The Offline Report

(* Denotes one bliki appendage, below .) A transcript of Senator Deb Fischer (R-Nebraska) questioning Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg April 10 shows questions and answers over how much a user is able to control their data, and whether a private user was exposed. (A New York Times story today on Facebook, found the company sharing users' data, and users' friends' data, with 60 device manufacturers .) The c-span clip is six minutes long, here . Fischer: Thank you Mr. Chairman, thank you Mr Zuckerberg for being here today, I appreciate your testimony. The full scope of Facebook users' activity can print a very personal picture I think. And additionally you have those two billion users that are out there every month and so we all know that's larger than the population of most countries. So how many data categories do you store, does Facebook store, on the categories that you collect? Zuckerberg: Senator can you clarify what you mean by data categories . F...

Not all controlling personalities are manipulative. Some are unintentionally exploitative . But some are willfully deceptive, and engaging such a personality can be exasperating for people who don't have a name for what's happening. People unfamiliar with controlling personalities who scale to success mistake their deception for brilliance. (This is stage two.) The truth is, manipulation tactics are not brilliant, they've been around for millenia, and in total the tactics comprise a list of about eight. Many are cataloged in George K. Simon's book In Sheep's Clothing . Manipulators appear different and new because old tactics from a finite set are used in different combinations and permutations by new players in different settings -- sometimes brilliant settings -- through history. When tactics are seen for what they are, the brilliance of the setting stands or falls on its own merits. ----- "Exploiting the gray area" is a manipulation *pla...