Facebook Attacked!
September 28, 2018 10:12 AM Subscribe
Facebook annouced today that 40 million accounts were attacked through a flaw in the "View As" function, enabling the attackers to use access tokens to potentially take over accounts. Facebook has reset the access tokens for up to 90 million accounts. The full implication of this has not been made clear.
I had to re-login this morning on all my devices, I figured something was up.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 10:21 AM on September 28, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 10:21 AM on September 28, 2018 [5 favorites]
Man I wish every social event ever didn't rely on FB invites, I would be out of there so fast...
That is kinda my dilemma. The Cincinnati cyclocross scene seems to use Facebook as a major hub. There are a couple channels I can use to find out about races and results, but Facebook is the most convenient conduit for both. It is pretty much the only place for general banter and pictures, and a lot of just-in-time updates (like cancellations, changes, etc.) are posted there and nowhere else.
posted by MrGuilt at 10:23 AM on September 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
That is kinda my dilemma. The Cincinnati cyclocross scene seems to use Facebook as a major hub. There are a couple channels I can use to find out about races and results, but Facebook is the most convenient conduit for both. It is pretty much the only place for general banter and pictures, and a lot of just-in-time updates (like cancellations, changes, etc.) are posted there and nowhere else.
posted by MrGuilt at 10:23 AM on September 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
I deactivated my FB account for a while, but in addition to the group/event stuff I was no longer able to see, it felt unfair every time I asked any family and friends to send me their latest photos separately, since they are using FB as the place to show them to everyone else in their social orbits. So I am back on FB. (sigh)
posted by PhineasGage at 10:28 AM on September 28, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by PhineasGage at 10:28 AM on September 28, 2018 [4 favorites]
I quit over a year ago, nuked my account from orbit, and I absolutely do not miss it.
Having said that, I do find that burning that ship is occasionally VERY inconvenient, especially when, as Mr Guilt mentioned above, certain groups or gatherings are absolutely MARRIED to the ecosystem.
They really have done a marvelously evil job of becoming so ingrained in everyday life, that folks will put up with tons of shenanigans, like todays, just for the convenience of not having to go elsewhere.
I would love for someone to come up with something that would take the place of Facebook; it can't come soon enough.
posted by Major Matt Mason Dixon at 10:29 AM on September 28, 2018 [17 favorites]
Having said that, I do find that burning that ship is occasionally VERY inconvenient, especially when, as Mr Guilt mentioned above, certain groups or gatherings are absolutely MARRIED to the ecosystem.
They really have done a marvelously evil job of becoming so ingrained in everyday life, that folks will put up with tons of shenanigans, like todays, just for the convenience of not having to go elsewhere.
I would love for someone to come up with something that would take the place of Facebook; it can't come soon enough.
posted by Major Matt Mason Dixon at 10:29 AM on September 28, 2018 [17 favorites]
AH! This explains why I had to re-login because my "session expired". It didn't ask me to re-set my password though.
posted by CoffeeHikeNapWine at 10:55 AM on September 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by CoffeeHikeNapWine at 10:55 AM on September 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
I had to do this yesterday, and when my Spidey Sense tingled, I noticed with disappointment-but-not-surprise that the "log me out of all my other devices, too" option was un-checked by default. Bad, Facebook! Bad!
posted by wenestvedt at 11:04 AM on September 28, 2018
posted by wenestvedt at 11:04 AM on September 28, 2018
The "View As" tool is the same one, if memory serves, that lead to the 2014 vulnerability. And the 2011 one. Facebook just can't get this feature right.
posted by avapoet at 11:07 AM on September 28, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by avapoet at 11:07 AM on September 28, 2018 [5 favorites]
AUGH, social media as a protocol please, soon, now?! (yes, yes, I know)
posted by Iteki at 11:08 AM on September 28, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by Iteki at 11:08 AM on September 28, 2018 [3 favorites]
Per Engadget: "Spokespeople for the company were unable to confirm if this data breach was in any way related to a hacker's threats to delete Mark Zuckerberg's account on a livestream from earlier in the day."
