Mozilla blogger bought 1 million Facebook entries (full name, e-mail) for $5 • Hacker News Board

Re: Mozilla blogger bought 1 million Facebook entries (full name, e-mail) for $5

#51

Post by jklio » Tue, Oct 23, 2012, 2:50 PM UTC

brianbreslin wrote: post #25

Excuse my naïveté, but what could one use this list for? Aside from spam email blast?

The OED confirms naivety is also an English word that's been around since at least the 1700s. I am not implying naïveté is wrong in English, just that there is a simpler option should you so choose.

Re: Mozilla blogger bought 1 million Facebook entries (full name, e-mail) for $5

#52

Post by seanlinehan » Tue, Oct 23, 2012, 2:54 PM UTC

gailees wrote: post #36

I'm sure much of this information is public on their profiles to begin with; with a simple web scraper, you can acquire information about millions of fb accounts and their respective email addresses. OFC there's an oversupply since they can give out an unlimited amount of copies of this same million FB entries. Big Data is great because it's super re-usable and can be purposed for anyone's specific need.

I actually did build an FB scraper about 2 years ago. If I'm remembering correctly, something like 1/2000 people have their e-mail address public. Name + URL is always available, but the e-mail is a bit more valuable.

Re: Mozilla blogger bought 1 million Facebook entries (full name, e-mail) for $5

#53

Post by didip » Tue, Oct 23, 2012, 3:01 PM UTC

brianbreslin wrote: post #25

Excuse my naïveté, but what could one use this list for? Aside from spam email blast?

You could start Groupon clone right away (presuming you have the deals).

Re: Mozilla blogger bought 1 million Facebook entries (full name, e-mail) for $5

#54

Post by sneak » Tue, Oct 23, 2012, 3:04 PM UTC

jcromartie wrote: post #27

tbassetto wrote: post #4

I don't see how the fact that he's a Mozilla blogger is relevant. The file contains "just" full name, e-mail and URL. Thieves got the information thanks to their Facebook apps (no idea of its name), it could happen with any third-party app.

I'd imagine you could scrape a million people's publicly available info, too.

Have you ever tried scraping Facebook?

Re: Mozilla blogger bought 1 million Facebook entries (full name, e-mail) for $5

#55

Post by mandeepj » Tue, Oct 23, 2012, 3:35 PM UTC

I just checked facebook people search page does not show user's email address.

http://www.facebook.com/directory/people

Re: Mozilla blogger bought 1 million Facebook entries (full name, e-mail) for $5

#56

Post by Spearchucker » Tue, Oct 23, 2012, 3:37 PM UTC

bogomil wrote: post #28

moeffju wrote: post #7

Here's what I think is the offer on gigbucks: http://gigbucks.com/Social-Marketing/26055/instantly-give-yo...

You don§t have to show the URL. Those guys have to be banished, not advertised.

That's like saying "don't think of a camel". My immediate reaction to your comment was to click on the link - which I otherwise wouldn't have. This is not a criticism, just an observation.

Re: Mozilla blogger bought 1 million Facebook entries (full name, e-mail) for $5

#57

Post by cpeterso » Tue, Oct 23, 2012, 3:47 PM UTC

Fightback wrote: post #10

I laugh at the censor fail. See selected field.

I'm not seeing it. What is the censor fail in line 66?

Re: Mozilla blogger bought 1 million Facebook entries (full name, e-mail) for $5

#58

Post by unreal37 » Tue, Oct 23, 2012, 3:48 PM UTC

I suppose any 15 year old with programming skill can do this. Create an app (kill zombies!) and then when the popularity dies down, sell out your users info to the highest bidder.

Kinda sensationalist at the end - "DO YOU STILL FEEL SECURE?" Uh yeah, I do. I get hundreds of spam a day that Google puts into a little folder for me to erase. Go ahead and email me, and join that exclusive folder right away.

Oh you want to send me a private message on Facebook? Facebook is kind enough to put messages from non-friends in a special folder too, and I never check that.

I feel secure.

Re: Mozilla blogger bought 1 million Facebook entries (full name, e-mail) for $5

#59

Post by windle » Tue, Oct 23, 2012, 4:00 PM UTC

Why is he called a Mozilla blogger? He doesn't work for Mozilla foundation or Mozilla corp as far as I can see (nor does he claim to). His linkedin states he associates with the "Mozilla community", but that's hardly an official representative of Mozilla as "Mozilla blogger" implies.

Re: Mozilla blogger bought 1 million Facebook entries (full name, e-mail) for $5

#60

Post by mandeepj » Tue, Oct 23, 2012, 4:01 PM UTC

unreal37 wrote: post #58

I suppose any 15 year old with programming skill can do this. Create an app (kill zombies!) and then when the popularity dies down, sell out your users info to the highest bidder. Kinda sensationalist at the end - "DO YOU STILL FEEL SECURE?" Uh yeah, I do. I get hundreds of spam a day that Google puts into a little folder for me to erase. Go ahead and email me, and join that exclusive folder right away. Oh you want t…

If the sender adds the required headers into his email then it is very likely that google or any other email service provider will not consider the email as spam.

Regarding facebook I partially agree with u. Sometimes the message from non-friends goes into other folder and sometimes I can see it in the regular mail folder.