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Fury at Facebook as login requests “Government ID”

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Re: Fury at Facebook as login requests “Government ID”

#171

Post by tripzilch »

Amadou wrote: post #90

How does Facebook intend to validate these government IDs? I'm pretty sure they can't. They want you to send a scan of some photo-id - that means that all the anti-tamper / anti-forgery tech that might be on the actual ID will be non-existent. If you are lying about who you are, it will take about 10 minutes in photoshop to come up with something that will pass their test. Are there any countries that even provide va…

> If you are lying about who you are, it will take about 10 minutes in photoshop to come up with something that will pass their test.

I wonder if there even is a test. Do they have a file of samples of all possible government-accepted types of ID across the world ?

It'd take me 1 minute in MS Paint because that's what ID cards look like in Belgium. Honest.

Re: Fury at Facebook as login requests “Government ID”

#172

Post by anoncow »

sneak wrote: post #116
anoncow wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whatsapp runs on tablets without a SIM card. After sms verification fails, whatsapp calls your number and provides a verification code. There is sometimes an issue with play store not allowing you to install whatsapp, but that is easily fixed by downloading the apk fron the official website.

The fact that it isn't in the Play store is the problem, not the fact that it's not on my individual tablet. Sideloading never "easily fix[es]" anything that needs to happen on hundreds of millions of mobile devices owned largely by nontechnical users. Network effect, remember?

That is true. I think whatsapp is trying to avoid confusing SIM-less users , but in the bargain is missing out on potential users, who might want to use whatsapp on their tablet rather than their cellphone.

Re: Fury at Facebook as login requests “Government ID”

#173

Post by Macha »

kalleboo wrote: post #82
dlss wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll take a stab at this. Before I get in to it, we need to correct a misconception on your part: using a government ID doesn't work in every case. It turns out hackers know how to forge government ID images, and some of FB's users don't have government IDs (for instance, before I turned 16 all I had was a private school id). With that out of the way, I think they should do what you suggested: sms verification. Email…

> As does having a user's friends vouch for them (they call their friends and ask). This is probably the most "Facebook" of the options. They already do something similar for some account lockout situations ("identify 5 photos of your friends to gain access").

This will be made difficult by people in your friends list using photos of cartoon characters, possessions, family members, significant others etc. as their profile photos.

If they go further and use photos that people are tagged in, then it also has problems of people being tagged in photos they are not present in to get their attention.

For example, in my friends list only around 70% of people have photos of themselves as their profile picture. Boy/Girlfriends and babies are the next most common picture.

Even if you recognise the specific picture, it might not be helpful. For example, two of my friends are dating, and use the same picture with both of them in it for their Facebook profile pictures.

Re: Fury at Facebook as login requests “Government ID”

#174

Post by evacuationdrill »

a1a wrote: post #109
tabookfaced wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Never ever registering or browsing facebook was the obvious thing to do, at least it is for people who have been around and online for a while. It's the total opposite of the web and the internet, not pseudymous, centralized, using shady tactics to grow, spamming at times and so on. I don't care everybody, their grandma and their dog have an account, until it is decentralized p2P, encrypted and my data stays my own a…

Where did you find this encrypted decentralized p2p email service? Edit: I guess there is a obvious solution, you and all your friends hosts personal mail-servers, correct?

Don't be shitty, you know the idea is that you CAN set one up and use the same features, or you can freely switch providers. Try that with Facebook. It's like using AOL or something.

Re: Fury at Facebook as login requests “Government ID”

#175

Post by fennecfoxen »

wmeredith wrote: post #169
jimwalsh wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love how the HN type of people come into Facebook threads like this claiming that using the site is bad and that they are above everyone for never using it. It's not that simple for people that aren't in the same circles as HN readers. Younger generations utilize it as their primary means of keeping in touch with people. That's fine if you get along well without it. But take a step back and look at all the teenager…

This argument basically boils down to "everyone else is doing it". That's nuts. This is no reason to keep doing something against your own self-interest. Replace the word Facebook with texting while driving and reread your comment.

"Texting while driving" has a simple, safe, more-or-less equivalent substitute: texting while not driving. Facebook, insofar as it is a widely-adopted and community-preferred communications tool, does not: network effects and all that.

