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Links sent privately through Facebook Messenger can be read by anyone

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Re: Links sent privately through Facebook Messenger can be read by anyone

#31

Post by thomasfoster96 »

KingMob wrote: post #27
thomasfoster96 wrote: post #22

This probably isn't a popular opinion, but I fail to see how this is a problem with Facebook. The Google Docs URL is public whether or not you send it through Facebook. It's only secret until someone guesses the link (Edit: maybe not mathematically in the case of Google Docs, but many other services use 'unlisted' URLs without having a long token to guess) - something they can do without the URL even going through Me…

> It's only secret until someone guesses the link - something they can do without the URL even going through Messenger. Not really - a sufficiently large random number is effectively unguessable in your lifetime. This is no different than sharing a password with your partner in a private Facebook chat and discovering that outsiders can stumble on it.

I would say it's quite different to sharing a password as text in Facebook chat - the URL is certainly in your browser history as well as any other place that has logged your GET request.

Re: Links sent privately through Facebook Messenger can be read by anyone

#33

Post by DougWebb »

donatj wrote: post #13
kevinjcliao wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Source? I'd really like to know more about this.

https://www.cnet.com/news/facebook-scans-chats-and-posts-for...

Doesn't that make them liable for anything they miss?

Eg: they're scanning chats for discussions about criminal activities, and reporting what they find to the police. If some people plan a murder in Facebook chat, it goes unnoticed, and they commit the murder, the victim's family could potentially sue Facebook for providing a forum for the planning to take place. Facebook can no longer claim that they're not responsible for the actions of their users, because they're actively monitoring those actions and reporting to the police.

Re: Links sent privately through Facebook Messenger can be read by anyone

#34

Post by doingmyting »

thomasfoster96 wrote: post #22

This probably isn't a popular opinion, but I fail to see how this is a problem with Facebook. The Google Docs URL is public whether or not you send it through Facebook. It's only secret until someone guesses the link (Edit: maybe not mathematically in the case of Google Docs, but many other services use 'unlisted' URLs without having a long token to guess) - something they can do without the URL even going through Me…

I agree with you. Security by obscurity seems super stupid to me. You deserve to be hacked and have all your secrets exposed. And if you're posting confidential stuff on FB and expecting it to be safe from prying eyes, you're a next level of stupid. But I'm old school, what do I know? I'm just waiting for the day future employers are finding nudes of job candidates off snapchat.

Re: Links sent privately through Facebook Messenger can be read by anyone

#35

Post by jonknee »

thomasfoster96 wrote: post #31
KingMob wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's only secret until someone guesses the link - something they can do without the URL even going through Messenger. Not really - a sufficiently large random number is effectively unguessable in your lifetime. This is no different than sharing a password with your partner in a private Facebook chat and discovering that outsiders can stumble on it.

I would say it's quite different to sharing a password as text in Facebook chat - the URL is certainly in your browser history as well as any other place that has logged your GET request.

Since it's an HTTPS request the GET request won't have the secret bits available for anyone else to see.

Re: Links sent privately through Facebook Messenger can be read by anyone

#36

Post by mercer »

edwhitesell wrote: post #16

This is one of the reasons many corporations have rules about only using internal messaging applications. Or, block external messaging apps. In environments I've managed, I've always enforced the rule: Anything confidential sent via a messaging app is no longer confidential. Skype, Facebook & G+/GTalk have all "followed" URLs sent via their applications for at least a few years (that I have noticed). Anti-virus appli…

While that in itself is not necessarily desire behavior, the fact that this link is accessible to parties not part of the chat is by far the bigger problem.

Re: Links sent privately through Facebook Messenger can be read by anyone

#37

Post by CocaKoala »

DougWebb wrote: post #33
donatj wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.cnet.com/news/facebook-scans-chats-and-posts-for...

Doesn't that make them liable for anything they miss? Eg: they're scanning chats for discussions about criminal activities, and reporting what they find to the police. If some people plan a murder in Facebook chat, it goes unnoticed, and they commit the murder, the victim's family could potentially sue Facebook for providing a forum for the planning to take place. Facebook can no longer claim that they're not respons…

The victim's family could potentially sue Facebook for providing a forum for the planning to take place, but is any judge going to rule in favour of the family? I think you'd have to establish that if Facebook Chat hadn't existed, then the murder never would have been planned (as opposed to the criminals simply using some other channel of communication such as email or talking on the phone).

Just because Facebook is monitoring chat sessions, I don't think it's been established that that makes them liable for any activities which are planned over those chat sessions. They're augmenting the police, not replacing them.

Re: Links sent privately through Facebook Messenger can be read by anyone

#38

Post by chillacy »

donatj wrote: post #13
kevinjcliao wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Source? I'd really like to know more about this.

https://www.cnet.com/news/facebook-scans-chats-and-posts-for...

While catching child predators and murderers is a good thing, I can't help but consider that if facebook operated in china, they'd be catching political dissidents, or if facebook operated in uganda, they'd be catching homosexual users.
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