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Ask HN: How does my Instagram keep getting compromised?

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Re: Ask HN: How does my Instagram keep getting compromised?

#111

Post by pkrotich »

PostThisTooFast wrote: post #94
delgaudm wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Looks up "af"

The other problem is people not capitalizing abbreviations as they should. You see even major news organizations doing it. The entire nation of Great Britain appears to think there's a space agency called "Nasa." Ignorant AF.

Was a little surprised by your comment - I don’t think you’re aware of usage in subcultures, it’s not about grammar.

Capitalization or lack thereof can indicates tone - e.g yelling etc.

For example - What’s up mf! (greetings) vs. What’s up MF! (fight/challenge)

Re: Ask HN: How does my Instagram keep getting compromised?

#112

Post by gaws »

Jamie9912 wrote: post #84
gaws wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'd auction and sell it Where could you even do this?

I believe there's a website called ogusers, I can't personally vouch for it, but I've heard from friends that's what they use

Thank you.

Re: Ask HN: How does my Instagram keep getting compromised?

#113

Post by meatsauce »

china wrote: post #23
toomuchtodo wrote: post #2

Have you tried reporting this to Meta’s security team and copying your state’s attorney general? Sounds like the CFAA would apply. You may not win, but making noise may help, and if it’s an insider they might be fired if Meta knows the legal apparatus is notified. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_Fraud_and_Abuse_Act

I haven't yet... so far I have always been able to get it back via a friend at FB.

I'd report it to the FBI, as well.

Re: Ask HN: How does my Instagram keep getting compromised?

#114

Post by rosndo »

heurisko wrote: post #40
pkrotich wrote: post #9

Your situation is apparently common nowadays with OG usernames and can get very dangerous. I had no idea this was a thing until I listened to an episode on Darknet Diaries [0] recently. In the old days, I remember people going after short domains in the same manner. ICANN ended up adding locking (auth codes) - perhaps IG and other social sites can learn from it. Be safe! [0] https://darknetdiaries.com/episode/106/

I'm not up-to-date with what OG means. Apparently OG "original gangster" usernames refer to common words such as "@Miracle", that were registered by early adopters. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/04/style/instagram-account-f...

OG does not mean “original gangster”, only confused senile journalists believe this. Just read it as “original”, or accept that nobody uses it as an abbreviation anymore.

Re: Ask HN: How does my Instagram keep getting compromised?

#115

Post by AdamJacobMuller »

indigochill wrote: post #101
AdamJacobMuller wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So annoying how your handle isn't your handle, it's the companies, and they will steal your handle at a whim. You don't own digital assets in any sense (excepting crypto, which is a whole other set of problems), at best you have a contract with some rights of use.

You don't own crypto, either - the consensus does. If the consensus is that you don't have the crypto (such as if they fork after you successfully stole millions of dollars worth of crypto on the main chain), you don't.

Sorry, I didn't mean to suggest that you did own crypto. I was singling it out largely because the normal dispute resolution process, the courts and legal system, are irrelevant to crypto. You can't sue bitcoin to make the blockchain reverse a fraudulent transaction the same way you can (ostensibly) sue a bank.

Re: Ask HN: How does my Instagram keep getting compromised?

#116

Post by AdamJacobMuller »

adventured wrote: post #71
AdamJacobMuller wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So annoying how your handle isn't your handle, it's the companies, and they will steal your handle at a whim. You don't own digital assets in any sense (excepting crypto, which is a whole other set of problems), at best you have a contract with some rights of use.

> You don't own digital assets in any sense One of the largest classes of digital assets are personal files on individual phones and other personal computers. So yes, sometimes you do very clearly own digital assets (and no, a link about one time where some government broke the law and stole someone's files doesn't refute that). Your personal photos on your PC are digital, they're a digital asset, and you do own them…

> on individual phones

But most people don't even own that!

Apple can unilaterally and arbitrarily decide at any time to lock your phone remotely and 100% disable your access to iCloud.

You're correct about stuff which is more bare metal than a phone like a hard drive with data on it, but, I would argue that that only encompasses a tiny if not non-existent amount of data for an average (not HN) user these days.

Re: Ask HN: How does my Instagram keep getting compromised?

#117

Post by hnarn »

PickledHotdog wrote: post #108
hnarn wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think I read somewhere that there’s a rule for abbreviations that if they’re “pronounceable” you shouldn’t use all caps. For example, you write IBM because you articulate the letters, it’s not “Ibbem”. Conversely you don’t say the letters in Nasa, but you do in NSA and so forth.

It's dependent on the organisation's style guide, so not a 'hard and fast' rule, but you're correct Other examples like this are whether numbers are spelt out (eg one vs 1), and at what point that changes (eg spelling out "ten" but writing 1,000) But yeah, depends on the organisation. Check out how the New Yorker deals with the word co-operation :P

As a Swede I have unfortunately lost all my respect for the New Yorker as an authority on language since I learned about their usage of the letter ö, which I guess is what you're referring to.[1]

Having a native language where this letter is very much present and carries phonetic meaning, it completely trips me up. It annoys me almost as much as when people use the equivalent letter Ø instead of the actual ∅ for "empty set". I'd probably even choose ⦰ but of course all of these choices require some awareness that a character is "taken" as well as some measure of consideration for people other than yourself and those just like you.

End of old man rant.

[1]: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-curse-of-...

Re: Ask HN: How does my Instagram keep getting compromised?

#118

Post by PickledHotdog »

hnarn wrote: post #117
PickledHotdog wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's dependent on the organisation's style guide, so not a 'hard and fast' rule, but you're correct Other examples like this are whether numbers are spelt out (eg one vs 1), and at what point that changes (eg spelling out "ten" but writing 1,000) But yeah, depends on the organisation. Check out how the New Yorker deals with the word co-operation :P

As a Swede I have unfortunately lost all my respect for the New Yorker as an authority on language since I learned about their usage of the letter ö, which I guess is what you're referring to.[1] Having a native language where this letter is very much present and carries phonetic meaning, it completely trips me up. It annoys me almost as much as when people use the equivalent letter Ø instead of the actual ∅ for "emp…

Hahaha yes, that's what I was referring to and you're right to be infuriated by it. It's purely elitist horse-dust from The New Yorker to use ö rather than chucking a hyphen in there instead.
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