Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Facebook Scans What You Send Other People on Messenger App

bloomberg.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

171–180 of 192 posts

Re: Facebook Scans What You Send Other People on Messenger App

#171

Post by ryanlol »

mrep wrote: post #168
nstj wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Page 51: > The private keys for both key pairs are saved in the device’s Keychain and the public keys are sent to Apple’s directory service (IDS), where they are associated with the user’s phone number or email address, along with the device’s APNs address.

I'm no security engineer but wouldn't that require Apple to have access to the private key, whereas the whitepaper says they only have access to the public key?

Apple can associate their own public key with the users phone number, then they will be able to read messages sent to that user.

Re: Facebook Scans What You Send Other People on Messenger App

#172

Post by dvfjsdhgfv »

mrep wrote: post #168
nstj wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Page 51: > The private keys for both key pairs are saved in the device’s Keychain and the public keys are sent to Apple’s directory service (IDS), where they are associated with the user’s phone number or email address, along with the device’s APNs address.

I'm no security engineer but wouldn't that require Apple to have access to the private key, whereas the whitepaper says they only have access to the public key?

They can't mess up with the private key (at least this is what they say, and we can't verify that as their software is closed source). But they're free to manipulate the public key which is used during the encryption phase.

For Apple as a company, not having access to iMessages is the safest thing to do, and I believe them when they say they can't access them in the current setup and are not willing to change that. It's because this would change their status from hardware/software vendor to telecommunications provider, with all related problems and costs - and they don't need any of these, so the best option is just to shield themselves from any user-to-user communication.

Re: Facebook Scans What You Send Other People on Messenger App

#173

Post by koko775 »

arijun wrote: post #110
egze wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Puts buyers, calls sellers. Look up options.

I think they were trying to insinuate there is some big player with a short on FB manipulating the news.

Not outlandish, but also not aware of any evidence: https://slate.com/technology/2018/02/facebooks-influence-has...

Re: Facebook Scans What You Send Other People on Messenger App

#174

Post by dTal »

paxys wrote: post #155
lz400 wrote: post #144

Is the recent attack on Facebook a coordinated effort to kill Zuck's office run? Don't get me wrong, I think all the flak Facebook is getting is deserved but there's little in the revelations coming lately after Cambridge Analytica that is really new. However the media backlash is a lot, a lot bigger and more sustained that I thought it'd be, even here in HN. I'm not one for conspiracy theories but could it be partia…

There is no way Zuckerberg was ever going to hold any political office. Why on earth would he even want to? He has WAY more power and influence simply by controlling the Facebook empire and being worth $60+ billion. All this talk started because he hired a top Obama campaign manager as a lobbyist for his foundation , and somehow people got "he obviously wants to be President" out of it.

Well no, he also went on a grand 'meet the plebs' tour, and recently claimed that religion was 'very important to [him]' after historically being an atheist, to name just two highly suggestive actions in addition to the one you mention.

Re: Facebook Scans What You Send Other People on Messenger App

#176

Post by criddell »

mrep wrote: post #168
nstj wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Page 51: > The private keys for both key pairs are saved in the device’s Keychain and the public keys are sent to Apple’s directory service (IDS), where they are associated with the user’s phone number or email address, along with the device’s APNs address.

I'm no security engineer but wouldn't that require Apple to have access to the private key, whereas the whitepaper says they only have access to the public key?

I don't think so but I'm not a security expert either so I might have this wrong.

If you send a group message, Apple provides your messaging client with all of the recipients' public keys that are used to encrypt the symmetric key that actually protects the message. They could slip their key into that list and I don't think you would be able to easily tell if they did that.

If you send a message to a single person, then that's just a group of one.

The interesting question to me is if Apple can be compelled to write code to do this if they haven't already done so (and I don't think they have). I wouldn't think they could be forced, but like Microsoft did with Skype, they might do it anyway.

Re: Facebook Scans What You Send Other People on Messenger App

#177

Post by scarface74 »

danso wrote: post #105
scarface74 wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anyone can email me and the only way to prevent spam from unknown senders is by providing a filter. With messaging, I've already explicitly told Facebook who I want to contact me - my "friends". I've never received a message from a friend claiming to be Nigerian prince or trying to sell me "generic Viagra".

Friend accounts can be hijacked to send phishing messages. It's been a common vector for spreading phishing scams.

It seems like this could easily be fixed my multi factor authentication. I've clicked on phishing links on purpose just out of curiosity. They usually show a page that looks like a FB log on.

But to actually use the phished credentials, they would have to log on to FB. FB could simply send a text.

Re: Facebook Scans What You Send Other People on Messenger App

#178

Post by wilsonnb »

IIAOPSW wrote: post #134
jerf wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just hope people, including a lot of people reading this, remember this for longer than two or three news cycles. Just because Not-Trump gets into power someday doesn't mean that he or she won't be followed by Not-Not-Trump. In fact, I guarantee the eventual rise to power of Not-Not-Trump, because the only thing that would stop it is if Not-Trump successfully institutes totalitarianism, hardly a win. Our vigilance…

>I just hope people, including a lot of people reading this, remember this for longer than two or three news cycles. Name one thing that people remember for more than 2 news cycles.

Pretty sure we've remembered 9/11 and Pearl harbor for more than two news cycles.

Re: Facebook Scans What You Send Other People on Messenger App

#179

Post by acoard »

paxys wrote: post #155
lz400 wrote: post #144

Is the recent attack on Facebook a coordinated effort to kill Zuck's office run? Don't get me wrong, I think all the flak Facebook is getting is deserved but there's little in the revelations coming lately after Cambridge Analytica that is really new. However the media backlash is a lot, a lot bigger and more sustained that I thought it'd be, even here in HN. I'm not one for conspiracy theories but could it be partia…

There is no way Zuckerberg was ever going to hold any political office. Why on earth would he even want to? He has WAY more power and influence simply by controlling the Facebook empire and being worth $60+ billion. All this talk started because he hired a top Obama campaign manager as a lobbyist for his foundation , and somehow people got "he obviously wants to be President" out of it.

This started because Zuckerberg added a "public-service clause", wherein he could go into public office for a period of 2 years and then come back to his role as CEO of Facebook. Adding this clause caused friction with members of the board, which proves it's important to him.

https://www.theverge.com/2016/12/8/13889308/mark-zuckerberg-...

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/12/mark-zuckerbergs-pol...

Re: Facebook Scans What You Send Other People on Messenger App

#180

Post by JoshMnem »

mehrdadn wrote: post #59
djsumdog wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep, very old news. They also blocked URLs to competitors claiming the links were spam. Even if you legit posted the link, Facebook didn't notify you the message didn't send. It just failed silently.

> They also blocked URLs to competitors claiming the links were spam. Even if you legit posted the link, Facebook didn't notify you the message didn't send. It just failed silently. Any links to more reading on this?

Also this:

https://www.wired.com/2015/11/facebook-banning-tsu-rival-soc...

Post reply on HN