The documents seem to confirm two long-held, popular suspicious about Facebook. First, it treats user privacy as an afterthought at best. And second, it works hard to prevent competitors from...
The documents seem to confirm two long-held, popular suspicious about Facebook. First, it treats user privacy as an afterthought at best. And second, it works hard to prevent competitors from getting too powerful.
Facebook in 2014 made significant changes to the way developers were able to access user information through its APIs. The company needed a way to sell such a large-scale change, though, so it came up with a narrative: privacy.
Internal communications reveal that Facebook ultimately tied the change to a revision of another product: Facebook Login. In a March 2013 email, one executive, Justin Osofsky, wrote that the narrative "will focus on quality and the user experience which will potentially provide a good umbrella to fold in some of the API deprecations."
The connection between the two was almost entirely for messaging, further emails show. In a November 2013 email, Ilya Sukhar, head of developer products until 2016, asked, "What does it actually mean to tie [the change] to login besides synchronized timing? Is it just the messaging? What's the bullshit that you refer to?"
"Mainly messaging," another executive replied.
Sukhar later described the plan as a "switcharoo," writing in a Febuary 2014 email:
Hi guys, I invited you all to a doc that outlines the details of the "switcharoo" plan some of us have been knocking around. I think it is a good compromise given all the restraints, and we'll be able to tell a story that makes sense.
The documents seem to confirm two long-held, popular suspicious about Facebook. First, it treats user privacy as an afterthought at best. And second, it works hard to prevent competitors from getting too powerful.
Facebook in 2014 made significant changes to the way developers were able to access user information through its APIs. The company needed a way to sell such a large-scale change, though, so it came up with a narrative: privacy.
Internal communications reveal that Facebook ultimately tied the change to a revision of another product: Facebook Login. In a March 2013 email, one executive, Justin Osofsky, wrote that the narrative "will focus on quality and the user experience which will potentially provide a good umbrella to fold in some of the API deprecations."
The connection between the two was almost entirely for messaging, further emails show. In a November 2013 email, Ilya Sukhar, head of developer products until 2016, asked, "What does it actually mean to tie [the change] to login besides synchronized timing? Is it just the messaging? What's the bullshit that you refer to?"
"Mainly messaging," another executive replied.
Sukhar later described the plan as a "switcharoo," writing in a Febuary 2014 email:
Hi guys, I invited you all to a doc that outlines the details of the "switcharoo" plan some of us have been knocking around. I think it is a good compromise given all the restraints, and we'll be able to tell a story that makes sense.
Zuck wants to talk to the public about how much free speech is important and how privacy matters? Go to jail.