It's Not Nice To Stab People

Instagram announced a change to their privacy policies granting themselves ownership over all the pictures posted on the platform, including the right to sell pictures without permission or notification. They also grant themselves the right to make private pictures public, also without permission or notification. And, as if that wasn't enough, announced that they are not liable to any class action suit as a result of these new policies.

Not surprisingly, there has been a huge backlash against them and I am sure they will pull back their tyrannical policies. But the event, sadly not a new one for Facebook, which owns Instagram,  raises three interesting points: A reminder, a question and a concern.

The Reminder:

The US Constitution protects our privacy from the prying eyes of government. It does not, however, protect us from the prying eyes of companies and corporations. Facebook, Google, Apple, credit card companies, cell phone companies and the others all have access to and the ability to track us and our dealings in ways the government is not allowed without a warrant. They can use this information for their benefit and often sell it to others also for commerical gain.

The Question:

By what code are companies operating these days? The law is not a high enough code. What is their moral standard? In what do they believe?

Multi-millionaires who pay half or less than half of the percentage of tax as the rest of us  justify their actions by saying they pay what the law requires. Though true, the fact is they found ways within the law to beat the purpose of the law - which, in the case of taxes, is that we all pay our fair share. Facebook is doing the same thing. They are legally able to make the changes they are proposing but seem to be ignoring the morality of their decisions. How did we find ourselves in a world in which that is ok? A world in which codes of behavior or the impact on others comes second to numbers on spreadsheets.

The Concern:

I have no doubt that Facebook, like Bank of America before them, will, due to public outrage, reverse or soften their policy. My concern is that we live in an economy in which stabbing someone and waiting for them to complain before we remove the knife has become the normal way of doing business. When did we lose sight of the fact that it's not nice to stab people in the first place?

Comments

[Kencfteam]

"The Question:

By what code are companies operating these days? The law is not a high enough code. What is their moral standard? In what do they believe?

Multi-millionaires who pay half or less than half of the percentage of tax as the rest of us justify their actions by saying they pay what the law requires. Though true, the fact is they found ways within the law to beat the purpose of the law - which, in the case of taxes, is that we all pay our fair share. Facebook is doing the same thing. They are legally able to make the changes they are proposing but seem to be ignoring the morality of their decisions. How did we find ourselves in a world in which that is ok? A world in which codes of behavior or the impact on others comes second to numbers on spreadsheets."

I will agree that our tax system is not fair. However, it is not fair for the poor, or the rich. Why? Because they are progressive or graduated. Pick your poison. The percentage tax rate goes up the more you make.

In order to get to fair, we need to have the same flat rate for everyone. And, we need to eliminate all corporate taxation. Why? Who ultimately pays corporate taxes? Consumers do. So think about it. We get upset because GE purportedly paid zero taxes. I applaud it, because it means that the range I bought, or the microwave, or the jet engine on the airplane I few on cost less, and therefore I paid less than I would have if GE were taxed. To be fair though, we need to extend those benefits to all companies, not just the companies that can afford to lobby Congress for these deals.

Finally, profit isn't evil, it is the expected result of doing a good job serving customers. It is the reward for hard work. And it is the engine that drives the future.

[Enzamada]

Well Said D.

[Parker Romney]

I don't know if they will. More and more doubt in big companies, along with government, is creeping into me. I don't know what Facebook's why is.

[Jbergloff]

Unfortunatly, Simon, I doubt Facebook will reverse that policy. By becoming "owners" of the content on their site, they have the ability to remove it from their site without the "freedom of speech" lawsuits to come at them as they pull inappropriate content down, such as pornography.

The pro to that is they get to define what is inappropriate. The downside is they can sell, market, use our pics as they please. The best thing they could do is promise not to sell our privacy, or our pics without explicit consent, but the likelihood of that is nil. Welcome to disappointment.

[Art Andrews]

Simon,

We, as a society have chosen to give up any definitive notion of "morality" as a rooted concept and have chosen instead to see morality as something that is transient and determined by each person, for themselves. This is akin to the modern concept that your "truth" can be different than my "truth." We have decided to adopt the idea that morality can be different for each person.

Worse than that, we have also decided that you (not you, specifically) can't tell me that my "truth" is wrong and that no one is allowed to judge anyone else.

In a world in which "truth" and morality is different for each person and no person can tell another that their truth is incorrect, all we have to fall back on for guidelines to life is the letter of the law (since we have willingly given up another notion that there is a spirit attached to the law as well). As long as we, as a society, choose to live this way, we can't complain when companies live by the letter of the law and do things that we find morally reprehensible, but are legal. We have created this monster and this system that says as long as it is legal it is justifiable.

You ask what moral standard companies should live by? None. Because we, as a society have seen fit to throw morality out the window. You can't ask companies to live by something we as a society have rejected. That is hypocritical.

[D]

Scripture says that the LOVE of money is the root of all evil. Not money! the LOVE of it. We are dealing with corporations (no -- with PEOPLE who run corporations) who love money and who abandon any moral code at the first twinkle of profit. As you have said, profit is a result, not a "why" -- but more and more avarice trumps even good sense, much less any attempt at altruism. Sad!