Facebook Whistleblower Blasts Meta's Metaverse Plans Over Privacy Concerns
Crypto News

Facebook Whistleblower Blasts Meta's Metaverse Plans Over Privacy Concerns

2 года назад

Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen warned that Meta will repeat the same errors it made during her stint when the company was still called Facebook.

Facebook Whistleblower Blasts Meta's Metaverse Plans Over Privacy Concerns

Содержание

Nobody feels comfortable with someone else looking over their shoulder unasked. But it's even worse if you cannot see the other party doing that.

However, that is pretty much was Facebook was doing, as was evidenced by Frances Haugen, a former employee and whistleblower that leaked thousands of internal documents from Facebook to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and The Wall Street Journal. She is worried that history may be repeating itself with the company's pivot to the metaverse. Haugen said during an interview with Politico:

"They've made very grandiose promises about how there's safety-by-design in the Metaverse. But if they don't commit to transparency and access and other accountability measures, I can imagine just seeing a repeat of all the harms you currently see on Facebook."

She was concerned that Meta was not only making promises that it is not planning to deliver on but that its excessive power directly interferes with users' privacy. By building a lot of infrastructures, Meta puts itself in a position of total control:

"I'm super concerned about how many sensors are involved. When we do the Metaverse, we have to put lots more microphones from Facebook; lots more other kinds of sensors into our homes."

Doubts Over Meta's Genuine Intentions Abound

Haugen is not the only one that has a bad feeling about this.

A study showed that 70% of users are concerned about Meta's commitment to privacy. They're joined by tech executives like Andy Yen, CEO of ProtonMail, an email service provider focused on encryption, and Yat Siu, CEO of Animoca Brands.

Siu said that he sees Meta as a "threat" to the open metaverse and expects the company to try and build a closed metaverse where it controls all the data — the opposite of what it should be.

Equally, Yen warned that Meta's excessive capabilities in data collection will only grow bigger with the rise of VR and AR, which lets companies collect a lot more personal data. According to him, Meta should not be trusted with that kind of power:

"At the end of the day, their business model revolves on taking your data and monetizing it. So, there is fundamentally always going to be a conflict between what they say and what they actually have to do to make money."

However, at the end of the day, it will be down to users choosing what they want — a potentially China-style tech dystopia or the free but chaotic metaverse built in a decentralized way?

This article contains links to third-party websites or other content for information purposes only (“Third-Party Sites”). The Third-Party Sites are not under the control of CoinMarketCap, and CoinMarketCap is not responsible for the content of any Third-Party Site, including without limitation any link contained in a Third-Party Site, or any changes or updates to a Third-Party Site. CoinMarketCap is providing these links to you only as a convenience, and the inclusion of any link does not imply endorsement, approval or recommendation by CoinMarketCap of the site or any association with its operators. This article is intended to be used and must be used for informational purposes only. It is important to do your own research and analysis before making any material decisions related to any of the products or services described. This article is not intended as, and shall not be construed as, financial advice. The views and opinions expressed in this article are the author’s [company’s] own and do not necessarily reflect those of CoinMarketCap. CoinMarketCap is not responsible for the success or authenticity of any project, we aim to act as a neutral informational resource for end-users.
14 people liked this article