optimism

 I filed for my Facebook compensation as part of that class action lawsuit. Facebook shared my data with a third party without my permission. This has already been established, litigated and a settlement reached. The settlement was for 725 million dollars! Users have until August to file their claim. It's free to file and easy as well. There is a link on Facebook to do just that. After filling it out and submitting that form, I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. Justice is going to be served! I chose to receive a prepaid gift card although other choices are available, including direct deposit to your checking account. So now, I'm just sitting back and waiting on my settlement. Finally, my ship is going to come in. I can't see the mast on the horizon just yet but I'm sure it is there. 

 I did a little reading about this settlement. It was agreed that the lawyers could receive up to 25% of that amount for their legal services. That would leave about 520 million to be divided up among the claimants. The amount of the settlement is dependent upon the number of claims filed. I figured if only 5.2 million people file, I should get a hundred dollars! I didn't see any figures on the number of attorneys involved but they will have to divide up $181,250,000. My thought is they will get a great deal more than I will. I wonder if they also get to file a claim and receive compensation for the data breach? Double dipping.

 Now at first reading and without much thought the settlement says claimants, anyone that used Facebook in the last sixteen years is eligible to file. After attorney's fees, that leaves about 520 million dollars. Now the population of the United States is 332.28 million. Shouldn't everyone in the country get over a million dollars? Well, even more because you can't count anyone under the age of 16, and not everyone used Facebook. So, let's say only 2/3 of the population are eligible. That would be 346 million people. Still over a million apiece. But that isn't how the math really works. There are 10,000 one hundreds in a million. A million dollars will be expended for every 10,000 claims. It will take a total of five million two hundred thousand claims for the settlement to be a hundred dollars. How many people used Facebook over the last sixteen years, and how many will fill out a claim? How many fraudulent claims may be filed? Maybe I should lower my expectations. 

 All of this is just punitive in nature. Who really benefits and makes the money? It certainly isn't the common man that was using Facebook. They are the ones that were damaged, their data sold to third parties without their consent. How much money did Facebook make off of the sale of that data? Was it more than 725 million dollars? If so, they are still ahead of the game and the lawyers are raking it in. But justice has been served and the crumbs will be served to the starving masses. I am anticipating my prepaid card before the end of the year. I'll be sure to include that in my income tax return. Facebook, Meta or whatever they call themselves can write it all off as a business expense, a red mark on the ledger sheet, should help them with their taxes. I just love how all this works. You do have to admire the system that enables all of that. It's brilliant. I feel empowered! Just waiting on my ship to come in. Peace of mind, that's what it is, peace of mind.