Facebook forgets Google ain’t evil

Facebook has been steadily approaching the #1 spot on my “most unwanted” list. Currently they’re right behind Apple. Ever since they decided they were going to try and take information I’ve marked as private and keep trying to make it public so they can make a few bucks they’ve been quickly climbing the list. I now have to go in every month or so and double-check my privacy settings to see if they’ve done something “for my benefit” that I don’t want (again).

I find it ironic now that Facebook, who at every turn opts you into anything public without consulting you first, is trying to portray Google as improperly using and broadcasting your personal data.

As I understand it, Google is scraping publicly accessible data from social networks (Facebook, Twitter, etc). The key is in “publicly” accessible data. Data anyone can get anyway. They aren’t getting private content and then making it public (as Facebook likes to do). It’s already public.

Facebook decided they would try to do the underhanded thing by hiring a really shady PR firm to try and create an alarmist story about this without announcing their relationship. They assumed the media would jump on the sensationalist aspect of the story (instant headlines like Apple’s recent location bruhaha), but surprisingly… they didn’t. When the lie came to light, the shady PR firm then threw Facebook under the bus (karma). Shame on all of those involved with this. Zuckerburg, Facebook, the PR firm, and anybody else who knew. Kudos to the journalists who saw this for what it was and blew the whistle.

Further reading:

• Facebook admits hiring PR firm to smear Google – via Engadget
• Facebook, You’re Going To Need A Better Answer For Your Slimeball Stunt – TechCrunch (MG Seigler)
• Facebook Seeks to Downplay Campaign Against Google – NY Times