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

Re: Facebook Network Breach Impacts Up to 50M Users

#631

Post by zepto » Tue, Oct 02, 2018, 2:20 AM UTC

ethbro wrote: post #630

zepto wrote: post #629

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“it would be a fallacy to assume that all the members of a large project are unethical, which is exactly what some in the comments are suggesting“ Can you quote anything at all from this particular thread that supports this statement? It’s clearly the position you are trying to refute, but I think it’s a straw man. That said, at least you are in the domain of agreeing that working for Facebook is an ethical compromis…

> Can you quote anything at all from this particular thread that supports this statement? The original parent comment of this thread... > 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…

I think it’s you who is falling into the trap of absolutism.

The poster you quote believes that Facebook is clearly immoral, and to continue to work there is indefensible.

Have you considered that this might be true?

Now perhaps you don’t think it is true. That would be my guess based on your positions in this thread.

A non-absolutist position would be to say ‘Facebook as a whole isn’t that bad - here are my reasons...’

Whereas your actual position is ‘nobody can make valid ethical statements about organization above a certain unstated size’.

The first is holding a different opinion. The second is an absolutist claim.

Another counterargument could be like the Nuremberg defenses that you have already mentioned - I.e. Facebook is that bad but there are good people there who don’t realize that, or who think they can change it, or don’t understand the consequences of the orders they are following etc.

But that’s not what you are saying - you are saying that nobody should claim that Facebook is that bad.

You seem to think that Facebook is no different from any other employer, but have offered no explanation other than to suggest that not all steps taken by all employees are calculated to be evil.

It’s perfectly reasonable for others to think that Facebook is so obviously corrupt that to work there is morally bankrupt.

Perhaps it is.

Re: Facebook Network Breach Impacts Up to 50M Users

#632

Post by escherplex » Tue, Oct 02, 2018, 7:35 PM UTC

apatters wrote: post #548

herpderperator wrote: post #415

Excerpts from the press call transcript [1] by Guy Rosen explaining what lead to this breach being possible: > The first bug was that, when using the View As function to look at your profile as another person would, the video uploader shouldn’t have actually shown up at all. But in a very specific case, on certain types of posts that are encouraging people to post happy birthday greetings, it did show up. > The secon…

If you're more interested in tech discussion or maybe some subcultures, and less interested in food photos/anecdotes about babies, just join http://mastodon.social/ already. Set your preferences to show posts of your native language only, start poking around the timelines, and follow people who post something interesting. Follow, boost, reply, it only takes a few days before you have plenty of interesting content in…

- reminiscent of old DeBeers diamond courier group motto anonymity is the best security. Interesting that most NYC 47th street diamond district couriers were Hasidim, who's attire wasn't particularly inconspicuous.

Re: Facebook Network Breach Impacts Up to 50M Users

#633

Post by idlewords » Tue, Oct 02, 2018, 10:40 PM UTC

ethanwillis wrote: post #566

idlewords wrote: post #526

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a serious ethical accusation to make against a journalist. Make it if you have evidence, but not reasoning from first principles.

They wrote it in 3 minutes, are you seriously saying first principles are not sufficient here?

I am. Much more plausible is an embargoed story.

Re: Facebook Network Breach Impacts Up to 50M Users

#634

Post by jackconnor » Tue, Oct 02, 2018, 11:01 PM UTC

dkrich wrote: post #371

jackconnor wrote: post #365

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Yes absolutely. I stopped using it because I felt weird and voyeuristic about knowing what people were up to that I hadn't seen in years, long before any of this controversy started.

Re: Facebook Network Breach Impacts Up to 50M Users

#635

Post by ErikAugust » Wed, Oct 03, 2018, 2:39 AM UTC

throwawaymath wrote: post #286

ErikAugust wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have a source for this, "throwaway"?

With regards to the implication: this isn't a throwaway account, it's just ironically named. Take a look at my comment history; I'm not affiliated with Facebook in any official capacity, but I do know security engineers who work there and I've been to Facebook offices. A true statement is that Facebook's security teams have been shifted around in several reorgs. A false statement is that Facebook has dissolved its se…

Thank you.