That hacker is Taiwanese white-hat hacker Chang Chi-yuan, per another Engadget article.
That hacker is Taiwanese white-hat hacker Chang Chi-yuan, per another Engadget article.
"I don't want to be a proper hacker, and I don't even want to be a hacker at all," Chang said in a recent post. "I'm just bored and try to dabble so that I can earn some money." Facebook, like other tech giants, dishes out cash to cyber-security experts who point out flaws in its system as part of a bug bounty program. But considering all the setbacks it's currently facing -- including the departure of Instagram's founders and its ongoing fake news crisis -- it probably doesn't want to deal with a high-profile hack right now.posted by filthy light thief at 11:29 AM on September 28, 2018 [4 favorites]
Neither is the company keen on paying out bounties to people who test vulnerabilities against real users. Back in 2013, it refused to reward Khalil Shreateh -- a systems information expert from Palestine -- for hacking into Zuck's account and posting an Enrique Iglesias video on the wall of one of his college friends. The Facebook founder has also previously had his Twitter and Pinterest accounts breached by notorious hacker group OurMine.
It helped destroy the Republic. But it's so convenient!
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 11:31 AM on September 28, 2018 [36 favorites]
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 11:31 AM on September 28, 2018 [36 favorites]
The "View As" tool is the same one, if memory serves, that lead to the 2014 vulnerability. And the 2011 one. Facebook just can't get this feature right.
47 years of the `su` command and its vulnerabilities have taught us that privilege elevation and privilege shedding are maybe kinda hard.
posted by rhizome at 11:32 AM on September 28, 2018 [9 favorites]
47 years of the `su` command and its vulnerabilities have taught us that privilege elevation and privilege shedding are maybe kinda hard.
posted by rhizome at 11:32 AM on September 28, 2018 [9 favorites]
It helped destroy the Republic. But it's so convenient!
this post could also use that tag, frankly.
~*~periodic reminder: just delete facebook~*~
posted by halation at 11:33 AM on September 28, 2018 [7 favorites]
this post could also use that tag, frankly.
~*~periodic reminder: just delete facebook~*~
posted by halation at 11:33 AM on September 28, 2018 [7 favorites]
It is puzzling to me that people are surprised or outraged by how little Facebook cares about its users or their data. They've demonstrated it over and over again. And people keep giving them more, basically rewarding poor behavior. What a terrible company.
Sure, I miss something now and then after deleting my Facebook account, sometimes big things in my friend's lives, deaths and births. But I just couldn't continue to make excuses on Facebook's behalf (oh, it's awful, but COMMUNITY! EVENTS! BIRTHDAYS! LITTLE RED DOTS!) and feel OK about it.
I wish more people would just leave. Don't worry about replacing it. Don't worry about what you'll miss. Just leave. It's OK to not know everything about everybody all the time.
posted by quarterframer at 11:47 AM on September 28, 2018 [26 favorites]
Sure, I miss something now and then after deleting my Facebook account, sometimes big things in my friend's lives, deaths and births. But I just couldn't continue to make excuses on Facebook's behalf (oh, it's awful, but COMMUNITY! EVENTS! BIRTHDAYS! LITTLE RED DOTS!) and feel OK about it.
I wish more people would just leave. Don't worry about replacing it. Don't worry about what you'll miss. Just leave. It's OK to not know everything about everybody all the time.
posted by quarterframer at 11:47 AM on September 28, 2018 [26 favorites]
Good thing they've been so insistent on using your actual name.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 11:48 AM on September 28, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 11:48 AM on September 28, 2018 [7 favorites]
"That is kinda my dilemma. The Cincinnati cyclocross scene seems to use Facebook as a major hub. There are a couple channels I can use to find out about races and results, but Facebook is the most convenient conduit for both."
