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Someone has stolen my Instagram account

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Re: Someone has stolen my Instagram account

#181

Post by Sebb767 »

lightgreen wrote: post #131
x3n0ph3n3 wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a little difference with Facebook and Google, because unlike the other companies you mentioned, users are not the customers of Facebook and Google -- advertisers are. There is very little incentive to make their users happy when their users are not paying for the service.

> There is very little incentive to make their users happy when their users are not paying for the service This is plainly obviously wrong. When users are not happy, they leave the service, and advertizers stop paying. Even more, companies are much more afraid to lose users than to lose advertizers. Companies can live years without advertizers (by borrowing money for example or by burning reserves), but if a company…

Yes, in some way. But sole complaints are simply not hurting FB. How many of the people complaining would've used Instagram otherwise or even go as far as closing their account? I doubt the can even zoom in their Dashboard far enough to see the impact.

The real problem here is that for a single account, you're far more dependent on Instagram than Instagram is on you.

Re: Someone has stolen my Instagram account

#182

Post by throwigemp1 »

I work at Instagram and there's literally zero chance of this happening. I work on the backend, so I know the kind of tools or logging we do. If in the chance this happens remotely, like 1 in a million chance, the employee will be fired like instantly.

I can't believe a random tweet with a screenshot is on front page of HN with 500+ upvotes.

Re: Someone has stolen my Instagram account

#183

Post by downandout »

Kapura wrote: post #16

I think this is indicative of the biggest problem we have had with social media: there is no legalism here, just "codes of conduct" that companies and users both willfully ignore. If your handle gets sold by some facebook employee to a rich kid in LA, what recourse do you have? I don't know what laws this would break (maybe some broad definition of fraud? I Am Not A Lawyer) so it's not like this person has a slam dun…

This is most definitely against Facebook's internal policies. Therefore, the employee "exceeded access rights" on a protected computer system, by doing something they clearly were not allowed to do. That is a violation of the CFAA (Computer Fraud and Abuse Act), which is a federal felony. Further, the person that actually has possession of the account is likely guilty of either bribery or "honest services fraud" [1] for inducing an employee to break the law in exchange for money or other enticements.

[1] https://werksmanjackson.com/blog/what-is-honest-services-fra...

Re: Someone has stolen my Instagram account

#185

Post by vmception »

deft wrote: post #3

This is a very common thing. In fact influencers and FB employees publicly and loudly talk about this method and no one stops them. "Hey I'm visiting fb headquarters anyone want a new @ or a checkmark?" Why do random fb employees even have this capability?

> Why do random fb employees even have this capability?

Assuming that's what happened here, its because to them it is pure coincidence that the market values these database entries at all.

Like sure, at this point they know it means a lot to people and inspires many other people and can effect entire markets that they are unaware of, but from their perspective it isn't "god mode" its "lol ok, wanna hit up sushi for lunch later?"

Re: Someone has stolen my Instagram account

#186

Post by TavsiE9s »

throwigemp1 wrote: post #182

I work at Instagram and there's literally zero chance of this happening. I work on the backend, so I know the kind of tools or logging we do. If in the chance this happens remotely, like 1 in a million chance, the employee will be fired like instantly. I can't believe a random tweet with a screenshot is on front page of HN with 500+ upvotes.

Well then I'm sure you'll put in a ticket on Monday and have this investigated.

Re: Someone has stolen my Instagram account

#188

Post by menage »

lightgreen wrote: post #85
apkallum wrote: post #8

It's sad and upsetting, but when will people learn that Facebook, Google et al do not care at all about individual users? Their model simply does not factor in the worries of a single user. (Worse is how they want to propagate the idea that software should be free and of highest quality, thus preventing any communal attempts at creating different models.) I advice everyone who has an account to at least download thei…

> when will people learn that Facebook, Google et al do not care at all about individual users? When will people learn, not just Facebook, Google et al, but no large company cares about individual users? Coca-Cola, Delta Air Lines, Ford, Unilever, Visa, Walmart do not care about individual users. Not because all of them are bad, but simply because they physically cannot deal with every complaint. Even worse, when the…

Something like that does exist for Google account access problems - you can pay a few dollars (which also ties you to a presumably-authenticated credit card, and so helps authenticate you to Google) for an expedited response.

Re: Someone has stolen my Instagram account

#189

Post by otterley »

owenmarshall wrote: post #176
otterley wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is absolutely a legal theory, and that is fraud. If you claim to be someone you are not, and someone relies on your false claim to their detriment, you are liable.

Fraud seems a stretch. Maybe if you used your handle for commerce and someone stole it & attempted to sell the same product. It doesn’t strike me as litigation you’d be likely to win.

> Maybe if you used your handle for commerce and someone stole it & attempted to sell the same product.

That would be an example -- but certainly not the only imaginable one -- of reliance and detriment, both of which are necessary elements of fraud.

Re: Someone has stolen my Instagram account

#190

Post by heavyset_go »

serjester wrote: post #49
ipsum2 wrote: post #7

There's no evidence to back the user's claims. This sounds like "Hey my dad works at Xbox and will ban you". There are other ways to compromise an Instagram account, like sim swapping ( https://krebsonsecurity.com/2018/05/t-mobile-employee-made-u... )

Agreed. Is anyone really going to risk their cushy FAANG job to give their buddy a cool handle? Possible, but seems far fetched.

People with positions of power are regularly found to take bribes that wouldn't even be a 1/10th of their normal paycheck. Power tripping is a recognized phenomenon, and greed makes people do irrational things sometimes.
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