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Facebook Asking for Some New Users' Email Passwords

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Re: Facebook Asking for Some New Users' Email Passwords

#32
post #25

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.

You mention both common sense and personal values. I think it’s much more likely that people have different personal values than you than that people have less common sense than you.

I don't think that's quite true. It is not a straight common sense equation, largely because 'it's free' and so people don't apply a complete value rationalisation to using those services or even understand the implications of the deal they're agreeing to.

If Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc were to actually charge fees for the cost of running the services without the advertising/data harvesting cover, I wonder how 'valuable' the perception would remain...

Re: Facebook Asking for Some New Users' Email Passwords

#33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Are you an amateur photographer? Or are you someone who posts images to a social media website for a dopamine hit? Perhaps there’s a value to gatekeeping. It can make us actually put effort and consideration into things. Modern web services like Instagram have allowed human fantasies to run wild, completely detached from reality. If you truly cared about your art and wanted it to be seen, you would devote yourself to…

...Or they just use Instagram as a platform to promote their work. If your content gets shared it's basically advertising but you're assuming that they don't do business other than just posting on Instagram.

Re: Facebook Asking for Some New Users' Email Passwords

#34
post #12

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.

By best platform, do you mean actually the best in functionality, capability and experience as per your requirements, or that it's the easiest to start using with the largest exposure?

What else did you evaluate?

Re: Facebook Asking for Some New Users' Email Passwords

#35
post #21

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...

That's exactly how mint.com works, owned by Intuit/QuickBooks.

Yeah, but the difference (at least I think so, as I'm not a mint user) is that Plaid is building an API for other startups to use. It's somewhat amazing to me how little is needed for folks to gleefully hand over their bank passwords to anyone who asks for it.

Re: Facebook Asking for Some New Users' Email Passwords

#36

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...

Yes. Mint also does this. From what I've heard, there are a lot of banks without APIs, so the next best approach is to login on behalf of users and scrape the data.

Re: Facebook Asking for Some New Users' Email Passwords

#37
post #7

This must be part of Zuckerberg's new pro-privacy makeover. Maybe they can also scan users' e-mails for "suicidal ideation" and have their swatting algorithm send in the police to "protect" them.

It is perhaps the way you've presented the argument that is generating downvotes, but I fail to see how this is outside the realm of Facebook's pursuits given past behaviour and current activity.

Or is it that people would support this use because of a 'noble intention?' (ends justify means)

Re: Facebook Asking for Some New Users' Email Passwords

#38

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...

Plaid might be my least favorite company ever. It's such a privacy nightmare and they do not even tell you basic information about what you are sharing (or how to revoke sharing rights) going through their typical flow on some random fintech app. If you look at their website, you could be giving away just the bank and routing number, or potentially your entire bank transaction history, balance, identity information,…

I alluded to this in my other comment, but I don't blame Plaid. Blame the banks - Plaid isn't doing this behind their banks, but with their blessings. Again, Mint was doing this for years.

When it comes to Credit Card Fraud, the banks are buying all sorts of AI based solutions - after all it's their money. When it comes to customer cash, then its the wild west. I recently found out that my Wells Fargo password isn't even case sensitive.

There is clearly a market need for easier information exchange. Authorizing ACH withdrawals shouldn't require me depositing 2 random values in your account. The Banks could have done the work here, but they didn't and then Plaid came along and did the work for them. I hope they take data security more seriously than Wells Fargo.

Re: Facebook Asking for Some New Users' Email Passwords

#39

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...

Mint legitmatized that authorization flow years before Plaid came around and the banks decided that was the best way to move forward instead of adopting something like an oauth2 flow.

I remember Quicken doing it back in the early 2000s.

Re: Facebook Asking for Some New Users' Email Passwords

#40

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...

Yes. Mint also does this. From what I've heard, there are a lot of banks without APIs, so the next best approach is to login on behalf of users and scrape the data.

It also implies saving passwords without hashing... Not good.
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