Live data from Hacker News

Twitter warns that private tweets were public for years

bbc.com

101–110 of 196 posts

Re: Twitter warns that private tweets were public for years

#102
post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

except even those messages can become public, if one party makes them so, so even "secure" messaging should be considered compromised.

Modern secure messaging systems are typically OTR and have deniability: after the session ends, anybody can forge messages to make it look like they came from you. Sure the messages can become public, but they're no more "proof" than someone saying "X said Y".

Deniability is not the same as privacy and can't be used to replace it.

Re: Twitter warns that private tweets were public for years

#103
post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

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

GDPR is nice on paper, I'd like to see it actually enforced as its been written. Seems like strong words and weak teeth so far. However, most companies are more concerned with hockey stick charts and are willing to ask for forgiveness later in terms of all things privacy related. I wish it weren't that way, but Ive yet to see that happen successfully.

Re: Twitter warns that private tweets were public for years

#104
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…

no, its worse than that. everything you do [period] will be available to the public.

the reason the twitter story is news is because they were private tweets. yes on an "internet service" but do you think your operating system is your own anymore? microsoft uses MS accounts for default windows installs, onedrive is installed automatically, icloud backup, etc etc. this is still in the purview of the "digital" world but the privacy concern is indeed larger than the "internet" world.

beyond this we have the IoT. your google home devices (or if not yours, someone elses) recording everything you do when not even digitally engaged.

we had best be ready for it. i really hope it doesnt turn into self-censorship. i hope it turns into more open mindedness and acceptance (oh, my neighbour isn't perfect either??)

Re: Twitter warns that private tweets were public for years

#105
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…

Definitely agree. I remember a long time ago Facebook profile pictures used to be private. And then one day without notice they became public. For some reason, I can't find any news articles about when this happened. Maybe I'm crazy or maybe the Internet is gaslighting me. Either way, I had friends who grew up in very conservative muslim families who no longer wore the Hijab but hadn't "come out" to their parents yet…

In 2007/2008 as I quit Facebook after this happened and a bunch of other settings would without notice.

Re: Twitter warns that private tweets were public for years

#106
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…

> at this point I think it's prudent to assume that pretty much anything you send out into the digital network world is public

So....what?

I can't do my banking online?

I can't send private correspondence?

I can't file my taxes electronically?

I can't pay my medical bills online?

(Actually all my medical information are put online my insurance co.; I'm pretty sure I can't do anything about that.)

I'm not saying you're wrong; I just don't see how that prudence as leads to any practical conclusions or advice.

Re: Twitter warns that private tweets were public for years

#107
post #36

I had the pleasure of interviewing the anonymous developer of the fastest organically growing decentralized p2p app notabug.io I feel its relevant to this conversation. Why are we not switching to decentralized content sharing platforms? :S https://electronicsforu.com/resources/cool-stuff-misc/future... https://electronicsforu.com/resources/cool-stuff-misc/future...

The top post on notabug right now is "Tampermonkey script for auto-voting on notabug, lets level the playing field". The site has like 10 users and it's already destroyed by bots. Anarchy isn't a good approach to running a site if you want anything useful to come out of it.

The way I see it, it looks like the original internet, remember 4chan? the rise of bulletin boards? We can't all be complaining about the current services being exploitative or broken without being a part of a solution. I'm all ears to move away from decentralization if there is a better solution. Currently, there are none.

Re: Twitter warns that private tweets were public for years

#108
post #66
post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also HN looks like a clone of reddit!

No, it is 100% a clone. HN is similar to reddit, that site is literally identical.

Would you like to work on the UX and make something new? They are open source, volunteer-driven and open to new contributors :) We all start somewhere!

Re: Twitter warns that private tweets were public for years

#109
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.

> Eric Schmidt

You forgot the second part of that quote that's much more relevant to this conversation:

> "If you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place, but if you really need that kind of privacy, the reality is that search engines including Google do retain this information for some time, and it's important, for example that we are all subject in the United States to the Patriot Act. It is possible that that information could be made available to the authorities."

Just need to add "we are all subject to buggy permissions APIs" :/

Re: Twitter warns that private tweets were public for years

#110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The top post on notabug right now is "Tampermonkey script for auto-voting on notabug, lets level the playing field". The site has like 10 users and it's already destroyed by bots. Anarchy isn't a good approach to running a site if you want anything useful to come out of it.

The way I see it, it looks like the original internet, remember 4chan? the rise of bulletin boards? We can't all be complaining about the current services being exploitative or broken without being a part of a solution. I'm all ears to move away from decentralization if there is a better solution. Currently, there are none.

Not having a solution for a hard problem doesn't disqualify people from pointing to an obviously bad one and calling it out. This jank old.reddit.com fork is not the solution.
Post reply on HN