"Yeah, it’s next to impossible to keep up with all the local cycling activities (including trail condition reports) without Facebook. It’s like everyone decided to have a critical mass in sewer."
I'm ain't no big city tech incubator, but I think you go a biz there.
posted by Damienmce at 11:54 AM on September 28, 2018 [3 favorites]
"Yeah, it’s next to impossible to keep up with all the local cycling activities (including trail condition reports) without Facebook. It’s like everyone decided to have a critical mass in sewer."
I'm ain't no big city tech incubator, but I think you go a biz there.
posted by Damienmce at 11:54 AM on September 28, 2018 [3 favorites]
I wish more people would just leave. Don't worry about replacing it. Don't worry about what you'll miss. Just leave.
It's funny, that's what people tell liberals who live in red states all the time too, and it rings just as hollow here.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 11:54 AM on September 28, 2018 [16 favorites]
It's funny, that's what people tell liberals who live in red states all the time too, and it rings just as hollow here.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 11:54 AM on September 28, 2018 [16 favorites]
Last month I was finally able to delete my facebook account. It felt good to cut the cord.
posted by bstreep at 11:56 AM on September 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by bstreep at 11:56 AM on September 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
Well, I hope somebody interesting took over my long-disused account.
posted by sfenders at 11:57 AM on September 28, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by sfenders at 11:57 AM on September 28, 2018 [3 favorites]
Man I wish every social event ever didn't rely on FB invites...
Solution: have a (real life) friend or buddy who is on Facebook be your proxy, and you be his +1 for events. Has worked for me for a decade.
it felt unfair every time I asked any family and friends to send me their latest photo...
This is why I have five fake Facebook accounts and share logins on a couple of others. Sometimes you have to log in to see something, but there's no sense giving FB any real info, right?
(This is the real reason Facebook is cracking down on fake accounts, of course. But I'm still 5/5 here in 2018 so they're not great at it yet.)
posted by rokusan at 11:57 AM on September 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
Solution: have a (real life) friend or buddy who is on Facebook be your proxy, and you be his +1 for events. Has worked for me for a decade.
it felt unfair every time I asked any family and friends to send me their latest photo...
This is why I have five fake Facebook accounts and share logins on a couple of others. Sometimes you have to log in to see something, but there's no sense giving FB any real info, right?
(This is the real reason Facebook is cracking down on fake accounts, of course. But I'm still 5/5 here in 2018 so they're not great at it yet.)
posted by rokusan at 11:57 AM on September 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
And people keep giving them more, basically rewarding poor behavior. What a terrible company foolish people.
FTFY
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:00 PM on September 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
FTFY
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:00 PM on September 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
It's funny, that's what people tell liberals who live in red states all the time too, and it rings just as hollow here.
i mean
finding a new job and shouldering the expenses of moving and selling a house / scraping up a rental security deposit and perhaps pulling children from their schools and forcing a partner or spouse to also find a new job is perhaps just a *bit* more burdensome than the inconvenience of finding a different communications channel and risking missing out on your third cousin's latest round of new-baby pictures or local yard sales or a biking meet-up, surely
posted by halation at 12:02 PM on September 28, 2018 [29 favorites]
i mean
finding a new job and shouldering the expenses of moving and selling a house / scraping up a rental security deposit and perhaps pulling children from their schools and forcing a partner or spouse to also find a new job is perhaps just a *bit* more burdensome than the inconvenience of finding a different communications channel and risking missing out on your third cousin's latest round of new-baby pictures or local yard sales or a biking meet-up, surely
posted by halation at 12:02 PM on September 28, 2018 [29 favorites]
Hi there, foolish person here, just reporting for duty in case folks wanna get real mean to my face :)
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 12:03 PM on September 28, 2018 [18 favorites]
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 12:03 PM on September 28, 2018 [18 favorites]
perhaps just a *bit* more burdensome than the inconvenience of finding a different communications channel and risking missing out on everything that happens to all of the people you know, none of whom live in your city or use email, surely
FTFY
Obviously the level of the ask is different. But the sentiment remains: don't care about the things you care about. Care about the things I want you to care about, in the way I feel is best.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 12:06 PM on September 28, 2018 [23 favorites]
FTFY
Obviously the level of the ask is different. But the sentiment remains: don't care about the things you care about. Care about the things I want you to care about, in the way I feel is best.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 12:06 PM on September 28, 2018 [23 favorites]
I deleted my account over a year ago and have few regrets. Previously I'd made the questionable decision to use Facebook to organize a homebrewing group I founded. I tried to move the folks over to Slack with mixed results. To me it just wasn't worth supporting a company that so vigorously exploits its users and, it turned out, happily sold out American democracy.
