Facebook Asking for Some New Users' Email Passwords • Hacker News Board

Re: Facebook Asking for Some New Users' Email Passwords

#11

Post by wybiral » Wed, Apr 03, 2019, 3:59 AM UTC

just_a_dev wrote: post #10

I dont know why anyone with any commonsense still uses Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. They're completely uncontrolled nonsense that I wouldn't trust with my email address. Let alone my phone number. Call me crazy or socially inept, but I value privacy.

I value privacy as well, but I use Twitter for public things. To me it's not much different than having a public blog that data companies could scrape and store.

Facebook and Instagram feel different to me just because people tend to use them in more personal ways. But, again, if you plan to make the data public anywhere it can always be gobbled up by spiders and three-letter agencies.

Re: Facebook Asking for Some New Users' Email Passwords

#12

Post by wrboyce » Wed, Apr 03, 2019, 3:59 AM UTC

just_a_dev wrote: post #10

I dont know why anyone with any commonsense still uses Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. They're completely uncontrolled nonsense that I wouldn't trust with my email address. Let alone my phone number. Call me crazy or socially inept, but I value privacy.

As much as I dislike what Instagram “is”, it is pretty much the best platform for (non-public) photo sharing. If there was something better, I’d use it, but there is not.

Re: Facebook Asking for Some New Users' Email Passwords

#13

Post by just_a_dev » Wed, Apr 03, 2019, 4:15 AM UTC

wrboyce wrote: post #12

just_a_dev wrote: post #10

I dont know why anyone with any commonsense still uses Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. They're completely uncontrolled nonsense that I wouldn't trust with my email address. Let alone my phone number. Call me crazy or socially inept, but I value privacy.

As much as I dislike what Instagram “is”, it is pretty much the best platform for (non-public) photo sharing. If there was something better, I’d use it, but there is not.

Maybe I'm jaded, but I only share photos of my life via text or even sd card. No one needs to see my life, besides it's kinda boring. Even if my boring life means I shouldn't be worried about it being exposed, I dont want that out there. I dont know maybe I'm just weird hahah.

Re: Facebook Asking for Some New Users' Email Passwords

#14

Post by bArray » Wed, Apr 03, 2019, 4:16 AM UTC

ma2rten wrote: post #9

In the old days didn't lots of people give their email passwords to Facebook, so that it can scan their contact and invite everyone to Facebook?

Not sure about them previously asking for email passwords, but there are many email APIs that can give permissions access to your contacts [0]. I don't doubt that in the older days of Facebook they were probably achieving this using some shadier methods.

But worse than this, just by installing the Facebook App it liberally takes contact details from your device [1].

I personally use mbasic.facebook.com as it can run without JS and only updates when you refresh the browser. facebook.com refuses to run without JS and causes my browser to use tonnes of resources when JS is enabled.

(P.S. Like many, I can't completely abandon Facebook just yet as lots of older friends and family are "unable" to migrate to other platforms.)

[0] https://developers.google.com/contacts/v3/

[1] http://www.androidbeat.com/2018/03/facebooks-android-stealin...

Re: Facebook Asking for Some New Users' Email Passwords

#15

Post by Causality1 » Wed, Apr 03, 2019, 4:19 AM UTC

Facebook has never faced significant financial consequences for its misdeeds. You can be assured it will continue to hold its users privacy and security as distant second place priorities to how much money it can make off them. If you want a company not to be evil you have to make being evil more expensive than being good. Nobody is willing to do that so the shit-show will continue for the foreseeable future.

Re: Facebook Asking for Some New Users' Email Passwords

#16

Post by tomc1985 » Wed, Apr 03, 2019, 4:20 AM UTC

bArray wrote: post #14

ma2rten wrote: post #9

In the old days didn't lots of people give their email passwords to Facebook, so that it can scan their contact and invite everyone to Facebook?

Not sure about them previously asking for email passwords, but there are many email APIs that can give permissions access to your contacts [0]. I don't doubt that in the older days of Facebook they were probably achieving this using some shadier methods. But worse than this, just by installing the Facebook App it liberally takes contact details from your device [1]. I personally use mbasic.facebook.com as it can run…

Even if Facebook didn't, I'm pretty sure LinkedIn did

Re: Facebook Asking for Some New Users' Email Passwords

#17

Post by procinct » Wed, Apr 03, 2019, 4:20 AM UTC

kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #5

I had someone create a Facebook account with my email once. I let it persist for a year until I got tired of the friend request notices. Did a password reset and deleted the account.

Did you verify the email for them?

Re: Facebook Asking for Some New Users' Email Passwords

#18

Post by hn_throwaway_99 » Wed, Apr 03, 2019, 4:21 AM UTC

All of these types of "hey, give us your password to this other system" are just training users to get phished.

IMO the worst offender in this is Plaid, which has created a service where millions of people are giving their banking credentials so some random startup can mine your transaction data. And people think FB has privacy implications...

Re: Facebook Asking for Some New Users' Email Passwords

#19

Post by tomc1985 » Wed, Apr 03, 2019, 4:22 AM UTC

just_a_dev wrote: post #13

wrboyce wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As much as I dislike what Instagram “is”, it is pretty much the best platform for (non-public) photo sharing. If there was something better, I’d use it, but there is not.

Maybe I'm jaded, but I only share photos of my life via text or even sd card. No one needs to see my life, besides it's kinda boring. Even if my boring life means I shouldn't be worried about it being exposed, I dont want that out there. I dont know maybe I'm just weird hahah.

Amateur photographer here, Instagram is invaluable. Post only what you want the world to see, and so on...

Re: Facebook Asking for Some New Users' Email Passwords

#20

Post by darkpuma » Wed, Apr 03, 2019, 4:22 AM UTC

just_a_dev wrote: post #10

I dont know why anyone with any commonsense still uses Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. They're completely uncontrolled nonsense that I wouldn't trust with my email address. Let alone my phone number. Call me crazy or socially inept, but I value privacy.

Fear Of Missing Out.

Many people feel compelled to remain on Facebook because they're afraid of missing out on events that get scheduled through Facebook. But here is what I discovered: people who like you will go out of their way to make sure you get the invitation, even if that means using something barbaric and old fashioned like a phone number or email address. FOMO is probably Facebook's most valuable asset, but it's largely unjustified.