Left a professional organisation Thread poster: Peter Motte
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Peter Motte 
Belgium
Local time: 20:27
Member (2009)
English to Dutch
+ ...
This is the first year I'm not a member of an organisation of professional translators and interpreters in 18 years.
I decided to leave them because they use Workplace as social media platform for their members, and Workplace is one of the tools of Facebook.
The bad reputation of Facebook concerning privacy, made me decide to leavce them.
That software is one of those things which sound interesting in the beginning, but which could turn us all in some kind of Uber drivers.
| | | | William Tierney
United States
Local time: 14:27
Member (2002)
Arabic to English
Your yellow vest is showing. Good for you.
Is there any reason you can't name this organization. Shouldn't we all be warned?
| | | | DZiW (X)
Ukraine
English to Russian
+ ...
| the purpose of utterance? | Jan 29, 2019 |
Peter, after 18 years you left a professional organization because you think (or have proofs?) the social platform is insecure... While you can be competent in IT security, now I don't happen to see the connection to leave--no pun intended.
So far, did they really fail the mission and duties, ignored your warnings, or just dropped low? And what's this in aid of? Not enough info.
What about supposed Über-translators, I wonder?
| | | | Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 20:27
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
Peter Motte wrote:
I decided to leave them because they use Workplace as social media platform for their members, and Workplace is one of the tools of Facebook. The bad reputation of Facebook concerning privacy made me decide to leave them.
I'm a member of a translator association that decided to spend a lot of money designing their own such system. It doesn't always work as well as you'd like, and not everyone uses it as much as they'd like, but they're proud of what they bought. That is one option.
However, instead of developing one's own internal social media platform, one can use a third-party system (and there are many, not just Facebook). With all third-party systems, you have less control over how secure your data is, but that is something that one has to consider whenever using any online system. I suppose some organisations might prefer to use the Facebook service because many of their users are already familiar with Facebook and are thus more likely to make active use of the service.
There have been some blunders in Facebook's history, but few large companies experience no problems ever.
Did your translator association require you to join Facebook Workplace in order to remain a member, or in order to receive important messages?
That software is one of those things which sound interesting in the beginning, but which could turn us all in some kind of Uber drivers.
I don't see how Facebook Workplace would be able to do that. FB Workplace is essentially a separate Facebook-like service aimed at groups of people (usually businesses). It's the Facebook's company's response to LinkedIn, basically. FB Workplace is an information transfer service. It doesn't hand out jobs.
It is my understanding that your FB Workplace profile is completely separate from your usual Facebook profile, so you can add as much or as little information to it as you wish (of course, there is a risk that some "bug" in Facebook will allow Facebook to relate profiles from FB Workplace with the real Facebook).
Did your translator association require you to add certain information about yourself to your FB Workplace profile, and/or require you to consent that they add it for you?
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The Misha
Local time: 14:27
Russian to English
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| You may have left for a wrong reason | Jan 30, 2019 |
Instead of fretting about the purported security or insecurity of some digital platform or other, perhaps you should have asked yourself if membership in that organization really paid off for you, or at least whether, on balance, the benefits of such membership made taking the perceived risk worthwhile. That's, basically, what a standard decision-making approach should be in most cases. Otherwise, it's just your emotions running wild.
| | | | Peter Motte
Belgium
Local time: 20:27
Member (2009)
English to Dutch
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | No reason to name the organisation | Jan 31, 2019 |
William Tierney wrote:
Your yellow vest is showing. Good for you.
Is there any reason you can't name this organization. Shouldn't we all be warned?
I don't see any reason to name the organisation.
I only mention it because one shouldn't think that everybody accepts anything from FB, or that anybody is on FB. Lots of people shunt it.
The organisation is not a company, so I don't think there is a need to mention its name here.
| | | | Peter Motte
Belgium
Local time: 20:27
Member (2009)
English to Dutch
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | Workplase IS Facebook app | Jan 31, 2019 |
DZiW wrote:
Peter, after 18 years you left a professional organization because you think (or have proofs?) the social platform is insecure... While you can be competent in IT security, now I don't happen to see the connection to leave--no pun intended.
So far, did they really fail the mission and duties, ignored your warnings, or just dropped low? And what's this in aid of? Not enough info.
What about supposed Über-translators, I wonder?
Workplace is indeed a Facebook app.
The Workplace app might be kept apart from the FB app, but it does mean FB Inc. gets your information, and they will use it.
By the way: Instagram, Whatsapp and Instant Messenger wee alos promised to be kept apart from each other. Now we know that will change.
Sooner or later WP app will also be directly connected to the FB app. If FB Inc. notices they can make extra profit because of it, they will use it.
| | | | Peter Motte
Belgium
Local time: 20:27
Member (2009)
English to Dutch
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | Emotionall impac | Jan 31, 2019 |
The Misha wrote:
Instead of fretting about the purported security or insecurity of some digital platform or other, perhaps you should have asked yourself if membership in that organization really paid off for you, or at least whether, on balance, the benefits of such membership made taking the perceived risk worthwhile. That's, basically, what a standard decision-making approach should be in most cases. Otherwise, it's just your emotions running wild.
I think I remaind a member for all those reasons because of emotions, and not exactly because of the benefits of the organisation.
The underlying emotion for being a member of such organisation is primarily fear of missing out on jobs, but when thinking it all over, it doesn't matter to get jobs.
At the same time Workplace being in the hands of FB, they will abuse it sooner or later. Because I sign NDA's, I decided it is much better not to have to deal with that organisation anymore.
It might all sound very exaggerated, but I don't think it's such a stupid precaution as it might sound.
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Peter Motte
Belgium
Local time: 20:27
Member (2009)
English to Dutch
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | Alternatives | Jan 31, 2019 |
Samuel Murray wrote: Peter Motte wrote:
I decided to leave them because they use Workplace as social media platform for their members, and Workplace is one of the tools of Facebook. The bad reputation of Facebook concerning privacy made me decide to leave them. I'm a member of a translator association that decided to spend a lot of money designing their own such system. It doesn't always work as well as you'd like, and not everyone uses it as much as they'd like, but they're proud of what they bought. That is one option. However, instead of developing one's own internal social media platform, one can use a third-party system (and there are many, not just Facebook). With all third-party systems, you have less control over how secure your data is, but that is something that one has to consider whenever using any online system. I suppose some organisations might prefer to use the Facebook service because many of their users are already familiar with Facebook and are thus more likely to make active use of the service.
That is interesting.
Could you mention some of those other systems?
I think "my" organisation has choosen WP because they just don't know any other. And because it was for free.
And, yes, I forgot: they could stream video! VERRRRRRYYYYY important.
| | | | Peter Motte
Belgium
Local time: 20:27
Member (2009)
English to Dutch
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | Pulling the plug on Facebook | Feb 5, 2019 |
https://dri.es/pulling-the-plug-on-facebook
"And just last week, it was reported that Facebook had been collecting users' data by getting people to install a mobile application that gave Facebook root access to their network traffic."
and
"TThe icing on the cake is that a few weeks ago we learned that Facebook knowingly duped children and their parents ou... See more https://dri.es/pulling-the-plug-on-facebook
"And just last week, it was reported that Facebook had been collecting users' data by getting people to install a mobile application that gave Facebook root access to their network traffic."
and
"TThe icing on the cake is that a few weeks ago we learned that Facebook knowingly duped children and their parents out of money, in some cases hundreds or even thousands of dollars, and often refused to give the money back."
Years ago a was a member of FB, and I left because they couldn't be trusted.
What's really astonishing is that FB always turns out to be worse than you could expect. ▲ Collapse
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