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Web Scrapers Claim to Sell Personal Data on Facebook Users on a Hacker Forum

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Re: Web Scrapers Claim to Sell Personal Data on Facebook Users on a Hacker Forum

#8
I feel like we need to start differentiating between "public" personal information and more sensitive personal information (like social security numbers or other government ID numbers). The breach lists this info:

Name Email Location Gender Phone number User ID

So basically, everything I used to be able to get in a phone book. Honestly, at this point all of that information should just be considered public, because it obviously is.

If anything I think people are grappling with the fact that the Internet just makes data scraping and processing possible on a scale previously unimaginable, and that's really what people have an issue with, but I don't think there's a great answer to that. I mean, it's one thing to say the front of my house is public info because anyone can come by and take a picture, but it sure feels different when a high resolution photo (or heck, video feed) can be posted online that is instantly available to billions of people.

Re: Web Scrapers Claim to Sell Personal Data on Facebook Users on a Hacker Forum

#9
post #2

I know everyone on HN loves to hate on Facebook, but the fact that HN's servers are getting crushed when FB is down perhaps shows a revealed preference.

I was afraid that it meant HN depended on Facebook infrastructure somehow. If the explanation is "Facebook is more popular and people flock to HN when it's down" -- that is a relief. I don't think that is the best explanation, though.

But maybe it's a failure with wider scope than just Facebook's DNS. Or an attack that targeted both FB and HN (and others)? Wild speculation at this point.

Re: Web Scrapers Claim to Sell Personal Data on Facebook Users on a Hacker Forum

#10
post #2

I know everyone on HN loves to hate on Facebook, but the fact that HN's servers are getting crushed when FB is down perhaps shows a revealed preference.

It could be more than that. Vodafone broadband Internet (used to be UPC) is down in all of Czech Republic since about an hour. Their website is down (vodafone.cz), their mobile Internet seems slow. Coincidence?
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