Facebook Network Breach Impacts Up to 50M Users • Hacker News Board

Re: Facebook Network Breach Impacts Up to 50M Users

#341

Post by majani » Fri, Sep 28, 2018, 8:51 PM UTC

chronid wrote: post #253

pdeuchler wrote: post #127

Said this yesterday in the other Facebook thread, and I'll say it again. Working for Facebook is a morally bankrupt position. If you are an engineer you have plenty of job opportunities available to you and there is no excuse for you to continue contributing your labor and time to a wholly malignant organization. At a certain point one has to ask how we as an industry will start dealing with those who continue to tak…

So is working at Google, Amazon and probably 90% of the big corps of the world in many sectors - from oil to finance to pharmaceutical to telecommunications and so on. And we can include the government. If you're a subcontrator or sold in body rental (modern IT slavery) you're also in the same position as an employee, so you're enabling their evils. Also, if one of those companies is a client of your company you're a…

I feel like this overreach is directly as a result of the absurd expectation VC backed companies have of constantly growing forever. People who are uncomfortable with this fact can choose to only work at bootstrapped companies that are doing well.

Re: Facebook Network Breach Impacts Up to 50M Users

#342

Post by martimarkov » Fri, Sep 28, 2018, 8:51 PM UTC

simplify wrote: post #261

pdeuchler wrote: post #127

Said this yesterday in the other Facebook thread, and I'll say it again. Working for Facebook is a morally bankrupt position. If you are an engineer you have plenty of job opportunities available to you and there is no excuse for you to continue contributing your labor and time to a wholly malignant organization. At a certain point one has to ask how we as an industry will start dealing with those who continue to tak…

I abhor the phrase "morally bankrupt". Who are you to judge the entirety of someone's moral compass?

So if ppl are not to judge morality who is then?

Re: Facebook Network Breach Impacts Up to 50M Users

#343

Post by dillondoyle » Fri, Sep 28, 2018, 8:52 PM UTC

My session was reset. I don't remember using view as feature in probably at least a year or two (I haven't actually use FB web/app over the last year or two). But my company does buy political ads and I have gone through the affidavit/id verification.

I wonder if FB reset all political buyer accounts too just to be safe?

Re: Facebook Network Breach Impacts Up to 50M Users

#344

Post by zeth___ » Fri, Sep 28, 2018, 8:52 PM UTC

pslam wrote: post #312

chronid wrote: post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So is working at Google, Amazon and probably 90% of the big corps of the world in many sectors - from oil to finance to pharmaceutical to telecommunications and so on. And we can include the government. If you're a subcontrator or sold in body rental (modern IT slavery) you're also in the same position as an employee, so you're enabling their evils. Also, if one of those companies is a client of your company you're a…

"They're all like this so it's impossible to do good" is an even more morally bankrupt position. It rejects personal responsibility and agency, places you as the victim, and allows you to continue to be a bad actor in the world. You should change this.

Yes, it's called voting. Unfortunately it seems that in the US the Democrats are more in the pocket of Big Data than the Republicans so it's a choice of 'do I like minorities or privacy more'.

Re: Facebook Network Breach Impacts Up to 50M Users

#345

Post by avip » Fri, Sep 28, 2018, 8:52 PM UTC

jim777 wrote: post #324

pdeuchler wrote: post #127

Said this yesterday in the other Facebook thread, and I'll say it again. Working for Facebook is a morally bankrupt position. If you are an engineer you have plenty of job opportunities available to you and there is no excuse for you to continue contributing your labor and time to a wholly malignant organization. At a certain point one has to ask how we as an industry will start dealing with those who continue to tak…

Man this post made me angry. Being human is a morally brankrupt position. Accumulating wealth is a morally brankrupt pastime. If you want to be a morally pure human, starve yourself -- that's the only way.

Starving yourself is undoubtedly morally bankrupt, especially so if you have elderly parents or young kids or random loved ones or dependants in general. Not by accident killing oneself is considered a primary sin in many mainstream religions.