Re: Fury at Facebook as login requests “Government ID”

#176

Post by rzt »

sneak wrote: post #102
flexd wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have been thinking about it, but around here Facebook is so common it would be weird not to have it. My friends never send SMS any more, they use Facebook messenger. Nobody asks you for your phone number, they ask to add you on Facebook. Nobody invites anyone to anything without creating a Facebook event. If I suddenly leave Facebook I am certain I'll also lose out on a lot of social life. What do you use for insta…

> Nobody invites anyone to anything without creating a Facebook event. > If I suddenly leave Facebook I am certain I'll also lose out on a lot of social life. This. You can't expect people to set up and populate their own mailing lists to notify everybody they want to invite to their birthday party or share news of their engagement. I hate it too, but the reality is that being off facebook means losing touch with peo…

One could always maintain a very skeletal Facebook account. No "liked" movies, TV shows, etc., one photo, no bio other than whatever is necessary.

You wouldn't be contributing much to FB's market research efforts, but that's OK; you'll still be able to connect with schoolmates and cousins and get invited to parties.

Re: Fury at Facebook as login requests “Government ID”

#177

Post by hanley »

Wow, the way that they display the Twitter quotes in the article is hideous! The icons are huge and distracting, and on top of that they don't seem to understand the basic idea that all close quotes need to match up with an open quote.

'Open Quote Icon'

message

'Close Quote Icon'

-username

'Another Close Quote Icon'

Re: Fury at Facebook as login requests “Government ID”

#178

Post by judk »

sneak wrote: post #89

One of my least favorite memes in western society is that individual people actually believe that the government has some say in defining your name or the boundaries of your family. Everything from the idea of "legally changed his name" to "same-sex marriage" illustrates the problems of turning to city hall for approval or consent of individuals' and families' deeply personal and private matters. I wish the US had tw…

You are welcome to live in the wilderness and call yourself whatever you want. If you want to live in a society you have to abide by rules to facilitate living together.

Never has a legal name been an only name. Chinese names ,nicknames, Jewish names all exist.

Re: Fury at Facebook as login requests “Government ID”

#179

Post by enriquepablo »

probably_wrong wrote: post #103
sneak wrote: post #89

One of my least favorite memes in western society is that individual people actually believe that the government has some say in defining your name or the boundaries of your family. Everything from the idea of "legally changed his name" to "same-sex marriage" illustrates the problems of turning to city hall for approval or consent of individuals' and families' deeply personal and private matters. I wish the US had tw…

I'd like to point out that your amendments do not solve the problems you mention, as they fail to include how your choices affect others. A variant of the two-body problem, if you will. Let's pick drugs. Half of the drugs regulations deal with keeping you from killing yourself, which your approach would simplify (although sounds like a variant of "let's solve stupidity by removing warning labels and let the problem s…

> (see: homelessness, hospital costs, correlation with violent crimes, impaired drivers hurting others, etc)

Those are consecuences of being outlawed, not of consuming substances. Blame the prohibition and not the substances. The proof of this is simple: just compare. Compare people drinking coffee today and in 19th century Russia (where it was prohibited). Compare people drinking alcohol today and in early 20th century USA. Compare people using opiates today and in the roman empire...

Re: Fury at Facebook as login requests “Government ID”

#180

Post by res0nat0r »

sneak wrote: post #102
flexd wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have been thinking about it, but around here Facebook is so common it would be weird not to have it. My friends never send SMS any more, they use Facebook messenger. Nobody asks you for your phone number, they ask to add you on Facebook. Nobody invites anyone to anything without creating a Facebook event. If I suddenly leave Facebook I am certain I'll also lose out on a lot of social life. What do you use for insta…

> Nobody invites anyone to anything without creating a Facebook event. > If I suddenly leave Facebook I am certain I'll also lose out on a lot of social life. This. You can't expect people to set up and populate their own mailing lists to notify everybody they want to invite to their birthday party or share news of their engagement. I hate it too, but the reality is that being off facebook means losing touch with peo…

Sounds like the friends you are talking about really don't care about you that much. I wouldn't consider them friends.
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