Any chance you can share the topic of the FB group? I'm curious to know if it was politically motivated (even non-political topics can have their own, internal politics, too). Maybe someone is trying to silence you?
it was about Heavy Metal
Ask HN: Hacker claimed ownership and then deleted my Facebook Page of 50k users
151–160 of 240 posts
Re: Ask HN: Hacker claimed ownership and then deleted my Facebook Page of 50k users
#152Universally necessary services like communication, healthcare, and social media (the digital plaza) can never be justly managed by private companies. It is an inherent structural contradiction that has failed and will continue to fail our society until we are willing to organize resistance beyond the realm of consumer choice.
It's not about private companies. I have an account at a private bank and am not afraid of something like this happening at all. Because to the bank I'm not just an abstract "username and password": the account is tied to my real world identity, so in the last resort I'll prove to the bank that I'm me using state provided means. I'm getting more and more convinced that online accounts important to people's livelihood…
This only works if you fit that stereotypical definition of what a "normal" person looks like or does. As soon as you deviate even a little from the norm, suddenly you got problems.
I had to do two interviews with a bank to open an account in UK because their automated systems were giving them "errors", apparently, when they're trying to check me. Normal people have to complete an online form (5 minutes) and will receive everything through post.
A year later I had to phone paypal support four times as it wouldn't accept neither of my two cards. On my 4th try I finally managed to get an actual English guy to answer my phone, who finally managed to understand every word I was saying without having me to spell anything letter by letter..
Last week I wanted to buy a plane ticket. I had no problems doing that until now (I had an old laptop with windows 7). Now, since running Linux, I open the website, as soon as I click search to find a flight, suddenly captcha! Every 3-5 minutes a new captcha...
This is a nightmare!
Re: Ask HN: Hacker claimed ownership and then deleted my Facebook Page of 50k users
#153Plot twist: OP is the hacker trying to get control over a recently deleted community :) Just kidding
I thought something among the lines. This would be a very good publicity stunt. I did not know about that metalised.wordpress.com wordpress page and I am an avid Heavy Metal listener. My first thought is, shit, I'm going to help this guy buy re-promoting his page. But then it landed on me... how good of a PR tactic this would be.
Hi my metal brother,
I have nothing to gain from a PR stunt. As you can see from my website, it's a small blog, not a mainstream professional website. But it means a lot to me sentimentally, because it's something I have been working on for 11 years, and a small (well, 56k small) community of metalheads was built around it. The last few years the only content was the end of year lists, but this was very popular on Facebook.
I think the main reason it became valued among metalheads is because it's not a "mainstream" list, of the kind promoted by the music industry, every year the same people... I go to great lengths to find out great music. Often enough, a band which I think deserves to be on the top 20 list may be relatively unknown in mainstream media, and both the bands and fans seem to find value in this and thank me for it.
Check out the end-of-year list for 2021. You may find something you like. I particularly recommend the top ranked album on that list, Thy Catafalque!
Re: Ask HN: Hacker claimed ownership and then deleted my Facebook Page of 50k users
#154Plot twist: OP is the hacker trying to get control over a recently deleted community :) Just kidding
You joke, but this is a real concern for me ... even if I do get a person replying here, presumably the hacker used dodgy means of getting access in the first place! how can I definitively prove what I'm saying is true?
My main hope is that it will be clear from the page's history that I've been involved from the very start, and the new "owner's" actions will look as suspicious to a real human as they do to me!
In the meantime, I've updated my blog to mention this discussion, proving at least the blog part of my ownership :)
https://metalised.wordpress.com/2022/01/27/metalised-faceboo...
(hopefully, this, and the fact that the now deleted page used to point to this page for the last 10 years should be enough!)
Re: Ask HN: Hacker claimed ownership and then deleted my Facebook Page of 50k users
#155Earlier quoted context omitted.
Exactly how does commerce happen without banks at any scale? Banking has been around a lot longer than social media.
The unbanked Americans are people who either are unable to open an account, or have been denied opening accounts. To cash their checks, keep their income, etc..., they have to pay much more in fees. Historically (in the U.S.) it was rooted in racism post-U.S. civil war. Now, less so. The history is still there, and the inability of poor people to obtain an account still exist. It excludes people from getting mortgage…
I call BS. Anyone with proper ID and payroll income can open a bank account. Most big employers (e.g. mine) will even require it -- payroll is made by direct deposit.
