Eccentric Emails and Facebook Follies
On a day when Golf Digest decided to add me to its Butch Harmon tips email list, I also got a press release from NODOR in The Netherlands announcing its environmentally friendly anti-odor technology to ban smelly socks without use of toxic substances like silver. Who knew? I’m all for modern textiles and patented biocompatible technology, but our coverage of new technologies for the info age only goes so far. Still, it wasn’t a bad week in the news, even though I sometimes wonder why I get half the stuff I do…
The IRS has decided it’s no longer using facial recognition technology, while the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is proposing “to commence a rulemaking proceeding to address certain deceptive or unfair acts or practices of impersonation. The Commission is soliciting written comment, data, and arguments concerning the need for such a rulemaking to prevent persons, entities, and organizations from impersonating government agencies or staff and businesses or their agents.”
Facebook is crying boohoo over Apple’s privacy rules siphoning off big bucks in the realm of advertising, forgetting that Facebook did that in spades to traditional media and turnabout is fair play in the world of high-tech, cutthroat competition. I read the fine print in their annual report, which points to further balkanizing the web — they can’t isolate data and servers to keep up with EU compliance, so they are threatening to take their server toys and go home. As our analyst in the UK said, they’ll probably use their server farms in Ireland and have their nexus there and call it a day. Meanwhile, we’re supposed to feel pity for Facebook and its comeuppance with the regulators.
All I can say is that it’s about time because, for the life of me — and I’ve written this before — I can’t figure out why Facebook goes unfettered while Channel 4 local news is regulated to death despite the over-80 crowd being about the only audience that cares anymore. The “metaverse” is said to be about 10 years and so many billions of dollars away, and Facebook is facing a reckoning that’s frankly long overdue.
Someone online recently asked about a fee-based social network where the consumer wasn’t the product and the deluge of fake news and misinformation was kept out of sight. It was scary how few liked the concept. We’ll pay 99 cents for an app or a princely sum for Hulu, Netflix, and Amazon Prime to customize our TV and movie experience, but we avoid turning our back on Facebook, which treats us and our data like chum in rich advertising waters, simply because it is free. Where are our priorities? I guess users are walking away instead, and I supposed that’s okay too.
Frankly, I’m not shedding any tears over Facebook being at odds with TikTok when, for years, hubris and arrogance have ruled Facebook’s day. I just wish it had happened sooner and hope that Facebook’s board wakes up to the fact that users are leaving its platform. The younger generation senses that Facebook is so yesterday, and the regulators are finally waking up, with the EU leading the way. Apple and Google are cleaning Facebook’s clock — how am I supposed to feel sorry for that?
If you’re interested in the latest regulatory comings and goings for the data, information, and analytics industry, give us a ring. We track the trends and monitor the waters, and for Facebook, the sharks are clearly circling.