Related, I saw this today: WhatsApp Cofounder Brian Acton Gives The Inside Story On #DeleteFacebook And Why He Left $850 Million Behind
posted by exogenous at 12:09 PM on September 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
Related, I saw this today: WhatsApp Cofounder Brian Acton Gives The Inside Story On #DeleteFacebook And Why He Left $850 Million Behind
posted by exogenous at 12:09 PM on September 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
i mean, if "the level of ask is different" i don't see how it can ring equally "just as hollow," and honestly the hyperbolic reactions people have to the suggestion that maybe this worldwide democracy-destroying for-profit thing that has supplanted huge swaths of human communication is bad also tend to ring just a bit hollow, at this point.
as with amazon, it's important to admit that you're choosing to use a demonstrably problematic "service." it doesn't make you a bad person to choose this. but you're still making that choice. it's worth making such choices consciously and periodically interrogating those choices in an honest way, surely.
posted by halation at 12:12 PM on September 28, 2018 [12 favorites]
as with amazon, it's important to admit that you're choosing to use a demonstrably problematic "service." it doesn't make you a bad person to choose this. but you're still making that choice. it's worth making such choices consciously and periodically interrogating those choices in an honest way, surely.
posted by halation at 12:12 PM on September 28, 2018 [12 favorites]
Drop and give me 20 antics!
I've literally been using facebook all day, and have used it to conduct 7 distinct conversations in addition to posting a meme...does that count?
My point is only that telling people to cut out an important part of their lives, while offering them no adequate replacement,* is not terribly effective. Especially when the message is telling them to abandon critical social connections -- either physically, through moving, or virtually. People simply won't tend to do that, even in the service of very high and important ideals.
It does no good to assume laziness, stupidity, or malice before confirming that this demonstrably problematic service might actually mean something to people.
*The lack of an adequate replacement is really the key. Giving people an appealing and unproblematic alternative is one thing. I don't know anyone who'd rather stay on Shitty Facebook than migrate to Unshitty Facebook. But that's not what was said. What was said was specifically: don't worry about replacing it, just leave.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 12:29 PM on September 28, 2018 [18 favorites]
I've literally been using facebook all day, and have used it to conduct 7 distinct conversations in addition to posting a meme...does that count?
My point is only that telling people to cut out an important part of their lives, while offering them no adequate replacement,* is not terribly effective. Especially when the message is telling them to abandon critical social connections -- either physically, through moving, or virtually. People simply won't tend to do that, even in the service of very high and important ideals.
It does no good to assume laziness, stupidity, or malice before confirming that this demonstrably problematic service might actually mean something to people.
*The lack of an adequate replacement is really the key. Giving people an appealing and unproblematic alternative is one thing. I don't know anyone who'd rather stay on Shitty Facebook than migrate to Unshitty Facebook. But that's not what was said. What was said was specifically: don't worry about replacing it, just leave.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 12:29 PM on September 28, 2018 [18 favorites]
CoffeeHikeNapWine: AH! This explains why I had to re-login because my "session expired". It didn't ask me to re-set my password though.
I've been tinkering with tokens a bit lately (I'm no expert), but they struck me a lot like the stamp you might get on your hand at a concert after showing your ID, if the stamp was unique to you and in invisible ink. Need to get back in? Just show the stamp to the special invisible ink reader, no ID required.
