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I have an Android.

A cri de couer against Facebook. Even though I found this interesting, it got pretty repetitive toward the end. Also, I was shocked to read at the end of this jeremiad that McNamee...still uses Facebook!!!

Readers who enjoyed this book will also enjoy "The Age of Surveillance Capitalism" by Shoshana Zuboff, and "Weapons of Math Destruction" by Cathy O'Neill.

Um...why is he surprised? How did he think it worked?

(Continued)...to maximize the speed of traffic on the system as a whole. With load balancing for maps, Google plays God. Google was not elected to or chosen for that role. It saw an opportunity and seized it.

(Continued)...platform, you have an incentive to make exceptions when his tweets violate the terms of service. Doing the same for his allies almost certainly makes good business sense in the short term.

The inadequacy of Facebook's election protection measures was exposed just prior to the 2018 midterms when Vice attempted to place ads in the names of all 100 U.S. senators, the vice president, and ISIS...and Facebook approved them all.

On Russian interference in the 2016 election:

In an election in which only 137 million people voted, a campaign that targeted 126 million voters almost certainly had an impact.

(Continued)...provided context when he pointed out that posts from only six of the Russia-sponsored groups on Facebook had been shared 340 million times. Groups are built around a shared interest. Most of those doing the sharing would have been Americans who trusted that the leaders of the Group were genuine.

Mark Zucked

If I didn't already have one foot out the door, this book would have pushed me the rest of the way out. The sinister side of social media is real, and people need to wake up to the danger of Facebook. My only complaint, McNamee seemed to be a bit of a Zuckerberg apologist, one minute he's brilliant, next he didn't know how Facebook could be used by bad people. I disagree. 3💥💥💥 1/2 out of 5.

The info in the book is important for a general audience to know. That's the only reason I rank this a pick.

My skepticism of the author, and his downplayed role in the whole mess, is what made me give it a 2-star on GR. I've been in the tech industry since the late 90s so there's that bias.

Full review link: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2718722534

What the internet has done to us is shocking

Formerly a fan of Facebook & new technology in general, McNamee is now deeply concerned about “bad actors,” exploitation of user data, manipulation of consumers, & the harm caused by misinformation & filter bubbles. Russian interference in democratic process & Facebook‘s role in the tragedies of targeted hate speech in Myanmar & Sri Lanka are very disturbing. McNamee is an engaging performer of his own #audiobook.

Avoiding Google is inconvenient, so I have turned it into a game. I use Duck Duck Go because it does not collect search data.

Data is the new oil. User data has value, even if users do not understand that to be the case. We know this because Google and Facebook are two of the most valuable companies ever created and their businesses are based on monetizing user data.

Being a citizen is an active state; being a consumer is passive.