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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

#21

Post by zeven7 »

wyldfire wrote: post #9
Alex3917 wrote: 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.

I'm not a Facebook user, and I'm a casual HN user. I heard Facebook was down, so I checked HN. I bet that's the source of the problem. If you know about HN and you hear Facebook's down, you check HN to see what people are saying.

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

#22

Post by chillee »

gizdan wrote: post #11
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #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 i…

> 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. With a phonebook (at least back in the day), you didn't risk having your account exposed and sold for a few dollars. Nor did that risk someone getting access to thousands, if not more, bank accounts or whatever through automation. In addition,…

> Facebook gives you the illusion that you can opt of this data being public.

What makes you think that that isn't the case here? It sounds like they just scraped all the public profiles they could find. It's not a database "leak" or something like that.

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

#23

Post by subsubzero »

Facebook is having a very bad day today, You have this hack announced today, all their sites are apparently down due to a bgp issue they are dealing with, and then the bombshell allegations of them intentionally creating toxicity on their platform to enrich themselves at the expense of society. Zuck's world is slowly collapsing in on him, expect heavy regulation and the beginning of the end of facebook as we know it.

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

#24

Post by throwaway78981 »

Some might laugh this off as 'oh it's just scraping'. But I remember reading some comments in HN that there are apps that can scan faces and pull personal info including where they live, work etc. So each leak uncovers a person little by little.

This vindicates the stance taken by Signal to not even collect metadata.

Edit: I mean surreptitiously scan the face of a stranger you see in public and the app will tell you about them. Don't know names of the apps.

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

#25

Post by micromacrofoot »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #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 i…

the 1.5B number leads me to believe that these aren't all public accounts though, so it's a bit broader than the phone book comparison

also at this point there have been enough large leaks that cross-referencing the data can probably paint a very complete picture of many people

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

#26

Post by _moof »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #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 i…

> everything I used to be able to get in a phone book

Fair, although you could opt out of the phone book. (And I don't think they had location/address, though it's been so long now that I can't remember for sure.)

> I think people are grappling with the fact that the Internet just makes data scraping and processing possible on a scale previously unimaginable

This is it right here. The scale and ease of access are terrifying. It's true that in the olden days, someone could follow me around and write down everywhere I went, everyone I talked to, what stores I went to, my hobbies, and so on. But someone would actually have to do that, and they would have to single me out, and even then the information they collected would be in a notebook, not distributed to virtually every human on the planet.

Now we are all being followed, all the time, and all of that information is available to anyone with almost no cost or effort. This is a sea change, and personally I find it horrifying. There are very, very few people I would trust with that much information. I definitely don't trust the whole world with it.

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

#27

Post by [deleted] »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #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 i…

[deleted]

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

#28

Post by pelotox »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #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 i…

This happens in data regulatory contexts. There are varying degrees of PII (Personally Identifiable Information) and different rules around securing it.

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

#29

Post by [deleted] »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #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 i…

[deleted]

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

#30

Post by spywaregorilla »

animanoir wrote: post #6

I honestly ask myself how the f Zuck has the guts and ego to still talk about a "metaverse" with a company and product so wrong, so poisonous and evil to humanity. I really can't wait to see him in jail already.

Any particular reason you think a metaverse is incompatible with an evil organization?

The evil co. in Ready Player One, the movie, literally imprisoned people and used them for forced labor.

(then, somehow, the CEO gets arrested by regular cops, lol).

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