Live data from Hacker News

Facebook says one hundred API users may have improperly accessed user data

nbcnews.com

51–60 of 75 posts

Re: Facebook says one hundred API users may have improperly accessed user data

#52
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.businessinsider.com/mark-zuckerberg-fascinated-b... "My wife was making fun of me, saying she thought there were three people on the honeymoon: me, her, and Augustus," Zuckerberg told the New Yorker. "All the photos were different sculptures of Augustus." On his fascination with Augustus, Zuckerberg said, "Basically, through a really harsh approach, he established two hundred years of world peace. What ar…

Pax Romana, like pax mongolica or pax americana, wasn't/isn't as "peaceful" as it is made out to be. Secondly, Augustus didn't establish "world peace". He established "peace" in the roman empire, which isn't the world.

Roman civilization was built on the enslavement of millions.

Re: Facebook says one hundred API users may have improperly accessed user data

#53
How can it be that Facebook with all their engineering prowess can't even tell who accessed what, let alone put adequate permission controls on their APIs? Didn't they invent GraphQL and whatnot and aren't they bound to GDPR in EU requiring them to list specifically and individually the external partner companies they're sharing data with, and the kind of data shared?

Re: Facebook says one hundred API users may have improperly accessed user data

#54
post #29
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To clarify further, the exact phrasing used was "roughly 100 partners", as in roughly 100 external legal entities. Each legal entity could have any number of software developers.

Ok, we've put partners in the title above.

I use the facebook API but don't consider myself a facebook partner. I'm fine with "API user"

Re: Facebook says one hundred API users may have improperly accessed user data

#55
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was a bit underwhelmed, while some of the voter suppression stuff was pretty abhorrent, I thought building personality profiles and launching targeted ads was pretty mundane at the end of the day. The next level of discussion that interests me is why social media manipulation is so powerful in the first place. If people's beliefs are so heavily influenced by who we communicate with, what are the chances that we are…

> I thought building personality profiles and launching targeted ads was pretty mundane at the end of the day. The next level of discussion that interests me is why social media manipulation is so powerful in the first place. Well, if you push in that direction then the whole narrative falls apart. There is absolutely no evidence that social media based personality profiles are actually effective -- why would knowing…

> There is absolutely no evidence that social media based personality profiles are actually effective

And that's why microtargeting has become pretty widespread in its use during political campaigning [0], because it's not effective at all.

> why would knowing somebody likes Taylor Swift be better for targeting political ads than knowing where they live and their party affiliation

Because FB knows all of these things, and not only who likes Taylor Swift. Care to name any other place where data like that exists in such an aggregated format?

[0] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-09-29/the-germa...

Re: Facebook says one hundred API users may have improperly accessed user data

#57

How can it be that Facebook with all their engineering prowess can't even tell who accessed what, let alone put adequate permission controls on their APIs? Didn't they invent GraphQL and whatnot and aren't they bound to GDPR in EU requiring them to list specifically and individually the external partner companies they're sharing data with, and the kind of data shared?

Probably laziness. A few years ago (before GDPR) third party "apps" on FB could access many things, and FB just said "don't worry, the devs can't do anything bad because they had to click a button that said they'll follow our rules, or be banned!".

So many of my friends used stupid quiz apps, certainly leaking my data to those 3rd parties too.

Re: Facebook says one hundred API users may have improperly accessed user data

#59
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was a bit underwhelmed, while some of the voter suppression stuff was pretty abhorrent, I thought building personality profiles and launching targeted ads was pretty mundane at the end of the day. The next level of discussion that interests me is why social media manipulation is so powerful in the first place. If people's beliefs are so heavily influenced by who we communicate with, what are the chances that we are…

> I thought building personality profiles and launching targeted ads was pretty mundane at the end of the day. The next level of discussion that interests me is why social media manipulation is so powerful in the first place. Well, if you push in that direction then the whole narrative falls apart. There is absolutely no evidence that social media based personality profiles are actually effective -- why would knowing…

You're picking Taylor Swift to make it sound your argument is solid...

Aren't there better indicators? If I follow my local city's LGBT group's FB page, well, what do you think my political leanings would be? Or on the opposite end, if I follow that megachurch's FB page? Or even if I'm just friends with many people who "checked-in" there last Sunday.

Re: Facebook says one hundred API users may have improperly accessed user data

#60

How can it be that Facebook with all their engineering prowess can't even tell who accessed what, let alone put adequate permission controls on their APIs? Didn't they invent GraphQL and whatnot and aren't they bound to GDPR in EU requiring them to list specifically and individually the external partner companies they're sharing data with, and the kind of data shared?

Probably laziness. A few years ago (before GDPR) third party "apps" on FB could access many things, and FB just said "don't worry, the devs can't do anything bad because they had to click a button that said they'll follow our rules, or be banned!". So many of my friends used stupid quiz apps, certainly leaking my data to those 3rd parties too.

>> How can it be that Facebook with all their engineering prowess can't even tell who accessed what, let alone put adequate permission controls on their APIs?

> Probably laziness

Facebook is a lot of things, but they're not lazy. As far as can be seen, their decisions are largely intentional. If they didn't do something, it's because they didn't want to or it would hurt their bottom line, not cause they're lazy.

Post reply on HN