Readers React: Want to fix Facebook? Drop the whole ‘we-harvest-all-your-information’ part

To the editor: What were people thinking? The American people are shocked — shocked, do you hear? — that Cambridge Analytica “harvested” information about them on Facebook to craft target audiences for political ads. Every time you go on Facebook and answer those cute personality tests, about what country you should live in, or how many books you have read, you are handing over tons of information about yourself. Every time you “like” a political ad or hang out with like-minded fans of various TV shows, the same. Every time you follow click bait, etc. Why would anyone think these are “private,” when this is being done on the largest platform in human history?

Erica Hahn, Monrovia

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To the editor: I feel vindicated! I have never had a Facebook account or been on Snapchat or Twitter, etc. Why? For the very reasons stated in your article “How Facebook exploited us all.” I have been put down, chided and made to feel like, somehow, I was not in the modern age, because I make a point to have actual face-to-face conversations with people, use the telephone to talk, and prefer snail mail to tell people how I feel.

I do use email and a few apps on my phone but would never write or knowingly provide info that was private in anyway. Hopefully, people will consider what they say and realize how they are being exploited for companies’ gain. If I had a choice, I would have written this letter on paper as I notice by emailing it I have to actually opt out of my information being shared with advertisers unaffiliated with this website. There we go again. No privacy!

Allison Johnson, Ventura

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