Facebook...er, Meta Hatred

[Cindy Claveau]

 

[Isabeau]

Mini thread

Drew Harwell (@drewharwell.com)

Mark Zuckerberg says Meta's chatbots will supplement your real friends: "The average American has fewer than 3 friends ... but has demand for ... 15 friends" (h/t https://x.com/romanhelmetguy/status/1917656951174947075)

bsky.app

 

[Free]

Meta continues its efforts in the elimination of privacy, personal and otherwise.

Years After Promising to Stop Facial Recognition Work, Meta Has a Devious New Plan

Meta quietly restarted efforts to infuse facial recognition into its smart glasses, according to a report from The Information.

futurism.com

In 2021, Facebook said it was scrapping efforts to build powerful facial recognition software into its then-nascent smart glasses, citing the tech's glaring privacy and ethics concerns.

Four years later, as The Information reports, the Silicon Valley behemoth has officially dusted off the effort and is once again working on transforming its wearable smart glasses into a facial recognition-infused privacy nightmare.

Meta is working on a feature internally referred to as "super sensing." In super sensing mode, the glasses' built-in cameras and sensors will remain on and recording throughout the wearer's day. It's still probably a way's off due to battery life limitations, but in Meta's imagining, it'll one day be able to do things like remind someone to drop by the store and get dinner ingredients or nudge them to grab their keys. (Because, of course, every Silicon Valley CEO really just wants to build J.A.R.V.I.S. from the "Iron Man" franchise.)

However, the super sensing feature would also combine AI with facial recognition, according to the Information — a design choice that could have far-reaching and deeply alarming implications.

 

[Argent Stonecutter]

I have mild prosopagnosia and having glasses that tell me "this guy who's trying to get your attention is Joe who works at the dry cleaners and you chat with him every week" so I can go "hey Joe" instead of pretending I know random strangers until they give me enough contextual hints to identify them would be life-changing.

 

[Beebo Brink]

I have mild prosopagnosia and having glasses that tell me "this guy who's trying to get your attention is Joe who works at the dry cleaners and you chat with him every week" so I can go "hey Joe" instead of pretending I know random strangers until they give me enough contextual hints to identify them would be life-changing.

I've lost track of all the social disasters that befell me because I didn't recognize people who I knew perfectly well in context, but not outside of that context.

 

[GoblinCampFollower]

Face blindness sounds fascinating but I can easily see why it would make life very difficult. Especially as a kid, not knowing what it was.

 

[Argent Stonecutter]

Really, everyone needs a floating nametag over their head like they have in Second Life.

 

[Beebo Brink]

Really, everyone needs a floating nametag over their head like they have in Second Life.

At least in real life, people don't change their face. Unlike this forum, where people change their avatar and leave me flailing.

 

[Argent Stonecutter]

I put on a feral bear avatar once and the estate owner came up to me and started talking to me about I don't know what, but it was nothing I recognized. So I go "Wut" and he goes "Oh, you're not <some other bear>" and I go no? and it turns out he normally goes around with nametags off. On an island full of ferals and furries. I m sure I'm not the first time he's done that.

 

[GoblinCampFollower]

I put on a feral bear avatar once and the estate owner came up to me and started talking to me about I don't know what, but it was nothing I recognized. So I go "Wut" and he goes "Oh, you're not <some other bear>" and I go no? and it turns out he normally goes around with nametags off. On an island full of ferals and furries. I m sure I'm not the first time he's done that.

haha.

Had a few similar experiences with people thinking I was someone else with a vaguely similar SL name. Just the other day my partner told me he met a couple old friends of mine but one just happened to have a very similar name so I quickly realized they just thought I was someone else.

...there also was one occasion several years ago where I went to a sim and was immediately chewed out for being a bitch. His wording definitely implied he thought he knew me. ...I had never seen this person before and we had nothing in my old chat log. SO I just responded with something along the lines of "Hi.... I don't think I know you?" He said nothing after that... no idea what he believed.

