And I am Telling You I'm Not Going

I understand that some Facebook users’ data (including mine) may have been accessed
by Cambridge Analytics through quizzes we take and used to attempt to influence us in
the 2016 presidential election.

Facebook is taking a huge amount of heat for this, culminating in Mark Zuckerberg’s two-day
appearance before Congress, who are presuming to pass judgement on something they clearly
do not comprehend. Even I, as old and out-of-touch as I am with advances in modern
technology, understand more about how the internet and social media platforms work than
some of these legislators.

I honestly don’t understand the extent of the outrage leveled at Facebook, given the level of
privacy it allows its users, who pay nothing to use the service.  You essentially need two pieces
of information to open a Facebook account - your name and an e-mail address. You can keep
your profile and accessibility of your information as private as you wish.  You can literally hand-
select who sees any individual post of yours. As for those quizzes, you will get a list of what
information they can access before you can start taking the quiz and you can choose whether
or not to allow them to access your information.

And if Cambridge Analytics did get my name and e-mail somehow, nothing they did worked to
influence me toward their candidate in the election.  In my opinion, there was only one qualified
candidate who ran in the primaries or the general election, and that’s who got my vote.

Lots of companies sell your contact information to other companies who then use that
information to market their products to you. This has been going on for years, long before
social media made its debut.Facebook actually uses your information - your likes, and clicks
and such- to tailor the ads you receive to match your tastes and interests. And you can give
feedback on ads and they will stop sending you ads that you don’t wish to receive.  Do you
understand how wonderful this is as most advertisers stop caring about me as a potential
customer the year I turned 50? I welcome advertisements that pay for a service I use free
of charge, and it is a bonus to get ads for products I might actually use.

While getting unwanted marketing e-mail or snail mail is annoying, what really makes me feel
violated is when real identifying information - like my social security number and home address-
get compromised and accessed by hackers with nefarious intentions.  That’s what happened
with Equifax who automatically had access to every bit of identifying information about me and
just about every major financial transaction I’ve ever made. Unlike Facebook, they didn’t ask
for my permission to have my information. And why do they have it to begin with?  Because the
credit review companies are “necessary” so we can receive credit scores that companies can
use to decide whether or not to grant us credit.

Do you know what Mark Zuckerberg did when they realized what had happened? He admitted
that it had happened, showed real remorse, and took steps to improve the privacy of his site.  
He readily agreed to appear before Congress, and when he did so he was deferential and
respectful to the legislators and the process. This was a refreshing change from the denial of
wrongdoing (even when said wrongdoing is on tape) from some people in power these days,
or the way Equifax just hid the compromise to their site.  

Does anyone see what an all-around win the Facebook model is? We keep in touch, share the
information we choose to share and get advertisements about products we use.  Facebook runs
a profitable business. Advertisers reach their target markets.

So I am telling you I’m not going. I want to stay in touch with family and friends from throughout
my life who live all over the country (and sometimes the world).  I want to see pictures of their
children and grandchildren and pets. I want to share in their lives in a way that only Facebook
makes possible. I am going to stay on Facebook.