Facebook does not plan to notify half-billion users affected by data leak • Hacker News Board

Re: Facebook does not plan to notify half-billion users affected by data leak

#71

Post by olliej » Wed, Apr 07, 2021, 10:00 PM UTC

challengly wrote: post #48

t0mas88 wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are absolutely required to report this to the data protection agencies in all European countries. As the other comment mentioned, missing the 72 hour deadline on this is enough to get a fine as Booking.com did. I'm curious to see the total in GDPR fines from this for Facebook. Will probably take a year or two before we know.

GDPR is a gift to large corporations. Regulatory capture in return for a slap on the wrist. It also burdens startup competition and trains people to click "Allow Cookies" and "Accept the Terms of Service" as fast as possible.

it really wasn't - unlike other similar laws it is written in terms of world wide revenue (not profit), not a fixed fine, so it's not as easy to simply treat violations as being "free".

The actual work involved is trivial if you minimize data collection, which is the whole point - you shouldn't collect anything you don't actually need and GDPR got rid of the "abusing user privacy is purely profitable" excuse.

Regulatory capture is an anti-piracy bill that requires scanning all uploads using technology that only a few companies have or that costs more than potential income of a business. That's why YouTube was generally pro-that bullshit EU "anti piracy" law.

Re: Facebook does not plan to notify half-billion users affected by data leak

#72

Post by Strom » Wed, Apr 07, 2021, 10:00 PM UTC

Muromec wrote: post #19

What is really strange about this data leak is what is missing in it. I see at least two countries that aren't there.

The leak contains 105 countries, so there's quite a bit more than 2 that are missing - more like a hundred.

Re: Facebook does not plan to notify half-billion users affected by data leak

#73

Post by marshmallow_12 » Wed, Apr 07, 2021, 10:03 PM UTC

HNfriend234 wrote: post #65

bassdropvroom wrote: post #50

So after longing it out, today I had a look on haveibeenpwned, and it seems I am one of those whose data has leaked. After re-reading all of the events of this breach, it seems that the exploit was fixed in Aug 2019 (as claimed by Facebook). I had deleted my account some 2 years prior to that. Either these attackers have had access for over 2 years, or Facebook has not deleted my data, and likely everyone else's data…

haveibeenpwned pulls from multiple data leaks. So it is likely your data was leaked somewhere else and the company that got hacked simply never reported it. Happens all the time. Once your data has been leaked. There is nothing you can do about it. Your information will simply just float out there in the internet ether forever. This is why it is so important for everyone to go pseudonymous online especially if you ar…

i will automatically give less credence to an anonymous person. They are giving me nothing of themselves, so they expect nothing, and feel no obligation to present the truth. On the flipside, being anonymous, i don't take myself seriously enough. Yes, this has regrettably made me come close to trolling, i've worked on it, but i'm still not close to being fully genuine and i know that.

Re: Facebook does not plan to notify half-billion users affected by data leak

#74

Post by blackearl » Wed, Apr 07, 2021, 10:04 PM UTC

iso1631 wrote: post #4

Facebook today closed at a record high of 309, up from 299, on the first trading day after this leak hit the press. It has since increased to a higher record high (currently 312 with 10 minutes left)

Wasn't this leak already 2 years old? Just because the media decided to pump it up this week doesn't mean it just happened.

I've also yet to see anything real come of these kinds of leaks.

Re: Facebook does not plan to notify half-billion users affected by data leak

#75

Post by claaams » Wed, Apr 07, 2021, 10:06 PM UTC

dylan604 wrote: post #17

adamsvystun wrote: post #10

This is disappointing. Admitting the mistake is crucial in the process of fixing the problem. This just shows that they have learned little after all the company has been through.

>This just shows that they have learned little after all the company has been through. This is just yet another example of that. It's not like we didn't realize they don't care until this instance. It's hard wired in the DNA, and this is just more evidence of that.

[flagged]

Re: Facebook does not plan to notify half-billion users affected by data leak

#76

Post by smsm42 » Wed, Apr 07, 2021, 10:06 PM UTC

Johnny555 wrote: post #32

Aren't they required to disclose this, at least to California residents, under California's data breach disclosure laws? Or was it not the type of PII covered under the law?

Too big to follow laws?

Re: Facebook does not plan to notify half-billion users affected by data leak

#77

Post by smsm42 » Wed, Apr 07, 2021, 10:12 PM UTC

adamsvystun wrote: post #10

This is disappointing. Admitting the mistake is crucial in the process of fixing the problem. This just shows that they have learned little after all the company has been through.

That implies they see it as a problem that needs to be fixed. But what if they don't care? After all, their business is collecting and selling these data. It being copied by somebody looks bad, but advertisers probably won't do downloading user lists on darknet, so the damage to the main business is minimal. And people still on Facebook don't seem to be willing to punish Facebook for violating their privacy, so...

Re: Facebook does not plan to notify half-billion users affected by data leak

#78

Post by type0 » Wed, Apr 07, 2021, 10:15 PM UTC

erellsworth wrote: post #29

Doesn't this mean they will get fined out the arse by Europe under the GDPR?

It doesn't and they know that.

Re: Facebook does not plan to notify half-billion users affected by data leak

#79

Post by eloff » Wed, Apr 07, 2021, 10:28 PM UTC

bassdropvroom wrote: post #50

So after longing it out, today I had a look on haveibeenpwned, and it seems I am one of those whose data has leaked. After re-reading all of the events of this breach, it seems that the exploit was fixed in Aug 2019 (as claimed by Facebook). I had deleted my account some 2 years prior to that. Either these attackers have had access for over 2 years, or Facebook has not deleted my data, and likely everyone else's data…

My phone number is in haveibeenpowned. Maybe it's from another leak? I deleted my Facebook account years ago and it doesn't have my new number. WhatsApp does.

Re: Facebook does not plan to notify half-billion users affected by data leak

#80

Post by nuclear_eclipse » Wed, Apr 07, 2021, 10:38 PM UTC

woudsma wrote: post #47

aminozuur wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The data was scraped years ago and just released now. Only the things you shared publicly already, such as your first and last name on Facebook, were "leaked", except for a few private phone numbers.

I've never had public profile information. Only visible for friends (and my phone number wasn't even visible there). How would my private phone number get into that dataset? That would suggest that they have more than just public data.

Your friends can (and almost certainly will) share their contact info (including your name/phone/email) with Facebook , Messenger, or Whatsapp, even if your account is deleted and doesn't exist.