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Facebook does not plan to notify half-billion users affected by data leak

reuters.com

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Re: Facebook does not plan to notify half-billion users affected by data leak

#161

Post by yaml-ops-guy »

viro wrote: post #155
tacone wrote: post #87

For years companies have been steadily asking, mandating or even trickling users to give them their phone numbers under the excuse of security (while the real reasons were different), now what? How can they be trusted anymore? This also strikes a great point about the data sharing between Facebook and WhatsApp. Linking data between services augments the dangers and the consequences are not obvious to the end user. I…

> I think Facebook should offer their users the option to remove their phone numbers with a real deletion. Man sometimes I think people forget phone books existed for a long time.

I can see a few (a lot) of differences between a phone book and Facebook in this analogy.

Re: Facebook does not plan to notify half-billion users affected by data leak

#162

Post by fsflover »

aboringusername wrote: post #132
tuxone wrote: post #10

This huge leak has definitely killed the SMS text messaging service. Sender can be spoofed and spam/scam/phishing have reached an intolerable level. The fact that they can cross reference you and then produce a more personalized content is huge. Changing password is easy (ok less easy if you recycle it) but changing phone number is something that I am not even relaxed to do.

Can anyone on HN please explain why, why, WHY are we still using SMS/telephony which has exactly 0 encryption wh---I guess that's the reason? It's insane. I've heard banks using SMS!!!! To send a code. We have TOTP for that! Or even perhaps a push notification or something better than bloody SMS. I refuse to use the networking system altogether. No phones, no calls. Of course you do 'need' a number so I keep one hand…

https://xkcd.com/2365/

Re: Facebook does not plan to notify half-billion users affected by data leak

#163

Post by haswell »

pilsetnieks wrote: post #147
haswell wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While this may be true, this doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing thing.

It isn't true, that was the point of my question. They could (and must) notify the ones they still have data about.

The way your comment is structured, it is not obvious that it is a question.

> They could (and must) notify the ones they still have data about.

I agree strongly. For what it's worth, this is absolutely not what I took away from your other comment.

Re: Facebook does not plan to notify half-billion users affected by data leak

#164

Post by dathinab »

disgu wrote: post #74
dathinab wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> too hard to notify users Legally seen. The way privacy protection laws are, especially in Germany, is kinda stupid. On one side they often doesn't protect you in practice, on the other side they effectively hinder and sometimes prevent reasonable usage. Just a view examples: - A local government couldn't properly inform elder people that they now can get Vaccinated for free because the interplay of various privacy…

> But if you do a test you first have to physical sign of that other people are anonymized informed that someone they likely had contact with has covid This is false. I've been tested about 15 times within the last year and none of the things I "signed" included any of that. I didn't have to physically sign ANYTHING at all. What are you talking about?? It's just a click field on the online application and that only s…

> I didn't have to physically sign ANYTHING at all. What are you talking about?? It's just a click field on the online application and that only says that you're okay with your data being shared with the lab that also sends you your test results.

If you did register a test with the covid app you had got had to sign something when doing the (not "fast"/PCR) test. If not something was legally not quite right. Also maybe in recent month this might also have been changed but it's unlikely..

> This is also absolutely untrue as Covid, among others, is on the list of illnesses that the local Gesundheitsamt has to be notified of. It's not even optional. It's the law. https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/ifsg/__6.html

I'm speaking about the covid app, not the health agency, which yes gets reporting always but also (at least at the being of Covid) had a completely inefficient procedure which made the German health agencies in most German states at least at the middle unable to process it anywhere close in time. Like they collecting "people you had been in contact with" 3! weeks after you where found to have covid was not uncommon.

> Honestly curious where you got that information from?

People officially working on the developen of the covid app (there is a ccc talk). And various other sources which also overlap with personal experiences (like yes I personally had to give agreement on paper so that I could use the covid app).

Note that the physical confirmation is kinda hidden on a paper containing all kind of information, so meany people might not have been aware of it.

Re: Facebook does not plan to notify half-billion users affected by data leak

#165

Post by bogwog »

jaywalk wrote: post #122
qwertox wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because I would really like to know if I'm affected. According to "Have I Been Pwned" my phone number is not in the list, but about one or two weeks ago I noticed that my spam folder was unusually full, which led me to believe that something new must have happened. Shortly thereafter Facebook's leak hit the news. From my point of view it is their obligation to notify all the affected users. It's morally the right thi…

The leak did not include email addresses, so your email spam issue is unrelated.

That's not true, many of the accounts did have email addresses.

Re: Facebook does not plan to notify half-billion users affected by data leak

#166

Post by rubyn00bie »

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, unless and until, companies like Facebook are fined appropriate amounts they’ll never stop.

Quite literally, every business school on the fucking planet will tell you do something if it’s cheaper. It is cheaper for them to not give a fuck, than to give one. Unless they are fined upwards of $20-50bn it’ll never stop because it’s always going to benefit their bottom line. Full stop.

If you don’t take 10-15% from a company they won’t ever be incentivized to stop. This 5% or less bullshit has to stop if folks want change.

Edit: small grammar fix.

Re: Facebook does not plan to notify half-billion users affected by data leak

#167

Post by dathinab »

josefx wrote: post #85
dathinab wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> too hard to notify users Legally seen. The way privacy protection laws are, especially in Germany, is kinda stupid. On one side they often doesn't protect you in practice, on the other side they effectively hinder and sometimes prevent reasonable usage. Just a view examples: - A local government couldn't properly inform elder people that they now can get Vaccinated for free because the interplay of various privacy…

> Legally seen. Its funny, one would expect them to include that as part of their terms of service or the list of things they officially use your private data for. But no, apparently the lawyers they hired fucked up while writing these in a way that favours Facebook. Its almost as if they weren't plain incompetent and instead paid to mess this up, just like Apples lawyers fucked up adapting the warranty terms for the…

What I mean is that it's hard for 3rd parties to legally contact people affected by the breach. And in this case 3rd parties includes the government.

Re: Facebook does not plan to notify half-billion users affected by data leak

#168

Post by varispeed »

tacone wrote: post #87

For years companies have been steadily asking, mandating or even trickling users to give them their phone numbers under the excuse of security (while the real reasons were different), now what? How can they be trusted anymore? This also strikes a great point about the data sharing between Facebook and WhatsApp. Linking data between services augments the dangers and the consequences are not obvious to the end user. I…

Facebook should also offer complete opt out from any tracking. Their model where they offer their service for "free", but harvest tonnes of personal data and then use them for targeted advertising, should be regulated. If your family is on Facebook and you want to maintain contact with them, it is next to impossible to move everyone on a platform that respects privacy. I think an option where you pay monthly and in exchange your personal data is not being used should be mandated by law.

Re: Facebook does not plan to notify half-billion users affected by data leak

#169

Post by viro »

yaml-ops-guy wrote: post #161
viro wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think Facebook should offer their users the option to remove their phone numbers with a real deletion. Man sometimes I think people forget phone books existed for a long time.

I can see a few (a lot) of differences between a phone book and Facebook in this analogy.

well yea, they aren't "really" the same thing. It was just phone numbers weren't considered all that private back then.¯\_(ツ)_/¯ just a hot take

Re: Facebook does not plan to notify half-billion users affected by data leak

#170

Post by offtop5 »

I love how the reasons to delete social media keep on growing.

With someone's number you can very easily get a rough idea of where they live. I can imagine the living hell this creates for Domestic Violence survivors and others escaping bad situations.

On the flipside I plan on spending my weekends phone free, only carrying a small FM radio to play music.

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