The fake Facebook profile industry • Hacker News Board

Re: The fake Facebook profile industry

#161

Post by epx » Tue, Nov 14, 2017, 8:47 PM UTC

tajen wrote: post #106

throwawayfish wrote: post #32

Using a throwaway account to keep things private Last year I was "sex-torted" on Facebook but not by a ring of French criminals. Instead, it was by someone I had chatted with on the internet years ago (while we were both still teenagers) She had recently gotten divorced and contacted me after many years away. We spoke about intimate things (I never shared intimate images, though she did) and were getting closer and c…

Hi. Apart from deeply empathizing with you, I have to say there are millions of men who suffer similar problems because there’s extremely little empathy for them. Ex: PyCon, James Damore and GitHub. If you want people to develop empathy for men (which are often at the bottom of the priority list, below women and dogs), MRM movements need more highly competent people and money. Check out what the CAFE organization doe…

I'd even argue that his case is not a priority, but 'her' case would certainly be.

Re: The fake Facebook profile industry

#162

Post by majani » Tue, Nov 14, 2017, 8:47 PM UTC

dannyw wrote: post #3

I find it unbelievable that Facebook doesn't have the fake profile situation under control. Facebook builds an incredibly detailed social graph of every user (and non-user) with a big trail of activity, on and off Facebook. Surely there are signs; surely there are common characteristics, and if this journalist can write such a detailed exposé with only public data, Facebook can do much better.

It's tricky for Facebook as a public company to report any sort of dip or stall in user growth.

Re: The fake Facebook profile industry

#163

Post by darkmighty » Tue, Nov 14, 2017, 8:50 PM UTC

throwawayfish wrote: post #32

Using a throwaway account to keep things private Last year I was "sex-torted" on Facebook but not by a ring of French criminals. Instead, it was by someone I had chatted with on the internet years ago (while we were both still teenagers) She had recently gotten divorced and contacted me after many years away. We spoke about intimate things (I never shared intimate images, though she did) and were getting closer and c…

You should post this verbatim on social media.

Re: The fake Facebook profile industry

#164

Post by RepressedEmu » Tue, Nov 14, 2017, 8:54 PM UTC

koolba wrote: post #158

fnl wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But in an era when the truth is so easy to distort, what should you believe? What makes you think that in some time before it was easier to find the truth?

Prior to the internet and social media there was less noise, hence a higher signal to noise ratio.

I presume that holds unless the only "signal" you get is your local priest and feudal lord? Especially since for most of human civilization the vast majority(95%+) couldn't read or write...

Re: The fake Facebook profile industry

#165

Post by perryprog » Tue, Nov 14, 2017, 8:55 PM UTC

asavadatti wrote: post #144

djsumdog wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree. It was pretty annoying. So are the new top/bottom footers on Medium. I sometimes open up the inspector and delete those two divs just to read the page, but most of the time I don't bother, give up on the article, and just close the tab. Content should just be content. You shouldn't need Javascript to simply view a page. Even if this was all just CSS tricks, it's still pretty annoying. I mean it's a neat idea…

I found this somewhere and use it to eliminate footers. Save it as a bookmark : javascript:(function()%7B(function () %7Bvar i%2C elements %3D document.querySelectorAll('body *')%3Bfor (i %3D 0%3B i < elements.length%3B i%2B%2B) %7Bif (getComputedStyle(elements%5Bi%5D).position %3D%3D%3D 'fixed') %7Belements%5Bi%5D.parentNode.removeChild(elements%5Bi%5D)%3B%7D%7D%7D)()%7D)()

Ohh good idea to save that sort of thing as a bookmark. Thanks!

Re: The fake Facebook profile industry

#166

Post by wingworks » Tue, Nov 14, 2017, 9:16 PM UTC

trifidpaw wrote: post #148

tmpz22 wrote: post #131

Throwaway to share a valuable perspective. My dad is a chronic target for scammers, and falls for them at a rate where I can only think it intentional on some level. He'll allow fake MSPs to install programs as root, on the same machine he does banking and legal on. He'll call numbers when strange javascript alerts tell him he has a virus. He'll then pay people to "remove" said malware, giving them full access to the…

Have you considered running OpenWRT / LEDE or a pi-hole ( https://pi-hole.net/ ) to block adverts / known websites where such scams occur at a network level? (There are publicly available lists of known botnet / scam IP's)

I've use OpenDNS at my parents house to help block most of the worst scams, works pretty well.

Re: The fake Facebook profile industry

#167

Post by macintux » Tue, Nov 14, 2017, 9:19 PM UTC

emodendroket wrote: post #140

WhitneyLand wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think your situation is very much connected to the current wave of revelations of wrong doing against (mostly) women. Every time one of these celebrities denies a true accusation it causes a whole new wave of damage not only to the victim but, to every person who will ever have to fend off a wrongful accusation, because it muddies the waters and creates FUD. Yes, the data suggests the percentage of false accusation…

I recall reading that something like one in ten people on death row ends up being acquitted, so the idea that only a small percentage of people are wrongly executed is factually wrong in the first place.

Hey, Scalia said innocence is no defense once you're convicted, so "wrongly executed" is debatable.

(lots of heavy sighing/sarcasm should be inferred)

Re: The fake Facebook profile industry

#168

Post by HenryBemis » Tue, Nov 14, 2017, 9:29 PM UTC

Thank you for sharing this investigation.

Sometimes when I warn my friends and family about oversharing online, and the "dangers of social media" (on-the-internet-nobody-knows-you're-a-dog 1993 cartoon) they think I'm paranoid.

This is a very good case study for all social media users to understand.

Re: The fake Facebook profile industry

#169

Post by HenryBemis » Tue, Nov 14, 2017, 9:31 PM UTC

throwawayfish wrote: post #32

Using a throwaway account to keep things private Last year I was "sex-torted" on Facebook but not by a ring of French criminals. Instead, it was by someone I had chatted with on the internet years ago (while we were both still teenagers) She had recently gotten divorced and contacted me after many years away. We spoke about intimate things (I never shared intimate images, though she did) and were getting closer and c…

I didn't understand if in reality if it was really your old-time-friend who actually did this, or someone who got control of her account and discovered "conversations gone cold" and tried to "revive the flame". It would be interesting to know who which of these was it.

Re: The fake Facebook profile industry

#170

Post by AndrewStephens » Tue, Nov 14, 2017, 9:31 PM UTC

WilsonPhillips wrote: post #117

Is this something that the blockchain could help with? Seems to me that a scalable method of authentication would be a real asset to solving the problem.

> Is this something that the blockchain could help with?

The answer to every problem isn't "blockchain". Sometimes it is "Rust". And, difficult as it may be to believe, sometimes the problem has no technical solution at all.

Hold on for one more day and things will go your way.