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Brickbats

Brickbat: Thumbs Down

Charles Oliver | 3.21.2016 4:00 AM

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A German court has ruled that having a Facebook "Like" button on a commercial website violates German privacy laws if the site does not warns users that clicking the button logs their IP address.

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NEXT: No Opiates for the Masses?

Charles Oliver is a contributing editor at Reason.

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  1. MSimon   9 years ago

    I wouldn’t worry about it. No matter what NSA will be logging the IP address.

    1. Tom Bombadil   9 years ago

      Also, ‘liking’ one business is the equivalent of ‘not liking’ all the similar business which is equivalent to hate speech, which is really problematic.

  2. Migrant Log Chipper   9 years ago

    I laughed…

  3. Fist of Etiquette   9 years ago

    You know who else wanted to track people who liked commerce?

    1. Adans smith   9 years ago

      The Ming Dynasty?

    2. The Hyperbole (?'s r 2D)   9 years ago

      Pirates?

    3. UnCivilServant   9 years ago

      The Soviets?

    4. MSimon   9 years ago

      The DEA?

      1. Adans smith   9 years ago

        + 1 We have a winner!

    5. Jerryskids   9 years ago

      Jerry Brown and the California High-Speed Rail Coalition?

    6. Suthenboy   9 years ago

      The IRS?

      Oh, wait. Someone already said pirates…

    7. Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer   9 years ago

      Bernie Grandpa Gulag Sanders?

    8. Slammer   9 years ago

      Google?

    9. Spencer   9 years ago

      Amazon?

    10. Citizen X   9 years ago

      Somalians?

  4. Jerryskids   9 years ago

    A link within the article: Zuckerberg ‘hopes USA follows German example’. This is not the example he’s talking about. But I hope the brickbat here is that Germany has stronger privacy laws than the US.

    1. Adans smith   9 years ago

      The E.U. has that right to be forgotten too. If you go on Face Book and other sites expect to be known.They are a business trying to make a profit.

      1. DJF   9 years ago

        In the EU you have the right to be forgotten but that does not include being forgotten by the EU

  5. straffinrun   9 years ago

    I have a reason for being up at this ungodly hour. What the hell are you guys up to?

    1. Adans smith   9 years ago

      I’m up at 4 every morning.Have coffee,read the news and the get moving for the day.Always been a early riser.Must be the duck hunter in me.

      1. straffinrun   9 years ago

        And people say it’s no fun to hang out with a drunk if you’re sober. Holiday here and I’m about a half a bottle through of this stuff.
        Tasty.

        1. Adans smith   9 years ago

          Damn,good luck with that.I had a client being me back a bottle of what he called mie jo from China once.Came in a bottle shaped like a grenade.Nasty stuff,strong.Took too Sam Adams to get the tase out of my mouth.I’ll stick to scotch.Enjoy your holiday.

          1. straffinrun   9 years ago

            China is the deathbed of alcohol. Been there and choked down the slop they call “quality”. Japanese sake is awesome. NEVER compare it to that swill in China. *Cheers* and enjoy you’re week. 😉

            1. Adans smith   9 years ago

              I found that out the hard way..I’ve never had sake.I don’t drink much liquor.A little scotch,a gin martini ( the only real martini ) Mostly stout,porter, Sam Adam’s lager..I do like dark red wine or a port.Drink some for me.

        2. Suthenboy   9 years ago

          It is not unheard of for me to have a cup of coffee and then refill my cup with vodka. Sadly, not this morning. Going to meet with a logger to examine some timber provided the road is passable. The timber is in the Brushy bayou (pronounced Bursley – go figure) basin and I don’t know if the water has gone down there yet. I will bring a snorkel.

      2. Radioactive   9 years ago

        you have a duck hunter in you??? what are you practicing for, the turducken competition?

        1. Adans smith   9 years ago

          I am a proud member of People Eating Tasty Animals.

          1. Radioactive   9 years ago

            with a nice chianti?

            1. True Scottsman   9 years ago

              And some fava beans!

    2. Suthenboy   9 years ago

      Same as Adans. 3:30 – 4:00 a.m. I pop awake every morning. I haven’t set an alarm in decades.

      More coffee please…

      1. straffinrun   9 years ago

        Live on coffee. Question, Walking Dead is coming on here in about an hour. I love it. Never here anyone talking about it. Fan? It’s the only American show I watch.

        1. Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer   9 years ago

          Why are you in Japan?

          1. straffinrun   9 years ago

            Rufus with the million dollar question. Short answer? I have no loyalty to my tribe. Especially when my tribe went nuts.

        2. Adans smith   9 years ago

          Not a zombie fan.I do like Arrow.

        3. Inigo Montoya, Micro-Aggressor   9 years ago

          I’m a fan. It’s a good show. I catch it on Netflix (cut the cable cord a few years back), so I’m always about one season behind.

