DAMN! "PAY US FOR USING FACEBOOK!" Heath Alban's BLISTERING Response to Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook Data Theft Post

Mark,


I plan on writing many, many speeches in my life. This rant was not the first one I wanted to do publicly, however, due to the current situation I feel as if I must speak out on this subject.



Being 36 years old, I have witnessed the rise of Facebook, and the decline of the other sites that Facebook mimicked, Hi5, Bebo, FacetheJury, HotorNot, and MySpace... utilizing ideas that were all integrated into Facebook in one fashion or another. In that time I have watched Facebook grow from something a lot of us literally laughed at due to the extremely limited functionality in comparison to those sites into the behemoth it is today. Allowing millions to use the platform to make share billions of thoughts, pictures, videos and life experiences, while millions of others used the platform to generate massive amounts of wealth. Which was and still is a good thing, however, the praise stops there.



As someone who has been silenced on numerous occasions by your out of control moderators and faulty algorithms that penalize people for content that is not even remotely close to in violation, I can say from first-hand experience, as well as from the words of both former and current employees, there is a massive problem at Facebook in regards to privacy.



The response you provided is not just insufficient, it's downright irresponsible.



The collection of our personal data and the selling off to the highest bidder is a part of the platform of not just your site, but also Google, Twitter, and many others. For those who run ads, politicians who need help on their campaigns, or those who simply understand that every website you visit that has that little facebook share button at the top is used to create a digital avatar that is used to not just show users what you want to see, but predict what they want to see, and possibly even use the searches, posts, pictures, and videos to create augmented digital versions of every facebook member that increases your AIs intelligence, and is then used to generate new products and become better at predicting what someone is thinking, or may do. This is a scary thought when you mix the fact your new addition of facial recognition which will be able to give someone who is possibly frowning or sad that day logging in and being given ads directed at their current emotional state. Feeling sad? Well, you may be depressed, Try Zoloft!

A scary thought!


When you add all of this up, and the lack of Facebook showing us what data is being sold and to whom, you have problems of epic proportions. Which is really just the tip of the iceberg.



Which leads me to what is seemingly a different topic, but is actually the point of this post.



You once said during your Harvard commencement speech while speaking on wealth inequality that you believed universal income should be a human right, you believed it would need to be put in place in order to allow families to be given enough money to live in an ever-changing society. Yet, you and your more than $500 billion dollar company continue to sell off our data, then make posts such as this acting as is it is not your fault, it's those people you sold it to. It's not just insincere, its a downright lie.



If you and your organization truly care about the well being of the billions of people who currently use your platform, then you will begin implementing the following standards.



One, you will begin displaying what data has been collected for every facebook user. And allow that user to choose to keep the data on your platform to be sold off to those they allow.



Two, you will begin a payback program that shows the data sold off and begin paying royalties for that data to all of whom are affected.



Three, you will roll out a better privacy feature that allows people to automatically remove themselves from ALL data sharing options.



Four, you will allow media organizations, content creators and those with businesses to engage in a profit sharing program from the posts they make based on shares. Over a decade ago Mp3.com did this, so this is not a new idea. It's simply rehashed and transformed. Like most of the current facebook features.



Whether or not you and your half a trillion dollar organization will implement these options is doubtful, however, someone reading this or myself and someone else the ability to code will. When that time comes, I myself, as well as millions of others will begin flocking to that site as we did Facebook in its infancy. Now, it's possible your organization, Google, or Twitter may simply buy them and shut them up.



But now the idea exists. The idea is out there and like Facebook. The idea cannot be stopped or censored or silenced.



If you truly believe in what you say regarding Universal income, then you have the power to make that happen right now. You and your organization cannot and will not succeed at its current state.



I look forward to seeing how you and your organization respond. If needed, I am willing to provide ideas in order to better your company and help the billions of current Facebook users choose how their data is used. As I said earlier, Facebook has helped many create massive wealth, now let's allow everyone to have a taste of the pie.


Thank you for your time.


Heath Alban. Out.