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Twitter warns that private tweets were public for years

bbc.com

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Re: Twitter warns that private tweets were public for years

#81

Post by schaefer »

VikingCoder wrote: post #55
bilbo0s wrote: post #9

Just my own opinion, but at this point I think it's prudent to assume that pretty much anything you send out into the digital network world is public. If it's not something you would want the world knowing you said, don't put it out there. Security breaches happen. Bugs happen. Sometimes law enforcement just comes by and says, "Give me everything that user X has ever done." In short, sh!t happens. "Everything I do on…

Eric Schmidt: "If you have something that you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place." People have taken this different ways, but personally I think it's sage advice. We've lost our ability to keep secrets. Information wants to be free. We're terrible at digital security. Pretend everything you type into a computer is on the front page of the New York Times.

^^^ VikingCoder:

That's simultaneously an admirable ethical stance... ...and total BS.

Put your money where your mouth is. Post your full banking and personally identifying details immediately, without hesitation or regret.

If you;d rather not, maybe you actually agree that not all issues of privacy come down to ethics. Some details of a person's life really do deserve privacy.

Re: Twitter warns that private tweets were public for years

#82

Post by odorousrex »

bilbo0s wrote: post #9

Just my own opinion, but at this point I think it's prudent to assume that pretty much anything you send out into the digital network world is public. If it's not something you would want the world knowing you said, don't put it out there. Security breaches happen. Bugs happen. Sometimes law enforcement just comes by and says, "Give me everything that user X has ever done." In short, sh!t happens. "Everything I do on…

This is what I have been teaching my kids and their cousins:

1) Everything you do on the internet is public

2) Everything you post on the internet is forever

3) Everything above can be traced back to you

I also showed them how easy it is to save private and public snaps without sending a screenshot notification (including video!) and how easy it is to fake.

It's hard to know if it's sinking in or not, but I hope so.

I wish I could show parents who are not tech saavy how to get these points across to their children.

Re: Twitter warns that private tweets were public for years

#83

Post by [deleted] »

miracle2k wrote: post #54
the_duke wrote: post #2

This is the actual source: https://help.twitter.com/en/protected-tweets-android .

So basically, the issue was that the settings screen in the Android app would toggle the "account is private" setting off when updating unrelated settings; however, the setting itself, if turned on, worked fine.

[deleted]

Re: Twitter warns that private tweets were public for years

#84

Post by abj »

VikingCoder wrote: post #55
bilbo0s wrote: post #9

Just my own opinion, but at this point I think it's prudent to assume that pretty much anything you send out into the digital network world is public. If it's not something you would want the world knowing you said, don't put it out there. Security breaches happen. Bugs happen. Sometimes law enforcement just comes by and says, "Give me everything that user X has ever done." In short, sh!t happens. "Everything I do on…

Eric Schmidt: "If you have something that you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place." People have taken this different ways, but personally I think it's sage advice. We've lost our ability to keep secrets. Information wants to be free. We're terrible at digital security. Pretend everything you type into a computer is on the front page of the New York Times.

This advice works great if a person is in a majority. The problem happens when a person is in a minority.

Imagine if in America in the 1910's a person has a reasonable dissenting opinion like, "I think all citizens should have equal civil rights." If I was there I would be hesitant to attach to this opinion to my public identify. Especially if my employment relied on me voicing an opinion in agreement with the majority.

This seems to have a chilling effect that prevents anyone from voicing an opinion that is not already close to being in the majority.

Re: Twitter warns that private tweets were public for years

#85

Post by nkkollaw »

clarkmoody wrote: post #49
nkkollaw wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most consumers aren't prudent. Source: see warnings on any American packaging.

American package warnings just show you how litigious the society is. Road signs. Government agency seals in front of home movies. Cookie popups on websites. All of it gets filtered out by your brain and loses effectiveness immediately.

I mean, I hope you don't filter out road signs..?

But sure. It was a half-joke, I guess it wasn't even half-funny.

Re: Twitter warns that private tweets were public for years

#86

Post by ProAm »

drngdds wrote: post #25
the_duke wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A prudent consumer also doesn't send 'live-destroying' messages on a public, hosted messaging platform, regardless of a private setting... Note that this isn't even about DMs.

If companies can't be trusted to act carefully and responsibly with users' data, then I think that's a problem with the companies.

It's not 'users' data anymore once its on their servers.

Re: Twitter warns that private tweets were public for years

#87

Post by menzoic »

bilbo0s wrote: post #9

Just my own opinion, but at this point I think it's prudent to assume that pretty much anything you send out into the digital network world is public. If it's not something you would want the world knowing you said, don't put it out there. Security breaches happen. Bugs happen. Sometimes law enforcement just comes by and says, "Give me everything that user X has ever done." In short, sh!t happens. "Everything I do on…

This brings to mind the popular Blind app where co-workers feel safe enough about their anonymity to put things online that they never would have otherwise. https://www.teamblind.com

Re: Twitter warns that private tweets were public for years

#89

Post by dogecoinbase »

ProAm wrote: post #86
drngdds wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If companies can't be trusted to act carefully and responsibly with users' data, then I think that's a problem with the companies.

It's not 'users' data anymore once its on their servers.

Of course it is. This is the essence of the GDPR.

Re: Twitter warns that private tweets were public for years

#90

Post by tomcam »

Zarath wrote: post #70
VikingCoder wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eric Schmidt: "If you have something that you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place." People have taken this different ways, but personally I think it's sage advice. We've lost our ability to keep secrets. Information wants to be free. We're terrible at digital security. Pretend everything you type into a computer is on the front page of the New York Times.

Better not be openly gay in Russia! Or openly gay 15 years ago and have them scrape old data and find out.

Or openly conservative in the USA
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