 

[GoblinCampFollower]

My facebook account got deleted. I got a possible fake password reset email. I changed my password just to be safe (not with that email) and that prompted them to demand a video selfie to prove I was human. ....I guess they decided I don't look human enough, lol.

I did a bit of googling and apparently this is becoming more common recently.... so fuck 'em. I'm just said since I use facebook to talk to a few real life friends I might not otherwise see again.

 

[Argent Stonecutter]

I lost my "Argent Stonecutter" Facebook account a similar way several years ago, they wanted me to provide a picture of government ID with that name on it before they'd unlock it.

 

[GoblinCampFollower]

I lost my "Argent Stonecutter" Facebook account a similar way several years ago, they wanted me to provide a picture of government ID with that name on it before they'd unlock it.

my facebook account had my real name and pictures. the video selfie they requested at least in theory should have been consistent with that..... so not really sure what I allegedly did wrong by their standards.

 

[Noodles]

I have mild prosopagnosia and having glasses that tell me "this guy who's trying to get your attention is Joe who works at the dry cleaners and you chat with him every week" so I can go "hey Joe" instead of pretending I know random strangers until they give me enough contextual hints to identify them would be life-changing.

I am pretty good at recognizing people, but I am absolutely terrible at remembering names.

 

[Noodles]

it turns out he normally goes around with nametags off. On an island full of ferals and furries. I m sure I'm not the first time he's done that.

Good to know I am not the only psycho who does this.

Also, maybe it's a bad idea given my previous comment.

 

[Free]

Apparently, Zuckerberg is - like his unrequited cage match challenger Musk - a mercurial asswipe.

Mark Zuckerberg Is Reportedly Absolutely Furious at His Own Failure

The tech tycoon has become intensely frustrated at Meta's failure to keep pace with the likes of OpenAI and Anthropic in the "AI race."

futurism.com

 

[Argent Stonecutter]

Apparently inside Facebook the term used to refer to someone getting hurt by the asswipe is "getting Zucked".

 

[Free]

You should not have the name "Mark Zuckerberg" and be on Facebook. I mean, really, whatever the name no one should be on Facebook anymore.

Mark Zuckerberg, the Lawyer, Is Suing Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO

An Indiana attorney is suing Meta for repeatedly shutting down his Facebook pages

gizmodo.com

 

[Cindy Claveau]

I've kept my FB account, but I rarely ever visit it any more due to the overwhelming density of assholiness and spam. (And my adult children give me squinty looks whenever I mentioned Facebook) It's my main way to keep up with family.

Monday, my nephew (age 50) had a stroke and died. FB is how we're supporting each other.

But of course there's a downside. I've started getting a buttload of ads for diabetic supplies and cholesterol treatments. Their algorithm tracks all my posts, there's no doubt. It's annoying AF even if it's a simple keystroke to delete or block.

None of this is shocking. It's madly annoying. I'm learning to be even more skeptical than ever and follow up if I have questions. (Example: Lots of ads for women's rings that also work as a glucometer. I looked it up and find that it's (a) horribly inaccurate (b) doesn't really work.)

I did, however, buy a jar of Magnesium lotion for my feet. Hey, anyone ever die from a magnesium overdose?

 

[Free]

My Facebook exit was unintended, but on par for why Facebook needs to die, or at least replaced with an adequate alternative. (Bluebook, anyone?)

Some years back I'd forgotten my password and needed to reset it. But Facebook refused to send an email with the reset link to the email address on file. Or it kept getting lost along the internet pipes. No idea why, but to prove I am me and get the password changed to something I knew, I ended up having to upload a photo of my license (photo ID bullshit) to Facebook support. Well, "support." Whatever their automated system is supposed to be called. My ID was rejected for...I believe it said issues of readability. So I scanned it this time and uploaded that as my photo of my photo ID. And they rejected it again.

I'm not a believer in third time's the charm, so I told my family (none of my friends still used it) I'm not on Facebook any longer, due to technical difficulties. They seem to have dealt with it.