take the initiative to change it themselves. Start by deleting your account.

the only way to evaluate this decision is to ask “will attending this hearing benefit Facebook shareholders?”. The answer to that question is clearly “no”.

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The longer he waits, the more questions he’s going to have to answer.

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A few governments recommending that individuals and businesses should stop using Facebook as the company clearly cannot guarantee their privacy or protect them from malicious forces might do the job. Refusing to issue government contracts to any company that has a presence on Facebook might get Zuckerberg on a jet.

Or they could just threaten to arrest him and put him in front of a Parliamentary committee. The UK Parliament has that power and they have used it in the past.

Sure, if it can be done within the context of current law there. But I’m pretty doubtful that can be managed. Western governments are notoriously protective of rich people’s money.

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since you are oversimplifying it, the answer would be just as oversimplified: yes, it should.

“Or they could just threaten to arrest him and put him in front of a Parliamentary committee. The UK Parliament has that power and they have used it in the past.”

I think that’s exactly what he’s worried about. As long as he stays out of those nations, and keeps enough bought and sold politicians in Washington, he’s safe. He sets foot in any of those countries, he could get served just like that.

Staying out of Canada will be awkward, it’s basically the USA’s hat in terms of location. The other nations? No problem.