Works great until someone finds a way to copy your stamp, and then they can just waltz right in as if they were you. But if your stamp is copied, they still haven't stolen your ID (in this case, your password).
posted by cowcowgrasstree at 12:35 PM on September 28, 2018 [3 favorites]
I've been tinkering with tokens a bit lately (I'm no expert), but they struck me a lot like the stamp you might get on your hand at a concert after showing your ID, if the stamp was unique to you and in invisible ink. Need to get back in? Just show the stamp to the special invisible ink reader, no ID required.
Works great until someone finds a way to copy your stamp, and then they can just waltz right in as if they were you. But if your stamp is copied, they still haven't stolen your ID (in this case, your password).
posted by cowcowgrasstree at 12:35 PM on September 28, 2018 [3 favorites]
The "View As" tool is the same one, if memory serves, that lead to the 2014 vulnerability. And the 2011 one. Facebook just can't get this feature right.
is there a facebook specific reason that you can't view your own profile as others see it just by logging out or checking from a private browser?
posted by poffin boffin at 12:50 PM on September 28, 2018
is there a facebook specific reason that you can't view your own profile as others see it just by logging out or checking from a private browser?
posted by poffin boffin at 12:50 PM on September 28, 2018
OH or is it to check whether or not a particular person is seeing things filtered in the specific way you want them to?
posted by poffin boffin at 12:51 PM on September 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by poffin boffin at 12:51 PM on September 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
Don't worry about replacing it. Don't worry about what you'll miss.
My entire social interaction beyond work, therapy and my spouse. Does not sound healthy.
Look, this is one of those things where it sucks, but the alternative is easier for some people than others. Nobody is going to, like, call me on the telephone at 3 pm on a Tuesday when I feel terrible. But I can look at some dumb vacation/cat/whatever photos and get out of my head for a minute.
If you have a bunch of people raring to make 1 on 1 contact with you all the time, great! Some of us are just making do with what we have.
posted by cage and aquarium at 12:52 PM on September 28, 2018 [25 favorites]
My entire social interaction beyond work, therapy and my spouse. Does not sound healthy.
Look, this is one of those things where it sucks, but the alternative is easier for some people than others. Nobody is going to, like, call me on the telephone at 3 pm on a Tuesday when I feel terrible. But I can look at some dumb vacation/cat/whatever photos and get out of my head for a minute.
If you have a bunch of people raring to make 1 on 1 contact with you all the time, great! Some of us are just making do with what we have.
posted by cage and aquarium at 12:52 PM on September 28, 2018 [25 favorites]
I'm ain't no big city tech incubator, but I think you go a biz there.
I've been giving that very thing a lot of thought: could this become its own thing, or work on an existing network (like Strava). The problem it's a diverse set of groups and individuals to track for it, have reposts or links to content from folks outside your network. Each race, series of races, and team have their own facebook presence, plus a bunch of individuals do, too. It's hard to shift all that.
The other thing is that a lot of similar sharing occurs for other things, like my daughter's high school band.
It's simply nice to have it all in once place.
I suppose the opportunity is to have a network where event information can be shared and promoted, without the extrra baggage of Facebook.
posted by MrGuilt at 12:53 PM on September 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
I've been giving that very thing a lot of thought: could this become its own thing, or work on an existing network (like Strava). The problem it's a diverse set of groups and individuals to track for it, have reposts or links to content from folks outside your network. Each race, series of races, and team have their own facebook presence, plus a bunch of individuals do, too. It's hard to shift all that.
The other thing is that a lot of similar sharing occurs for other things, like my daughter's high school band.
It's simply nice to have it all in once place.
