Only 22% of Americans Now Trust Facebook's Handling of Personal Info (fortune.com) 75
An anonymous reader quotes Fortune:
Facebook is the least trustworthy of all major tech companies when it comes to safeguarding user data, according to a new national poll conducted for Fortune, highlighting the major challenges the company faces following a series of recent privacy blunders. Only 22% of Americans said that they trust Facebook with their personal information, far less than Amazon (49%), Google (41%), Microsoft (40%), and Apple (39%)....
In question after question, respondents ranked the company last in terms of leadership, ethics, trust, and image... Public mistrust extended to Zuckerberg, Facebook's public face during its privacy crisis and who once said that Facebook has "a responsibility to protect your information, If we can't, we don't deserve it." The company subsequently fell victim to a hack but continued operating as usual, including debuting a video-conferencing device intended to be used in people's living rooms or kitchens and that further extends Facebook's reach into more areas outside of personal computers and smartphones. Only 59% of respondents said they were "at least somewhat confident" in Zuckerberg's leadership in the ethical use of data and privacy information, ranking him last among four other tech CEOS...
As for Facebook, the social networking giant may have a difficult time regaining public trust because of its repeated problems. Consumers are more likely to forgive a company if they believe a problem was an aberration rather than a systemic failure by its leadership, Harris Poll CEO John Gerzema said.
The article concludes that "For now, the public isn't in a forgiving mood when it comes to Facebook and Zuckerberg."
In question after question, respondents ranked the company last in terms of leadership, ethics, trust, and image... Public mistrust extended to Zuckerberg, Facebook's public face during its privacy crisis and who once said that Facebook has "a responsibility to protect your information, If we can't, we don't deserve it." The company subsequently fell victim to a hack but continued operating as usual, including debuting a video-conferencing device intended to be used in people's living rooms or kitchens and that further extends Facebook's reach into more areas outside of personal computers and smartphones. Only 59% of respondents said they were "at least somewhat confident" in Zuckerberg's leadership in the ethical use of data and privacy information, ranking him last among four other tech CEOS...
As for Facebook, the social networking giant may have a difficult time regaining public trust because of its repeated problems. Consumers are more likely to forgive a company if they believe a problem was an aberration rather than a systemic failure by its leadership, Harris Poll CEO John Gerzema said.
The article concludes that "For now, the public isn't in a forgiving mood when it comes to Facebook and Zuckerberg."
On the other hand (Score:2)
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The vast majority of people don't give two shits about privacy.
If they did, Facebook wouldn't have hundreds of millions of users.
The true headline here is "Facebook is run by evil scumbags and most people are just fine with that."
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I don't think they are "just fine" with it, it's more like indifference. They don't care until something bad happens.
Re:22% are extreme edge-case morons, news at 11 (Score:4, Insightful)
I think you have to go one step further. It's not just indifference but ignorance of what is at stake or the value of their personal information. I regularly support a large number of 'elderly' folks who use Facebook and email in general and they have no concept of information privacy or the potential impact. Only after it is explained to them in a manner they can understand do they begin to grasp the significance and the value of their privacy and the impact of their personal information being gathered and used against them. Most of the seniors bless their hearts think of it as the mailing address or phone number being in the old school yellow pages.
Re:22% are extreme edge-case morons, news at 11 (Score:4, Interesting)
The vast majority of people don't give two shits about privacy.
If they did, Facebook wouldn't have hundreds of millions of users.
The true headline here is "Facebook is run by evil scumbags and most people are just fine with that."
Your vast majority data and your subject are at odds with each other.
My own assessment is that probably most people do not mind if a site like FB uses their data to send them ads or information that can be helpful. Say a auto buff does't mind getting ads for cars and parts and gatherings that he or she is likely to be interested in. My gusee is that most people find that pretty handy.
But after getting caught giving people's information to groups that have weaponized it, I don't think very many people think that is a good thing at all.
And that 22 percent of people who trust Facebook seem to be those who find they like the weaponized personal data, fonr one reason or another.
Re: 22% are extreme edge-case morons, news at 11 (Score:1)
Targetted ads are bad in that they can, over time, change the way you think to more aline with what they want to sell you.
