Good for the world, but not for us

223 pages of internal e-Mails show how Facebook's Manager to discuss users ' money and privacy. They show how the group is driving its growth and its Power purposefully used. the Jannis Brühl and Hakan Tanriverdi Hakan Tanriverdi

Hakan Tanriverdi, born in 1984 in Munich, works as a Reporter for digital topics. His focus is on IT security. Was as a writer in New York, studied at the German school of journalism and was awarded a scholarship by the study Foundation of the German daily süddeutsche Zeitung. If you are interested: Here you will find his PGP Key.

on Twitter, a E-Mail Jannis Brühl

Jannis Brühl, born in Nuremberg, is head of the digital Department. Studied politics and American studies in Erlangen, Germany and Portland, Oregon. Internship at SZ.de, then staff in the Economics Department. Won with the SZ-volunteers of the guard price of German daily press for the project "weapons in Germany". In 2013, Arthur F. Burns-fellow the editors of ProPublica in New York. By 2015, a correspondent for the North Rhine-Westphalia in Cologne and Düsseldorf.

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In February 2015, Mike LeBeau concerns had consequences. To give his care reprint, sent to the Facebook product Manager, in an email to colleagues, even the horror vision of a critical headline about the group: "Facebook used new Android Update to on still erschreckendere way in your personal life, Snoop around." With such news, we will have to beat around that if journalists were aware of their Plan.

As the Mail was sent, worked with the development Team on an Update for Facebook that would allow the network to Android phones far-reaching powers: The App should have access to SMS and call list and this is on Facebook's Server. If Facebook is allowed to see who is calling who, can identify the company, for example, whether the interlocutor is also on Facebook and him as a contact to suggest. So the company people are not linked by their relationship outside of Facebook - what they want. A Patient about to get his psychotherapist as a friend suggested.

With this maneuver wanted to do, LeBeau. He wrote: "We have not realized that it would be so risky." But as an answer he got: The "Growth Team", Facebook's unit for the user growth to be responsible, will the Update by dragging - and without any of the users to inform clearly how far-reaching the engagement. This sobering answer came from the "privacy officer" of the group, Yul Kwon, the protection of users actually on the heart

The e-Mail exchange became known on Wednesday. He is part of a collection of internal E-Mails of 223 pages, which give a rare insight into the strategic Considerations one of the largest corporations in the Silicon Valley. Also Mails from the chief of days, the group chief Executive, Mark Zuckerberg, and CEO Sheryl Sandberg.

Facebook complains that the emails were taken out of context

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love humanity, it's Published we're sorry

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the news of the British member of Parliament Damian Collins, a critic of the company. They come from a court process between the App developer Six4Three and Facebook. The Parliament had concerned the acts of the process in the context of the enlightenment about the background of the Cambridge Analytica scandal. In a statement, Facebook explained that The e-Mails came from the years 2012 to 2015 and be out of date. Facebook have changed massively and was now much more to data protection. In addition, the e-Mails were selected in a selective and out of context.

The E-Mails provide information about how ruthless Facebook in its early years of growth. They show what grace behind the philanthropic ends and the Motto "networking the world" hid: full awareness of the risks of their own business model, for the Facebook, more and more data about users collected and networked, in order to get more money from advertisers - the company decided, among other things, on the so-called"dark pattern"(dark patterns). It is manipulative Design, with the users tricked. The E-Mails show, like Facebook for fear of a damage of the image of the Android Update on purpose so constructed that the users were not warned clearly of the far-reaching access rights.

The documents also show how Facebook against competitors was going on: Who was the Expansion in the way that was blocked, or purchased.

The e-Mails disclose the Atlasbet platform model of the digital Economy relentlessly: Facebook took advantage of his Power over the developers of small Apps that wanted to dock to the network. The goal: to come to, more and more data. Zuckerberg's strategy was the E-Mails according to The third-party had to make all the information that users published within their Apps, also on Facebook and divisible.

"We sell no data" was, according to the Cambridge Analytica scandal, the Mantra of the company. An E-Mail from 2012, however, shows that Zuckerberg considered whether he should not require App developers 10 cents per user per year. Then the could access, for example, on the lists of friends of your users, one Option is the data protector critical. And he saw it as essential for its business model, as many sources of data to tap That App developers on Facebook to get access to the users of the group, the "could be good for the world, but not for us, except the people share content with Facebook and this will increase the value of our network." Sheryl Sandberg replied just: "I like full reciprocity."

The data has to circulate freely, is Facebook's Maxim

this Form of "reciprocity" has benefited the company more than those of the App developers went in depending on Facebook. The Apps are forced to allow their users to spread information on Facebook. The advantage of the network in sugar hill referred to, in order to display customized advertising space on the screens of the members to sell. Facebook points out that this Option for users is voluntary. No one will be forced to Share the information.

It was so willed by the highest authority that data circulate freely between the network and the associated Apps; and also that the external App Bauer can't protect your users ' data after their sole discretion to pre-Facebook. Through this interaction drains, the risk of uncontrolled Data, and other abuses increased, was noted by high-ranking employees, Zuckerberg did, but this is unlikely: "I do not think that the strategic risk of a data breach is as big as you think," said the Facebook chief lapidary. A few years later, that is exactly what happened: In the case of Cambridge Analytica copied dubious third-party companies and developers are uncontrolled masses of user data. The event brought Zuckerberg in the beginning of the year charges in front of the US Congress and the EU Parliament.

The emails also show how Facebook dealt with potential competitors. In 2013, Twitter launched its Vine App on the market, with the users of short Videos movies and were able to publish. Facebook the App section according to the documents, short hand from the data stream on its platform. "If no objections, we are your friends-interface today, sealing," wrote Justin Osofksy. Zuckerberg replied: "Yes, do that." The result: Twitter's Video project came to the valuable information, who its users were on Facebook networked. 2016 Twitter announced Vine no longer continue to develop, the service is practically dead. Companies, like the Dating App Tinder, or the accommodation platform Airbnb, which saw Facebook as a competitor, got the Mails to be opposed to privileged access to the data on "friends".

the documents can also be imagined, such as Facebook, the Acquisition of Chat App Whatsapp-prepared. At the beginning of 2014 Facebook Whatsapp bought for 19 billion dollars. In the mail parts of a market analysis for the period August 2012 to March 2013 are included. A graphic in the presentation shows that to be sent to you via Whatsapp already 8.2 billion messages are - in the mobile version of Facebook, by contrast, only 3.5 billion messages. That is to say: Whatsapp was already installed on many mobile devices and had much more active users. For Facebook, it went in these years to transform yourself from a Web platform in an App that had mobile devices in the world to conquer. Whatsapp was already working on many of them.

Spicy is the way that Facebook came to the data. The company had purchased a VPN App called Onavo. The users want to protect against Surveillance by hide while Surfing your site.

Facebook has used the acquired App as a sort of spying tool. That product is a Facebook-user data, was not visible, only in the last sentence of the official App description in the group name appeared for the first time. The data of how users behaved that ran on the Server of Facebook and were evaluated by the company. Facebook said in June that it evaluates the data to see what types of products are popular and how users use them. The graphics food from these Onavo-data and illustrate why Facebook saw in Whatsapp, a rapidly growing rival - and for a Takeover.