I’ve already said all I care to say about the data breach that had Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in the congressional hot seat this week. I refer you to such commentaries as “Facebook Complaining about NSA Spying? Ha!” March 15, 2014, and “Hey Stupid…Cambridge Analytica Used Facebook Users as Facebook Intended,” March 20, 2018, both of which contain links to related commentaries before and between.
With that, here is the only newsworthy thing anyone said during Zuckerberg’s 10 hours of testimony:
‘Be careful, or we might just have to regulate you. Congress is good at two things: doing nothing, and overreacting,’ Rep. Billy Long, a Republican representing Missouri, told Zuckerberg in a hearing Wednesday. ‘So far, we’ve done nothing on Facebook… We’re getting ready to overreact.’
(CNN Tech, April 12, 2018)
Mind you, this is the same Republican-controlled Congress that made deregulation across all business sectors its raison d’être. On the other hand, the American people elected Donald Trump president knowing that he would make full-frontal hypocrisy one of many dystopian coins of the realm. This, along with other deadly political sins like lies, bluster, graft, sloth, greed, and gaslighting, which make the proverbial seven.
Meanwhile, apropos of overreacting, the markets did just that by adding $3 billion to Zuckerberg’s net worth based solely on his I-promise-(again)-to-do-better testimony.
All the same, it behooves Congress to appreciate that regulating Facebook to stop data breach is like censoring the NRA to stop gun violence. After all, most Facebook users are so stupid, they don’t even realize that deleting Facebook in favor of sharing all on Instagram is like jumping from the frying pan into the fire.
Related commentaries:
Hey stupid…
Facebook complaining…
Zuckerberg confesses…