News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Facebook chooses profits over people by pixelgeek on Friday October 22, 2021 @09:20AM (#28956854)
Is your dentist a corporation that is lead by a board of directors and has a series of shareholders that help define how it operates?

If not then the comparison is not really valid.

> The problem is the lack of ethics of Facebook and Big Tech in general.

And big oil. And big pharma. And big anything.

Large corporations are built to maximize profit. And it is this focus on profit that is the problem.

So 'profit seeking'...

Re:Facebook chooses profits over people by rglullis on Friday October 22, 2021 @09:30AM (#28956961)
Unless you work and sell your labor "at-cost", you are also "profit-seeking". It does not mean that you are also "unethical".

Profit-seeking should not imply unethical, no need to twist language when there is already the vocabulary to convey the proper meaning.

Re:Facebook chooses profits over people by amelius on Friday October 22, 2021 @09:43AM (#28957093)
> Profit-seeking should not imply unethical

Nobody said that profit-seeking implies unethical. It was said that profit-seeking companies should not deserve our unconditional trust.

Re:Facebook chooses profits over people by yazantapuz on Friday October 22, 2021 @09:49AM (#28957158)
Nobody is saying that they deserve unconditional trust neither.
Re:Facebook chooses profits over people by pixelgeek on Friday October 22, 2021 @11:21AM (#28958353)
> Unless you work and sell your labor "at-cost", you are also "profit-seeking".

Well the last time I checked I didn't turn a blind eye to my work helping to start a promote a genocide in Burma so I really don't see your point.

I don't think that profit-seeking ever results in behaviour that is ethical. If I make a decision based on my desire for more money then it is almost always going to be a choice not based on ethical or moral values.

The difference is the scale. If I cut a few corners as a independent contractor then at worst my client gets slightly less value from their money.

If I cut corners as the owner of a chain restaurant then my profit-seeking has an impact on the employees I have and my customers.

If I am a major corporation that has billions of users then my profit-seeking has incredible impact.

Re:Facebook chooses profits over people by rglullis on Friday October 22, 2021 @12:09PM (#28958945)
You are using profit-seeking to convey the (immoral) idea of "favoring profits over ethics", while I am using the more (ammoral) neutral definition of "doing something for financial gains". Can we agree to that?

If so, you'd have to argue why you want to change a neutrally-charged concept into something that carries negative connotations.