There may be minimum balance requirements and/or fees but if you shop around a bit (look especially at local credit unions) they are not onerous and are almost certainly lower than what check-cashing services will charge. They do demand a bit more management and responsibility compared to a wad of cash in one's pocket, but that's the way life is.
Re: Ask HN: Hacker claimed ownership and then deleted my Facebook Page of 50k users
#156Same thing happened to a friend of mine with an anime page. She never got it back.
Re: Ask HN: Hacker claimed ownership and then deleted my Facebook Page of 50k users
#157Sometimes company legal teams can be the most accessible way to draw attention to something like this, and I don't mean in a combative way. They're very risk conscious, they see a '10+ years of building a heavy metal community, gone like a puff of smoke' in terms of risks, both of bad publicity but also if you were to somehow litigate because of the damage to your business or project. Often they have an email address…
The patio11 blog post you're looking for is https://www.kalzumeus.com/2017/09/09/identity-theft-credit-r...
He's too easy on them (depending on jurisdiction, I suppose). That's an awful lot of work they put you through, and you deserve compensation for it. Not just breaking even either. Get a consumer protection lawyer. They'll not only zero the debt, but get you a settlement for the hassle. Of course, this requires playing a bit dim, so they are comfortable enough to think they're getting away with the illegal harassment bits.
Re: Ask HN: Hacker claimed ownership and then deleted my Facebook Page of 50k users
#158Earlier quoted context omitted.
Only because of the communist past. Most states privatized these operators and the yellow pages continued to be published by them as private companies without any need for regulation.
Ah, yes, the famously communist France. (Pages Jaunes are operated by Orange, previously state monopoly France Telecom.) Just as you say, these monopolies are all deregulated and sold off. But they were all developed and operated by monopolies for many decades, successfully. Your attempt to call non-communist things communist is a bit annoying. You could benefit from using the same terminology as the rest of the worl…
You picked one example where it doesn't fit while there are at least 8 EU countries that did exactly what I said. BTW yes here in Central/Eastern EU we deem France very very leftist, just few small steps away from full-on socialism.
Re: Ask HN: Hacker claimed ownership and then deleted my Facebook Page of 50k users
#159Earlier quoted context omitted.
The unbanked Americans are people who either are unable to open an account, or have been denied opening accounts. To cash their checks, keep their income, etc..., they have to pay much more in fees. Historically (in the U.S.) it was rooted in racism post-U.S. civil war. Now, less so. The history is still there, and the inability of poor people to obtain an account still exist. It excludes people from getting mortgage…
I call BS. Anyone with proper ID and payroll income can open a bank account. Most big employers (e.g. mine) will even require it -- payroll is made by direct deposit. There may be minimum balance requirements and/or fees but if you shop around a bit (look especially at local credit unions) they are not onerous and are almost certainly lower than what check-cashing services will charge. They do demand a bit more manag…
By "proper ID" you mean the right kind of country ID, I assume?
Cause I've been denied by two banks, the third bank even had two countries blacklisted.. that's right, on their official website they wrote: "we are currently unable to accept government issued IDs from X and Y" or something along those lines.
Re: Ask HN: Hacker claimed ownership and then deleted my Facebook Page of 50k users
#160Universally necessary services like communication, healthcare, and social media (the digital plaza) can never be justly managed by private companies. It is an inherent structural contradiction that has failed and will continue to fail our society until we are willing to organize resistance beyond the realm of consumer choice.
It's not about private companies. I have an account at a private bank and am not afraid of something like this happening at all. Because to the bank I'm not just an abstract "username and password": the account is tied to my real world identity, so in the last resort I'll prove to the bank that I'm me using state provided means. I'm getting more and more convinced that online accounts important to people's livelihood…
I mean... banks are the worst in this case.
Banks are known to irreversibly close accounts if they think you triggered some random algorithm, you have the same name as a terrorist, you have the wrong job, they don't like how you're using your account, or any other completely random reason. The decision is final they'll usually even refuse to tell you why they closed your accounts.
I had a bank (BMO Harris) close an account because the only transactions I had for about a year or so was "received directly deposited paycheck -> transfer entire amount to other bank account." At least they actually told me the reason.