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Facebook Network Breach Impacts Up to 50M Users

nytimes.com

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Re: Facebook Network Breach Impacts Up to 50M Users

#371

Post by dkrich »

jackconnor wrote: post #365
dkrich wrote: post #317

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's pretty interesting to me how incredibly polarizing the topic of Facebook is on the web. People seem convinced that Facebook is an evil enterprise and has to be stopped and its board, employees, and shareholders should all suffer. At least that's how it seems based on the loudest voices on the web because defending Facebook is a highly unpopular position. But why? Use of the platform is entirely voluntary. Beyond…

I hate facebook but I still totally agree. And, I just don't use it, though I still maintain an account for messaging purposes. Like, in my perfect world, Facebook would go away because I find it kind of gross and think that it is generally negative. But, I don't think it cracks the top 100 of "Most Evil American Companies", it just attracts a ton of attention because of it's size and how pervasive it is. For example…

FWIW, I’m also not what most would consider an active user although I do have an account. I’m usually more turned off by what people post than the platform itself. I just think the attacks are a bit too sensationalist.

Re: Facebook Network Breach Impacts Up to 50M Users

#372

Post by akhilcacharya »

ummonk wrote: post #251
akhilcacharya wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is there a difference between inside and outside the tech community?

The economic success, brand awareness, and hipness of a company with the general public is only somewhat correlated with average level of engineering talent at a company. Different successful companies take different approaches to hiring - some focus on hiring a lot of reasonably competent engineers, while others focus on only hiring the best (and generally pay them a lot).

> some focus on hiring a lot of reasonably competent engineers, while others focus on only hiring the best (and generally pay them a lot).

Are you saying the latter two don't do that?

Re: Facebook Network Breach Impacts Up to 50M Users

#373

Post by dylan604 »

genzoman wrote: post #190

Until they can provide some data that say the 50 million number is a fact, I don't believe it's that low. Every breach starts out on the low end, and miraculously ends up being double or triple as they do "more research" and the initial anger dies down.

But in today's reality, that revised number is framed as fake news. Somebody has an axe to grind, and is artificially inflating the numbers.

I am totally baffled in the post-fact world.

Re: Facebook Network Breach Impacts Up to 50M Users

#374

Post by carapace »

emodendroket wrote: post #301
carapace wrote: post #297

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So is working at Google, Amazon and... ...oil to finance to pharmaceutical to telecommunications Yes. Most of the large and powerful organizations have severe moral problems, almost all of them due to violations of a simple rule: $ "Love of money is the root of all evil." We all have choices. We all make decisions. I would go even further and say that people who ride Uber or buy from Amazon are moral cretins.

Ethical consumption is a dead end. You can't even buy slavery-free clothing or food reliably.

You're being an apologist for slavery?

Alright then, where do we draw the line? Can I go buy a person? If not, can I invade Sudan?[1]

> Ethical consumption is a dead end.

Should we give up even thinking about it and just do whatever is most convenient?

Will that solve all our problems?

You know Amazon treats its employees like disposable shit. If you buy from them anyway you are putting your self-love above the love you should have for the folks working there. You know Uber is extracting value from their drivers[2] and will discard them without compunction when the robots come online. And they killed Elaine Herzberg. If you ride Uber you're rewarding them for all this and putting your self-love above the love you should have for those folks driving.

I'm gonna keep fighting for what I think is right. That means telling people that they are moral cretins when they are blithe about it. (I don't think violence solves anything, but a good rant can shake up a body's thoughts. I have friends that shop through Amazon and ride Uber and I don't chide them too harshly or often.)

Working at FB or one of the other emerging technocracies isn't an instance of "Never let ideological purity prevent you from effective action." It's a case of putting money above core values, or not having those values in the first place, or simply not paying attention.

If you're going to be a Morlock at least be a self-aware Morlock, eh?

> You can't even buy slavery-free clothing or food reliably.

You can try.

If you don't even try you're a moral cretin.[3] It's a common malady in this empty and abortive age.

[1] One of the few places where outright slavery still occurs in modern times. If that's not grounds for attack what is? Oil?

[2] "They don’t pay the cost of their capital. The wages they pay to their drivers are less than the depreciation of the cars and the expense of keeping the drivers fed, housed, and healthy. They pay less than minimum wage in most markets, and, in most markets, that is not enough to pay the costs of a car plus a human." https://www.ianwelsh.net/the-market-fairy-will-not-solve-the...?

[3] "Origin Late 18th century: from French crétin, from Swiss French crestin ‘Christian’ (from Latin Christianus), here used to mean ‘human being’, apparently as a reminder that, though deformed, cretins were human and not beasts." https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/cretin

Re: Facebook Network Breach Impacts Up to 50M Users

#375

Post by eanzenberg »

naravara wrote: post #352
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…

> So is working at Google, Amazon and probably 90% of the big corps of the world in many sectors While Google and Amazon both have their ethical problems and serious anti-trust issues, Facebook is in a league of its own. The complete, cavalier disregard for the consequences of its own actions as long as they get theirs is utterly unconscionable. Unlike Google or Amazon, they add nothing of real value to society to ba…

That's, just like, your opinion man.

Re: Facebook Network Breach Impacts Up to 50M Users

#376

Post by ddebernardy »

NewEntryHN wrote: post #358
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…

There are plenty of opportunities to discuss the ethics of Facebook, but them suffering a data breach is not one.

OT but FYI the NRA reacts the same way as you just did with gun ownership and school shootings. If you agree with that it's cool (/s), but just saying...

Re: Facebook Network Breach Impacts Up to 50M Users

#377

Post by dkrich »

dylan604 wrote: post #368
dkrich wrote: post #334

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you know Facebook creates shadow profiles of you by tracking your online activities? How would they do this if you never visit the site or download the app? If you're referring to the use of a pixel, compared to the full-fledge use of cookies used by other ad networks (the Gizmodo article from yesterday itself noticeably had ads all they way down the page based on sites I'd recently visited), surely that alone doe…

> How would they do this if you never visit the site or download the app? Your friends install the app on their device. They provide access to their contacts. FB slurps in all of that data. For every person in the user's contacts, FB compares that info to their records. They update connections where found, and start new records when not found. So they now know your name/email/phone number/physical address info depend…

That’s not tracking web activity though. Also, why is google given a pass here? They use info gathered from my emails all over the place and that surely has more sensitive data than my Facebook account. What about amazon who has been reported to sell your purchasing data without your explicit consent to advertisers?

Re: Facebook Network Breach Impacts Up to 50M Users

#378

Post by ahartmetz »

ankimal wrote: post #336
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…

Its a free world and last I checked its not illegal to work for FB. Trust in market forces to take it course.

People making decisions create market forces.

Re: Facebook Network Breach Impacts Up to 50M Users

#380

Post by eanzenberg »

martimarkov wrote: post #337
chronid wrote: post #288

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was just noting that in other parts of the world (where the average salary nationally for developers is NOT a comfy 60k$) finding alternatives to those companies can be a little bit complex, and for sure no less evil. The "justification" (if you want to call it that way) you are looking for is in the part you forgot to quote and respond to ;)

I find it hard to believe that only FB has on office in that country that offers the $60k you are referring to. I work in London and there are a lot of companies that will give close to FB salary if you are a good developer. And yes there are companies that are not as corrupt as FB, Google, Amazon. So I'm wondering (out of curiosity as I can't personally think of any) where in Europe is that happening?

London isn't even EU
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