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Anarchists: We need to talk about Facebook

Z_3 | 25.04.2013 12:07 | Technology

For several years we have provided servers and communication infrastructure for the left. We have done our best to keep the servers safe and have resisted requests for user data by the authorities, using various means. In short: we try to offer a liberating form of communication within the capitalist internet.



We have always seen the internet as a resource for our struggles and at the same time recognised it as contested political terrain, and we have acted accordingly. We thought that most on the left saw it the same way. But since more and more people on the left have been "using" Facebook (or Facebook has been using them), we are not so sure any more. Instead, our political work has been seen as lacking and exhausting. Encrypted communication with autonomous servers is not perceived as liberating but rather as annoying.

Disneyland

We just hadn't realised that, after all the stress out on the streets and all those lengthy group discussions, many activists seem to have this desire to prattle at length on Facebook about everything and with everyone. We hadn't realised that, even for the left, Facebook is the sweetest of all temptations. That the left along with everyone else enjoys following the subtle flow of exploitation where it doesn't seem to hurt and, for once, not having to resist. Many people suffer from a bad conscience. While this may lead them to anticipate the fatal consequences of Facebook, it does not seem to translate into action.

Is it really ignorance?

Just to give a short outline of the problem. By using Facebook, activists do not just make their own communication, their opinion, their 'likes', etc. transparent and available for processing. Instead - and we consider this far more important - they expose structures and individuals who themselves have little or nothing to do with Facebook. Facebook's capability to search the net for relationships, similarities etc. is difficult to comprehend for lay people. The chatter on Facebook reproduces political structures for the authorities and for companies. These can be searched, sorted and aggregated not just in order to obtain precise statements regarding social relations, key people, etc., but also in order to make predictions, from which regularities can be deduced. Next to mobile phones, Facebook is the most subtle, cheapest and best surveillance technology available.

Facebook users as unwitting informants?

We have always thought that the left wants something else: to continue our struggles on the internet and to use the internet for our political struggles. This is what it's about for us - even today. That is why we see Facebook users as a real danger for our struggles. In particular, activists who publish important information on Facebook (often without knowing what they are doing), which is increasingly used by law enforcement agencies. We could almost go as far as accusing those activists of collaborating. But we're not quite there yet. We still have hope that people will realise that Facebook is a political enemy and that those who use Facebook make it more and more powerful. Activist Facebook users feed the machine and thereby reveal our structures - without any need, without any court orders, without any pressure.

Our Point of View

We are aware that we're talking from 'above'. For us, having worked for years - and sometimes have earned a living - with the net and with computers, system administration, programming, cryptography and lots more, Facebook comes as something like a natural enemy. And since we also consider ourselves to be part of the left, this adds to the analysis of the political economy of Facebook, where 'users' are turned into a product, that is sold, and become consumers at the same time. The jargon for this is 'demand generation'. We realise that not everyone deals as enthusiastically with the internet as we do. But for activists to allow this Trojan horse called Facebook to be part of their everyday lives is a sign of ignorance on a critical level.

We urge everyone: close your Facebook accounts! You are putting others in danger! Act against this data monster!

Also: Leave Yahoo! mail and co. Down with Google! Against data retention! For net neutrality! Freedom for Bradley Manning! Long live decentralisation!

Fight capitalism! Also - and especially - on the internet! Against exploitation and oppression! Also - and especially - on the internet!

Get on your comrades' nerves. Point out to them that by feeding Facebook they have chosen the wrong side!

 http://anarchistnews.org/content/anarchists-we-need-talk-about-facebook

Z_3

Comments

Hide the following 18 comments

it's a good text that

25.04.2013 12:29

i think it's originally from nadir

 http://nadir.org/txt/We_need_to_talk_about_Facebook.html

i like the bit where it goes ranty -
"Down with Google! Against data retention! For net neutrality! Freedom for Bradley Manning! Long live decentralisation!"

aye


Because I'm worth it.

25.04.2013 14:15

The problem with Facebook is it teaches the state and its aperatchiks how to pretend that they are activists. They can use it to adopt your language, your clothing, your fashions and your political outlook.

They tried this recently with the North Korea thing. They actually tried to pretend that they were the group "Anonymous" so they could attack the DPRK website and call it "the public opinion". It wasn't, it was just the US Army pretending to be us.

By using Facebook, you are teaching the machine how to pretend that it is you!

Starburst, the juicy fruit.


Too much talk on facebook

25.04.2013 14:20

filling the enemy in, and perhaps giving the enemy enough evidence to fill you in.

Think on


there is an alternative

25.04.2013 15:59

Good article, surprising the author doesn't seem aware of the new project recently launched by Znet, namely Faceleft/Zsocial (dont know if they've settled on a final name yet), it's pretty impressive and seems to offer all the benefits of facebook without the massive downsides. The all pervasive nature of Facebook has gotten truly disturbing so an alternative is to be welcomed.

