After the row over the use of our data, should we ‘unfriend’ Facebook?
WHEN Mark Zuckerberg created Facebook, he did it with the best of intentions and has become fabulously wealthy as a result. Sadly, his creation has become a Frankenstein’s monster that can leave vulnerable young people open to paedophiles and terrorists, and can be misused by unscrupulous foreign governments who would interfere with our democracy. Facebook should close and Zuckerberg should spend some of his millions for the good of mankind rather than defending the indefensible. KEVIN J. BROWNE, Leyland, Lancs. THE row over the collection of data could easily be addressed: we should adopt the same opt-out system proposed for organ donation rather than the lengthy small print that Facebook and other internet sites use, knowing few read it before ticking the consent box.
GERRY DOYLE, Liverpool. ONE way of stopping information supplied in confidence by users of social
media from being sold on would be to end anonymity. It should be obligatory for everyone posting a message to give their name, address and phone number. VALERIE CREWS, Beckenham, Kent. FOR the state to function, control of information and a gullible population is vital. The hysteria over personal information is hypocritical. The individual is perfectly capable of rational decision-making. It is offensive that anyone should censor and control access to information. Privacy is an abstract concept, owing more to the desire to conceal misdemeanors, peccadillos and illegalities. A. FLOYD, Tingewick, Bucks. IF FACEBOOK insists on storing our personal data, including friends’ birthdays, it would be helpful if it sent out greeting cards for me. LIBBY HARDING, Leeming, N. Yorks. WHEN I signed up with Facebook after it first started, I was inundated with messages from people I hadn’t spoken to for decades. But there was a reason I had not kept in touch with them, and I soon decided to press the delete button and extricated myself from this toxic, gossipy rubbish. People need to get a real life and get off Facebook. ISOBEL BROOKFIELD,
Preston, Lancs. I DON’T do Facebook — I don’t see the need to tell anyone where I am or what I am doing. Facebook’s earnings have grown by using subscribers’ data, so why isn’t it paying people for it? To get the authorities off Facebook’s back, it should be prepared to sign a contract with its users to pay for their data and provide an invoice. J. NORRIS, Warfield, Berks. I HAVE no problem relying on the internet for news. I believe Trump and Putin were elected democratically, Brexit was voted for by the uneducated masses, the U.S. did not land a man on the Moon and Hitler is alive and well.
ADRIAN WALTON, Warrington, Cheshire.