Re: Facebook Network Breach Impacts Up to 50M Users

#346

Post by 1000units » Fri, Sep 28, 2018, 8:54 PM UTC

jim777 wrote: post #324

pdeuchler wrote: post #127

Said this yesterday in the other Facebook thread, and I'll say it again. Working for Facebook is a morally bankrupt position. If you are an engineer you have plenty of job opportunities available to you and there is no excuse for you to continue contributing your labor and time to a wholly malignant organization. At a certain point one has to ask how we as an industry will start dealing with those who continue to tak…

Man this post made me angry. Being human is a morally brankrupt position. Accumulating wealth is a morally brankrupt pastime. If you want to be a morally pure human, starve yourself -- that's the only way.

I've always liked this line, even after becoming quite wealthy:

And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven. --Matthew 19:24

Re: Facebook Network Breach Impacts Up to 50M Users

#347

Post by srinathkrishna » Fri, Sep 28, 2018, 8:55 PM UTC

pslam wrote: post #312

chronid wrote: post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So is working at Google, Amazon and probably 90% of the big corps of the world in many sectors - from oil to finance to pharmaceutical to telecommunications and so on. And we can include the government. If you're a subcontrator or sold in body rental (modern IT slavery) you're also in the same position as an employee, so you're enabling their evils. Also, if one of those companies is a client of your company you're a…

"They're all like this so it's impossible to do good" is an even more morally bankrupt position. It rejects personal responsibility and agency, places you as the victim, and allows you to continue to be a bad actor in the world. You should change this.

Well said!

Re: Facebook Network Breach Impacts Up to 50M Users

#348

Post by saagarjha » Fri, Sep 28, 2018, 8:55 PM UTC

red_admiral wrote: post #32

I find facebook's effects on privacy and democracy as scary as the next person, but so far their secure coding standards have been extremely high. They're one of the few big names NOT on haveibeenpwned.com, they run their passwords through a KDF and then encrypt the result with a hardware security module, and a whole lot of other good things. I guess even the best (at secure coding) sometimes mess up.

The issue is that Facebook has access to so much information that their security has to essentially be unbreakable if they don’t want a massive leak of sensitive user information.

Re: Facebook Network Breach Impacts Up to 50M Users

#349

Post by ddebernardy » Fri, Sep 28, 2018, 8:55 PM UTC

chronid wrote: post #253

pdeuchler wrote: post #127

Said this yesterday in the other Facebook thread, and I'll say it again. Working for Facebook is a morally bankrupt position. If you are an engineer you have plenty of job opportunities available to you and there is no excuse for you to continue contributing your labor and time to a wholly malignant organization. At a certain point one has to ask how we as an industry will start dealing with those who continue to tak…

So is working at Google, Amazon and probably 90% of the big corps of the world in many sectors - from oil to finance to pharmaceutical to telecommunications and so on. And we can include the government. If you're a subcontrator or sold in body rental (modern IT slavery) you're also in the same position as an employee, so you're enabling their evils. Also, if one of those companies is a client of your company you're a…

> Your point? Should we stop working in IT and go back to the fields?

Not the OP... But no... Just stop working for morally bankrupt companies.

There are enough consulting jobs, to say nothing of current and future startups around (including your own if you create one), to not need to work for them.

> What needs to happen is that people keep applying pressure so facebook is forced to adapt its business model even if it hits their bottom line - which is already happening apparently.

Then again, would-be employers saying loud and clear that they won't hire people who worked for morally bankrupt companies is a potential answer too.

If software engineers pushed hard to consider that working for them was a dead-end job rather than something very desirable, then maybe they might end up attracting less talent and go bust eventually.

On your deathbed you'll only take a single thing with you. Not your house or family; not your wealth; only whether what you did with your life was worth it.

A very very few, like Alfred Nobel, are lucky enough to see what their contemporaries thought about their lives before they passed away and got to adjust. You probably won't.

Re: Facebook Network Breach Impacts Up to 50M Users

#350

Post by majani » Fri, Sep 28, 2018, 8:55 PM UTC

joelx wrote: post #305

NeedMoreTea wrote: post #291

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sure "but it pays well" is the rationale used to self-justify many morally dubious through to outright immoral and illegal acts. Doesn't improve the validity of the position though.

Nation states (China and Russia) are backing a massive PR campaign against tools that they can't control... Hence these major attacks lately and all the hate for Facebook and Google. In reality, those tech companies are enormously more ethical than Baidu or Alibaba or almost any mainstream alternatives... And compared to companies oil, gun, drug, tobacco, alcohol and most others, Facebook and Google are saints.

Downvoted for diversionary red scare tactics.