Znet's Michael Albert's written a couple of good articles on Facebook, and has been instrumental in the launch of the Zsocial/faceleft, here's a link to his summary of the aims of the new project.  http://www.zcommunications.org/facelefts-aims-by-michael-albert

mf


Yes we do need to talk...

25.04.2013 17:17

I do agree with most points, but I don't think the answer is yet another simplistic rant about the evils of FB, painting people merely as naive corporate tools.

We know it's bollocks, but I think what would be more useful is an analysis of why people feel the need to use it, and whether there are alternative means of addressing those needs. These range from the very personal (boredom, tiredness/need for mindless entertainment, insecurity/loneliness, desire to stay in contact with friends), to the distinctly political (desire to reach wider audiences, failure of radical media in this respect, infighting amongst techies, our failure to engage people in person, etc etc).



@


sometimes we just got to use capitalism

25.04.2013 17:40

Fight capitalism! Also - and especially - on the internet! Against exploitation and oppression! Also - and especially - on the internet!

The internet is made up from lots of servers connected by lots of cables using lots of electricity. From nuts & bolts upwards, the internet only exists because of capitalism. Yes, the vision came from academia, but it was business and money that created it from something on the drawing board into something that is of real substance.

Then of course, computers, tablets and phones are also all products of capitalism.
Any PC (or Mac) that you buy is produced by a large capitalist company, using a large capitalist's CPU that was made purely to profit. The screen you are looking at is most likely manufactured by a large capitalist company too.

If you want to "fight capitalism" then, in the same way that you suggest "don't use Facebook", you should be "don't use the internet".

Or....... you can use it, i mean is it really such a big deal to use Facebook?
Would it make a difference if it wasnt free and didn't data mine you?
Why not stop using Google as well?

lovely


all bollocks

25.04.2013 19:19

Facebook has essentially removed any element of surprise from coordinated actions of subversion by endlessly advertising and debating giving the whole game away at the same time, also letting the authorities know which gullible individuals have been ensnared into signing up for an action, the filth can see everything if they choose, doesn't matter if you hide the who's going list, the whole thing stinks unless of course you like chatting about celebrities and other shit. The riots against the poll tax faired well and won the day .. without so-called social media (surveilance).

two penneth


Caught in the Net

25.04.2013 20:13

"we've never had it so good"

Evidence Gatherer


Use wisely or not at all

25.04.2013 20:34

Acknowledge its uses and its limitations. Use it wisely or not at all.

True, as two penneth says, it can give the game away about actions and reveal some of the potential participants.
On the other hand, it (sadly) plays a very useful role in: a) very quickly sharing news from around the world (many involved in the 'Arab Spring' uprising have made great use of social media, including FB, to get their news out there); and b) sharing radical ideas, music, art, and information with people other than our small clique of anarchists.

Some really bad ideas:

1) Being 'friends' with people you do actions or a lot of activism with
2) Inviting people, or accepting invites, to actions
3) Writing stuff that implicates you/others
4) 'Likeing' militant campaigns that you are involved in or planning to get involved in
5) Putting photos of yourself/other people on FB, or leaving the 'allow people to tag me' function enabled.
6) Using a 'real' email address & details to set your page up.

anon


It is more than a probability

25.04.2013 22:50


that the state/police/cps/other shits would go on a total paranoia breakdown if people were to stop what they think of as anonymously organising actions on FB and other media.

A rollback in time is necessary when looking at organising, better to see a room full of people rather than a connection full of jpeg's, or, a greater cloak of digital anonymity which is yet to be constructed.

But for right now, yeah, fuck facebook et al I value my freedom and that of my friends and connections.

open window


FB and the police

25.04.2013 23:52

THIS IS WHAT FACEBOOK SENDS THE POLICE WHEN THEY COME ASKING FOR YOUR INFORMATION (s'cuse the caps)  http://superchief.tv/theycanseeeverythingyoudo/

Alerta Alerta!


Interesting

26.04.2013 22:21

interesting words.