Say you are looking for cutlery. You begin to look around to see what the options are. You then get served ads. So far so good. right? But what if one company pays more to serve you more ads? And they make more by selling crap products at higher prices. Both Facebook and the advertisers want this to be the way forward for marketing. All it does is drive profit at your expense.
And the imp
Backwards (Score:5, Insightful)
I think the crazy thing here is that 22% of Americans still trust Facebook with their private data. That number is astonishingly high.
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I think the crazy thing here is that 22% of Americans still trust Facebook with their private data. That number is astonishingly high.
I thiink that the 20 percent rule is in effect. That's the concept that 20 percent of any group will be good with whatever.
Which means that there is a group of people who are just fine with Facebook giving data to say, Cambridge Analytica, who used that data to help make things happen that they wanted to happen.
If it was a different political group of a different leaning that CA helped, that 20 percent would have been happy.
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It's lower than the number who believe in a bearded man who wears a dress and lives in the clouds who sees everything they do.
Choose your punchline:
Don't be silly, Zuckerberg doesn't have a beard.
The difference is God doesn't think he's Mark Zuckerberg.
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The users are the product over the years.
I think the real news here (Score:2)
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ditto.
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80% of adult americans believe angels are real.
33% thought that Saddam was personally involved in 911, more than a decade after, about the same number think that gay is a choice.
18% still believe earth is at the center of the universe.
All things considered 22% is actually not a bad good number.
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I think it's probably better stated as "22% of Americans aren't paying any attention."
... or, and I don't want to get into a political pissing match, but there are some people who like to be in denial or defiance of common knowledge, science, and the news. You know, conspiracy theorists, flat earthers, people who think global warming is an elaborate hoax, what have you. There are probably some people in that 22% who know plenty to know that Facebook isn't trustworthy, but think the news they're getting o
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Apple is lower than Google? (Score:4, Interesting)
Apple is lower than Google? WTF kind of poll is that? Google literally sells you out to advertisers as their primary business model.
Re:Apple is lower than Google? yeah. (Score:2)
The dystopian stuff happens when the data is shared willy nilly, and there isn't any particular person in charge of the data: Facebook providing API's that allow open harvesting, Apps on IOS and Android that allow similar harvesting by random 1 or 2 p
I'm kinda amazed... (Score:3)
That FB is at the bottom doesn't shock me. That Apple is 2nd to last does. So does Google being so high in the rankings. And that Amazon is #1 is also pretty shocking.
My personal trust ratings are: Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Google, FB.
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Thats a much more accurate ranking of trustworthiness.
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Right. And that makes a lot more sense. This is basically an inverse ordering of how much of each business is based on collecting and selling personal information.
Facebook wants to know who your friends and political affiliations are, Amazon wants to know when you'll buy your next roll of paper towels, and Apple is happiest just knowing your credit card number.
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For me, none of above. "Trust no one." --The X-Files
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Yeah, I think your trust ratings are close to mine. Apple's the company that has the least incentive to invade your privacy and, as far as I know, the best track record. I'm actually getting annoyed with Apple that they're tightening security too much. It's getting to the point where you need to use DEP and MDM in order to be able to administer Apple devices. With their newest OS, even if you have root access it blocks you from doing all kinds of things without user intervention.
And those 22% are likely all fake accounts (Score:1)
names please (Score:4, Funny)
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22% of Americans Are So Dumb They Trust Facebook's (Score:2)
Handling of Personal Info. There, FTFY.
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Oh good! (Score:1)
That 22% is all the bots, anyway. We're good now.
DEATH TO ZUCKERBOOK! (Score:2)
They trust me (Score:1)
Dumb fucks.
The other 78% ... (Score:2)
... still use it.
Fixed the title (Score:2)
"22% of Americans for some unfathomable reason still trust Facebook's handling of personal info"
They SAY they don't trust it, but... (Score:2)
Only 22% of Americans will admit to trusting Facebook, yet 68% of Americans still use it. That says to me that a LOT of these 'untrusting' souls are in fact liars. If you truly distrust a company whose products and services you don't really need, then you simply don't maintain a relationship with them. If you DO continue to do business with them, then your protestations of mistrust are pretty much meaningless. Such people are likely motivated by conformism and/or wanting to be seen as informed citizens; if