René Mayrhofer :verified: 🇺🇦 🇹🇼<p>Remember that <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/Facebook" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Facebook</span></a>'s new name <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/Meta" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Meta</span></a> doesn't really refer to the doomed-from-the-start <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/Metaverse" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Metaverse</span></a> whim, but its much more important reliance on <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/metadata" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>metadata</span></a> as the core business model. </p><p><a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/Instagram" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Instagram</span></a>, <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/WhatsApp" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>WhatsApp</span></a>, and the other "products" are primarily metadata collectors. Who communicates with whom, when, how often, how much, through which types of data; which groups are they members of, how do they interact with them; which posts/articles/products do they read, like, or buy? This metadata is sufficiently detailed that the actual content of "what" somebody sent is no longer important - and therefore it doesn't hurt the business model to provide end-to-end encryption in WhatsApp and (more hesitantly) Facebook Messenger. Or, as Gen. Michael Hayden (ex-NSA) infamously once admitted "We kill people based on metadata" (<a href="https://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2014/05/ex-nsa-chief-we-kill-people-based-on-metadata" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines</span><span class="invisible">/2014/05/ex-nsa-chief-we-kill-people-based-on-metadata</span></a>). And <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/Meta" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Meta</span></a>'s metadata collection is much more detailed than the mere phone call/message and email and IP packet records the NSA/CIA/etc. use(d).</p><p>That metadata is the basis for targeted advertisement and manipulation of individual and public opinion. That's where the money and the power is, not some silly 3D avatars. So the company name <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/Meta" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Meta</span></a> is, actually, interestingly descriptive and honest about the exploitative business model.</p><p>Protect yourselves. Use <span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://mastodon.social/@torproject" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@<span>torproject</span></a></span>, <span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://mastodon.world/@signalapp" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@<span>signalapp</span></a></span>, <span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://mastodon.social/@Mastodon" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@<span>Mastodon</span></a></span>, <span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://mastodon.social/@pixelfed" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@<span>pixelfed</span></a></span>, and other federated services instead of feeding more into the metadata collection.</p>