Ted Kaczinski (the unabomber) states, in his manifesto (which is a little 'out there'), and i quite agree, that it is totally acceptable for the revolutionary to use technology, BUT SOLELY to further the revolutionary cause, to aid/support or propagandise the revolutionary action/idea WITH AN ULTIMATE AIM OF COLLAPSING THE SYSTEM. the moment the technology ceases to be used for those reasons, for that end aim, then the user is once again enslaved by it. all technology is enslaving, the very nature of it is that it has been produced (often using minerals, elements from within the earth), made in some far away land by exploited, under paid workers and shipped here for privileged people in the west to buy new or second hand, so when it is used, whether its facebook or indymedia or an ipod or a car, if it is not being used to further the revolutionary idea and action for the ultimate aim of collapsing the system, then it has enslaved the user. thats basically in a nut shell what the una bomber says, and i agree. i sit here now in my laptop and ask my self the following question:

Do I use facebook (i actually dont) or any other technology to further my revolutionary activities or ideas? well i dont have a phone, i dont use facebook, (although when i did i propagandised for revolutionary causes).

however, i also use it for work, so i find i am actually in contradiction to the anti-tech idea i so avidly support. there in lies my quandry: i am enslaved by it, even though i want to destroy the system. so i use it solely for work OR revolutionary conduct. not pleasure or 'collaboration'.

sorry computer nerds/geeks/tech-cyber anarchos/commies, but for each computer, the earth has been exploited and therefore created a slave trail of producers, exploiters and exploited. no modern computer can be 100% ethical, its not possible. (if there is one, please post info here.)

so ask yourself the same question: do you use tech/facebook/iphone/laptop/car/planes/machines to further the revolutionary aims of destroying the system?

if yes: use it at risk and watch your back, disguise yourself if you can, leave no trace, as with any thing used for revolutionary activity, such as phones (take out ya battery, and the SIM), zines, protests and affinity groups, etc.


if 'no', then you are a slave to it and it should be destroyed.

The Unabomber Manifesto actually has some very interesting ideas on the use of tech by revolutionaries, I suggest people check it out as his words have an even deeper meaning in this new iPROTEST age....

NOTE/TO TROLLS: the unabomber manifesto also has some sexist language (possibly on purpose to mislead cops during the search) and i have only endorse it in relation to its ramblings on technology and revolutionary activity. i am not the unabomber.

Francesca


to Francesca

27.04.2013 07:48

Don't read Indymedia, or watch films or listen to music using your computer. Unless of course you're posting The Truth on Indymedia, or watching Revolutionary Films or listening to Revolutionary Music, otherwise you may as well kill yourself- THE SAME WAY YOU'RE KILLING THE PLANET AND EVERYONE ON IT. I'm genuinely not trying to troll you but do you realise how up your own arse you sound when in reality you are posting on the internet? Do you eat insurrection cornflakes and drink anticapitalist soy milk too?


"some sexist language (possibly on purpose to mislead cops during the search)" Yes, of course, that's it. What an ingenious way to confuse the cops.

non facebook user


Furthering the Revolutionary Cause

27.04.2013 08:14

If you posting drivel on Indymedia is furthering the revolutionary cause then sign me up immediately, let me click the 'like' button now!

non facebook user


Kerching, and thank you very blooming much.

27.04.2013 10:22

Facebook makes its money by aggregating the information its massed users provide during day-to-day chatter which is then sold to marketing agencies for a profit. So Facebook users are essentially working for free.

So that is how you get to the stage where the marketing material of modern corporates, uses the same language as the massed Facebook users. Modern corporates consider up-to-date-language and cultural values to be the holy grail of marketing so they pay top dollar for it. Marketing agencies get prime quailty data to sell to their corporate clients which is then used to furnish advertising agencies with bang up-to-date words and phrases with which to sell the product.

Facebook is there to gather data on human interaction. For the majority of Facebook users that will be of use for corporates selling junk. For the facebook activist, that will still be of value...but to the security sector. They are all paying for the data, nobody gets it for free.

This is why you get emails and marketing material from companies telling you that they "love you" and "miss you". That's the language the Facebook teen is currently using so that forms the basis for the language the Facebook-reliant corporate is using!

If you use Facebook and you are an activist, the data still has value and Facebook will have used it to approach the security sector in order to sell that data to them.

In this environment, they probably got a good price for it.

Mark Zuckerboig.


I'm already there!

27.04.2013 14:28

"We could almost go as far as accusing those activists of collaborating. But we're not quite there yet"

fuck social control and snitches


@trolls

27.04.2013 18:02

you clearly did not read what I put, as I have clearly self criticised and analysed my own tech use, as shown with this line extracted from my comment:

"i also use it for work, so i find i am actually in contradiction to the anti-tech idea i so avidly support. there in lies my quandry: i am enslaved by it".

i clearly stated that.

and for the record, i sing music and make it on natural instruments (which can be drums, guitars, etc) and i have a healthy life, an ethical life. thank you very much.

can you say the same for yourself??

i doubt it. obviously i touched a nerve with some of you.

Francesca


@Francesca

28.04.2013 12:26

It's cool, the post was made for general consumption, something for everyone to think about. Thanks for being so open, unfortunately giving such detail on a public forum will leave you open for scrutiny, that's life!
Good luck with your anti-tech drive anyway.

original poster