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Is Facebook even safe anymore?

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Re: Is Facebook even safe anymore?

#21

Post by goatinaboat »

ghaff wrote: post #19
_qbjt wrote: post #18

The irony is that Hacker News is literally unsafe to use as it puts users at risk of doxxing by not providing basic privacy functions like post and/or account deletion or even the ability to change your username. I really don’t understand why the HN crowd (which claims to be privacy focused) never seems to call this site out on that. Did I miss the text when you sign up telling you that everything you post will be pu…

>Did I miss the text when you sign up telling you that everything you post will be publicly accessible for the rest of time While reasonable people can disagree on this point, it seems a valid point of view that once you've publicly posted something that's part of an online conversation you can no longer unilaterally delete it.

once you've publicly posted something that's part of an online conversation you can no longer unilaterally delete it.

But once you delete your account those posts can be attributed to “Deleted User”. HN doesn’t even do that.

Re: Is Facebook even safe anymore?

#22

Post by Nextgrid »

_qbjt wrote: post #18

The irony is that Hacker News is literally unsafe to use as it puts users at risk of doxxing by not providing basic privacy functions like post and/or account deletion or even the ability to change your username. I really don’t understand why the HN crowd (which claims to be privacy focused) never seems to call this site out on that. Did I miss the text when you sign up telling you that everything you post will be pu…

HN is public by design so it is assumed that you only post things that you are comfortable with sharing. Even then, I heard that the moderation team is happy to help out if there are a few particular posts you'd like to delete/amend.

Re: Is Facebook even safe anymore?

#23

Post by beardedwizard »

tidenly wrote: post #5
tjpnz wrote: post #3

Working in Japan security breaches can and do happen, but when they do the government has the ability to fine said corporation or even force them to cease offering services for a period of time. I get the distinct impression that US companies largely face no consequences for data breaches and when they do it's fines that equate to less than a percent of their annual profits. Unless something changes there is very lit…

Despite all that, Japanese IT data security is a joke though. They all talk the talk here but most systems I've seen are held together by sticks and glue on the backend. If I didn't live here I wouldn't dream of giving my data to a Japanese firm.

Try finding an appsec job in japan.

Re: Is Facebook even safe anymore?

#24

Post by loraa »

Useless article just for the premise of making some commission on VPN services.

It's sad to see everyone complaining about Facebook when the bigger problem are the sites that completely have no security and never report breaches. I don't use Facebook, but if I did, I wouldn't share my entire life and then complain when I got hacked because my password was my last name.

It's stupid shit like this that will burn you.

Re: Is Facebook even safe anymore?

#25

Post by ghaff »

goatinaboat wrote: post #21
ghaff wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Did I miss the text when you sign up telling you that everything you post will be publicly accessible for the rest of time While reasonable people can disagree on this point, it seems a valid point of view that once you've publicly posted something that's part of an online conversation you can no longer unilaterally delete it.

once you've publicly posted something that's part of an online conversation you can no longer unilaterally delete it. But once you delete your account those posts can be attributed to “Deleted User”. HN doesn’t even do that.

I agree that's a more defensible position. Of course, there are lots of situations--you have a bylined article "printed" in a newspaper/magazine, you write a book, you appear speaking in someone else's YouTube video--where it's not really reasonable to expect to be able to expunge what you've written from the public record.

This isn't a new thing. You couldn't typically delete a Usenet post either.

What has changed is how easily and casually people can put things out in public without editorial oversight that they may regret.

Re: Is Facebook even safe anymore?

#26

Post by hellofunk »

I canceled my Facebook account a few months ago. A full delete, not a deactivation. Somehow, I still get the occasional email notification from a Facebook group, and it makes me really really curious to know how that could be possible if my account is supposedly gone.

Re: Is Facebook even safe anymore?

#27

Post by smt88 »

dangus wrote: post #9
smt88 wrote: post #4

tl;dr The author worries that Facebook data breaches suggest unfixable infosec problems at the company. My response: Data breaches are a secondary concern. Facebook has too much data for anyone to exfiltrate a large percentage of it. The primary bad actor is Facebook itself, which can analyze and operate on all of that data (to share with governments, partners, or psychological experiments).

But then again, the practices you mention in your last paragraph have literally nothing to do with the subject of this article (not saying that I do or don’t agree with you there).

> But then again, the practices you mention in your last paragraph have literally nothing to do with the subject of this article

That's the point of my comment. The article asks if Facebook has become unsafe because of hackers. I was arguing that Facebook has been unsafe for a long time because of Facebook, rendering the article somewhat beside the point.

Asking if Facebook is unsafe because of hackers is like asking if a vial of arsenic might be contaminated with cyanide. Yes, it may be contaminated, but it was already guaranteed to kill you.

Re: Is Facebook even safe anymore?

#28

Post by rocketpastsix »

jevans22 wrote: post #20
envy2 wrote: post #16

Do people really hate FB so much right now that this garbage becomes the top article on HN? This website[1] seems to be entirely blank aside from this article, the claims made are dubious at best and essentially unsourced, and the alleged "breaches" discussed seem to all just be dumps of easily scrapable data or things third-party developers (not FB) left lying around. There's zero evidence whatsoever of actual breac…

It's because it's such a highly controversial subject. I completely agree there's good and bad on Facebook, but overall feel like it nets out positive.

Im having a hard time finding a positive in Facebook.

Re: Is Facebook even safe anymore?

#29

Post by LatteLazy »

rocketpastsix wrote: post #28
jevans22 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's because it's such a highly controversial subject. I completely agree there's good and bad on Facebook, but overall feel like it nets out positive.

Im having a hard time finding a positive in Facebook.

I don't know how to say this without sounding aggy, sorry.

If you don't see the value, don't use it. Not every product is for everyone. It's entirely possible that for you there is no value in Facebook use. It has a low value for me (excluding WhatsApp).

I use it only because I think its zero cost/risk. I'm very unlikely to fall for phishing scams and no useful (not already public) information about me is on there.

To me this is one of the big frustrations of the article: Facebook is safe for some and unsafe for others, it's useful for some and not for others, it's "worth it" for some and not for others...

Re: Is Facebook even safe anymore?

#30

Post by lozf »

LatteLazy wrote: post #29
rocketpastsix wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Im having a hard time finding a positive in Facebook.

I don't know how to say this without sounding aggy, sorry. If you don't see the value, don't use it. Not every product is for everyone. It's entirely possible that for you there is no value in Facebook use. It has a low value for me (excluding WhatsApp). I use it only because I think its zero cost/risk. I'm very unlikely to fall for phishing scams and no useful (not already public) information about me is on there. T…

But simply "not using it" isn't enough. They still glean all sorts of information about you from both your browsing habits and other people you may know, or even those who may simply have stored your phone number or email address in one of their devices.
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