Bonum Certa Men Certa

Facebook Gives Data to Microsoft, Encourages Microsoft Lock-in, Expands to Seattle (Speculations/Rumours of Buyout)

Scoble and Zuckerberg
Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg
with former Microsoft evangelist (source: Robert Scoble)



Summary: Facebook is growing ever more intimate with Microsoft and poses a threat this way

IN A VERY RECENT public talk, Professor Eben Moglen complained about Facebook and it's easy to see why. We have begun assembling links in this Wiki page. It talks about the subject and today we will add the latest developments, based on this month's news.



Privacy in Facebook has become a subject of concern in the press. Over at Wired Magazine, a new article says that "Facebook’s Gone Rogue; It’s Time for an Open Alternative" and some other new articles go as far as listing X number of reasons to dump the platform and close accounts (Windows zombies might knock it offline sometimes). But the reason we are worried about Facebook is different (privacy problems withstanding). As we showed some months ago, Facebook is friends with Microsoft's patent troll (world's biggest patent troll) and does badly with software patents [1, 2].

Now we discover that in addition to its close relationship with Microsoft (yes, the co-founder is very close to Microsoft and he received an investment from Microsoft) the site also passes private information to Microsoft. To quote some new articles:

i. Facebook Privacy

The three companies getting personal information from Facebook are Microsoft, Pandora, and Yelp.


ii. The Relationship Between Facebook and Privacy: It’s Really Complicated

The complaint specifically mentions the “instant personalization” feature that allows Microsoft’s Doc.com, Yelp, and Pandora to personalize their services when a user is logged in to Facebook, and also refers to the fact that Facebook connects profile details such as hometown, movie and music preferences, etc. to public “community pages.”


iii. Bad week for Facebook privacy

Not only that, the complaint also takes a dim view of Facebook giving out users' personal information to companies like Microsoft, Yelp and Pandora without first obtaining their consent.


This issue of data sharing outside Facebook (a Microsoft peephole) gets mentioned in [1, 2], among many other news sites. This is probably allowed based on the ever-devolving terms of service, but anyway, why would Microsoft need such data? And why does Facebook give that away? What does Microsoft do with it? What might it do with it in the future? Facebook has a lot of personal data it can hand over to Microsoft, but it rarely (if ever) speaks about these arrangements in public. Zuckerberg has a history of using this data to attack individuals whom he did not like. Why wouldn't Microsoft do the same thing now that it has access to the dataset?

Last month we saw Facebook harming ODF by promoting Microsoft Office and its proprietary formats. There is still new coverage about this, including:



There are other new ways in which Facebook works with Microsoft. To name examples from the news (the past 2 weeks):



If Facebook is taking sides here, that side of choice is clearly Microsoft's.

Here is where it gets interesting. A new article from eWEEK is titled "Cloud Computing: 10 Reasons Microsoft Should Buy Facebook Now" and another one is titled "FACEBOOK, When Will Mark Zuckerberg Finally Cash Out and Sell to Microsoft?"

Groklaw commented on the latter article by writing: "This is a rumor, but imagine what it means for your privacy if Microsoft does buy Facebook."

It is expected that Facebook might just sell itself to Microsoft rather than simply give its data to Microsoft, which is already a Facebook shareholder (that clearly gets its money's worth).

Another batch of news articles says that Facebook is expanding right near Microsoft's back door:

1. Facebook plans to open Seattle engineering office

2. Facebook exec to Seattle: Bring us your very best engineers

When companies move that close to Microsoft (and inevitably hire from Microsoft) they sooner or later get closer to Microsoft and not just physically, suggests experience.

“Privacy protects us from abuses by those in power, even if we're doing nothing wrong at the time of surveillance.”

--Bruce Schneier

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

Why We Publish Information About the SLAPPs (But Not About the Legal Process), an Abuse of Process by Americans Trying to Silence Critics of Their Employer, Microsoft
It doesn't take thousands of pages to explain something simple
 
The Register MS Says "AI Web Crawlers Are Destroying Websites", So Why Does The Register MS Help 'AI' Companies? (Spoiler: Money)
People need to call out The Register MS on its hypocrisy
Slopfarms Already Peaked, They Will Die When Slop Companies Run Out of Money to Borrow
slopfarms will lack an actual "engine"
Links 02/09/2025: Attacks on Unions, Microsoft TCO, and DDoSing a Growing Problem
Links for the day
Internet Relay Chat Didn't Fall Off a Cliff
IRC will turn 40 in less than 3 years from now
The UEFI 9/11 - Part V - This is Not a Drill (Disable "SecureBoot" Now)
A "9/11" Coming
There's No Obligation to Speak to Anybody
The very fact that "bkuhn" is till spending time in social control media says a lot about his poor judgment
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, September 01, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, September 01, 2025
Microsoft Trying to Force People to Resign (Amid Mass Layoffs) a Strategy That Takes Its Toll
Microsoft seems to be circling down the drain and the "final flush" will be the moment the "hey hi" (AI) bubble implodes completely
Google Simply Cannot Be Trusted
Only fools would trust GAFAM
Admission That a Third Party (or Parties) Funds the SLAPPs Against Techrights
This can end up costing them over a million dollars
Modifying and Writing One's Own Computer Programs is Not a Crime (or: Google Proves That Stallman Was Right)
We're generally gratified to see so many positive mentions of him
Why We Stopped Publishing Videos (for Now)
We'll probably get back to videos one day, but it's hard to say when or to what extent
What Animal Rights Activism Teaches Us About Sympathy and Focus
It's possible to believe that the planet is warming, that we must do something about it, and still eat eggs and butter
When You Turn Web Sites About Tech Into Political Sites
A lot of people fall into the trap of catering only for particular groups
Gemini Links 02/09/2025: ROOPHLOCH 2025 and Lagrange 1.19 Released
Links for the day
Gemini Links 01/09/2025: News Corp. WSJ and A Month With NixOS
Links for the day
“Sideloading” Never Killed Anybody
There are many online discussions this week about the misnomer "sideloading"
Slopwatch: Google News as FUD Vector Against Linux and Plagiarism Enhancer, Serial Slopper (SS) Uses LLMs to Googlebomb "Linux"
Slop destroys the Web not just by screwing with search engines and helping plagiarists. It's also responsible for de facto DDoS attacks...
Links 01/09/2025: "Attacks on Science" and China's "Soft Power" Grows
Links for the day
Links 01/09/2025: Fresh Backlash Against Slop and "Norway’s Electricity Crisis is About to Hit Britain"
Links for the day
Writing and Coding Isn't Always Enough
Last year we had to assume a role we didn't have before: litigants
Links 01/09/2025: Catching Up (Mostly via Deutsche Welle), "Windows TCO" Effect in UK
Links for the day
Gemini Links 01/09/2025: Linguistic Barriers and "Web 1.0 Hosting"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, August 31, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, August 31, 2025
Autumn Has Come
Autumn should be exciting in all sorts of ways; it'll also mark our anniversary
The UEFI 9/11 - Part IV - External Interference
They all seem to be playing a role in crushing Software Freedom and self-determination for users
Links 31/08/2025: Baggage Claim Scams, an Insurrectionist’s War on Culture, and a Sudden Robotics Hype
Links for the day
Gemini Links 31/08/2025: Reviewing Netsurf and Slightly Less Historic Ada Design
Links for the day
IBM Has Taken Control of GNOME
Don't expect a successor to be found any time soon
Links 31/08/2025: Google Gmail Data Breach and LF Puff Pieces for Pay
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, August 30, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, August 30, 2025
This is What Google News Has Become
Moments ago