        4. Suthenboy   9 years ago

          I watch it but I wouldn’t call myself a fan. I am not really fan material.

      2. Adans smith   9 years ago

        If I’m playing golf it’s Bailey’s Irish cream and coffee.

    3. Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer   9 years ago

      I take my kid to school.

      She’s ruining my life.

      1. straffinrun   9 years ago

        Yeah, yeah, yeah. I’ve got a daughter. Best thing ever to happen to me and I’d wager you, too.

        1. Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer   9 years ago

          Pascal’s Wager?

          1. straffinrun   9 years ago

            You saying you’d love her even if she didn’t exist?

            1. Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer   9 years ago

              Hm. Never thought about it that way. Now that she’s here, sure why not?

              And. Never bet against God.

              1. Tom Bombadil   9 years ago

                In that case, never bet against a black God.

              2. Old Man With Candy   9 years ago

                Rufus, did I ever mention that you’re a cunt?

                1. Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer   9 years ago

                  So we’re clear. It’s pronounced ‘coont’, right?

                  1. Old Man With Candy   9 years ago

                    I had a math professor from Turkey whose name was Kunt. He eventually got sick of saying, “It’s pronounced KOOONT!” and legally changed it to Koont. Still, we all giggled.

                    1. Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer   9 years ago

                      Ah, the old Igor vs. I-gor.

                    2. Old Man With Candy   9 years ago

                      The classic version.

      2. Adans smith   9 years ago

        With a son you only need to worry about his dick,with a daughter,most of them.Good luck.

    4. Slammer   9 years ago

      Up early no work on Mondays for me…watching yesterdays baseball games on MLB TV. Split the cost with my brother in law, BEST PURCHASE EVAR!!!

  6. MSimon   9 years ago

    I’m up early because I “free run” about 10 to 12 hours awake. About 4 hours sleep.

  7. american socialist   9 years ago

    99% of the email in my Inbox is spam. Raising that percentage to 99.9% means that I’ll have to sift through 999 emails offering me porn, hotel deals, Hilton vacations, neighborhood alerts, Bernie Sanders events in Utah, and viagra before I can find my airline reservation. But I’m not worried. You know why? Because I know from Libertarianism 1.0 that my life can’t be affected negatively by anything other than something done by the dreaded government.

    +1 spam on Reason.com

    1. Old Man With Candy   9 years ago

      99% of the email in my Inbox is spam.

      It’s because you have no friends.

    2. Hyperbolical   9 years ago

      And the spam filter that you could by using, if you were using an open source product, would likely clean up most of that spam for you. That spam filter that you’re obviously not using is not only non-governmental, it is non-commercial–as is most of the great Internet-age solutions. Your love of government and iconic computer companies (I assume that you’re using Apple) is your problem–not your saviour.

      1. Trigger Hippie   9 years ago

        Well shit. I guess refreshing the page is still a thing, huh?

    3. MSimon   9 years ago

      Your only friends are spammers.

    4. Trigger Hippie   9 years ago

      You could just, you know, adjust your spam filter settings like everbody else on the planet with email. No government intervention necessary.

    5. Citizen X   9 years ago

      Yeah, having to delete some emails is exactly the same as getting hauled off to a rape cage by men with guns for, say, owning certain plant material.

      Idiot.

      1. Nunya   9 years ago

        Well, it’s entirely too complex to create a second or third free email account to use for all of those websites that just have to have an email account. We should just get the gubmint to go to war with all of those Nigerian princes offering money. They can save some money by taking all of our guns. How hard was that?

  8. Hyperbolical   9 years ago

    Government could solve this problem by requiring ISPs to reassign IP addresses regularly and randomly, but I don’t think their users would be happy when their cookies regularly and randomly fail. Maybe they’d regain some interest in familiarity.

    1. jarflax   9 years ago

      Government could solve it by banning commerce. No commerce, no spam. And probably no computer.

  9. Stormy Dragon   9 years ago

    It should be noted you don’t even have to click the button, just loading the graphic is enough for Facebook to log your IP, the page the button appeared on, and (if you haven’t deleted all your cookies since the last time you logged in) your Facebook account.

    *peers at the Facebook like button at the top of the H&R page*

    1. Diane Reynolds (Paul.)   9 years ago

      Yeah, I don’t get this. Every web page on the planet can record your ip address.

      1. Dallas H.   9 years ago

        And does. Pretty standard default logging for every web server software in existence.

      2. Radioactive   9 years ago

        shhh, shhh, don’t upset the old folks

      3. Pay up, Palin's Buttplug!   9 years ago

        And screen resolution.

        And user agent.

        And?

  10. jackrose   9 years ago

    nice post thanks admin

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