I suppose the opportunity is to have a network where event information can be shared and promoted, without the extrra baggage of Facebook.
posted by MrGuilt at 12:53 PM on September 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
I would care more if I hadn't been spending several months sending them ID copies and requesting they remove the 2FA linked to my dead tablet all to get promised emails that never arrive and never seeing a change. FFS, I got faster and better service from Google!
posted by Samizdata at 12:56 PM on September 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Samizdata at 12:56 PM on September 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
Well, I hope somebody interesting took over my long-disused account.
First of all, if you're not using your account, go and delete it, ok? Because disused accounts are exactly what hackers are looking for. It's no longer trivial to just create a bot army by scripting a signup page. It's much easier to just harvest existing disused accounts (either because the user lost interest, or died, or whatever) than create new ones out of whole cloth. This is how bot farms and troll armies are built in the face of increased scrutiny: disused accounts, identity theft. Facebook (and Twitter and etc) have zero incentive to ever remove a disused account, so they sit around until bad actors find them.
posted by phooky at 12:56 PM on September 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
First of all, if you're not using your account, go and delete it, ok? Because disused accounts are exactly what hackers are looking for. It's no longer trivial to just create a bot army by scripting a signup page. It's much easier to just harvest existing disused accounts (either because the user lost interest, or died, or whatever) than create new ones out of whole cloth. This is how bot farms and troll armies are built in the face of increased scrutiny: disused accounts, identity theft. Facebook (and Twitter and etc) have zero incentive to ever remove a disused account, so they sit around until bad actors find them.
posted by phooky at 12:56 PM on September 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
> phooky:
"Well, I hope somebody interesting took over my long-disused account.
First of all, if you're not using your account, go and delete it, ok? Because disused accounts are exactly what hackers are looking for. It's no longer trivial to just create a bot army by scripting a signup page. It's much easier to just harvest existing disused accounts (either because the user lost interest, or died, or whatever) than create new ones out of whole cloth. This is how bot farms and troll armies are built in the face of increased scrutiny: disused accounts, identity theft. Facebook (and Twitter and etc) have zero incentive to ever remove a disused account, so they sit around until bad actors find them."
See my comment above.
posted by Samizdata at 12:58 PM on September 28, 2018
"Well, I hope somebody interesting took over my long-disused account.
First of all, if you're not using your account, go and delete it, ok? Because disused accounts are exactly what hackers are looking for. It's no longer trivial to just create a bot army by scripting a signup page. It's much easier to just harvest existing disused accounts (either because the user lost interest, or died, or whatever) than create new ones out of whole cloth. This is how bot farms and troll armies are built in the face of increased scrutiny: disused accounts, identity theft. Facebook (and Twitter and etc) have zero incentive to ever remove a disused account, so they sit around until bad actors find them."
See my comment above.
posted by Samizdata at 12:58 PM on September 28, 2018
is there a facebook specific reason that you can't view your own profile as others see it just by logging out or checking from a private browser?
Things may have changed since I had my account, but I had security settings so that it wasn't really (or perhaps at all) visible under those circumstances, but only to friends and maybe their friends who were logged in to FB.
posted by exogenous at 1:16 PM on September 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
Things may have changed since I had my account, but I had security settings so that it wasn't really (or perhaps at all) visible under those circumstances, but only to friends and maybe their friends who were logged in to FB.
posted by exogenous at 1:16 PM on September 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
"I deleted my Facebook" is the "I do not own a television" of 2018.
posted by Foosnark at 1:28 PM on September 28, 2018 [38 favorites]
posted by Foosnark at 1:28 PM on September 28, 2018 [38 favorites]
If my job did not rely on so much shameless self-promotion, I would delete Facebook this very moment.
posted by 4ster at 1:32 PM on September 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by 4ster at 1:32 PM on September 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
I would love to delete Facebook, but there are far, far too many people there - a clear majority - who only interact with me on that platform. They generally won't use the other platforms I do (LinkedIn, Twitter, G+, my blogs, my video projects, even email).
There are even a good number of professional contacts there who would much rather ping me on Facebook than through email.
posted by doctornemo at 1:36 PM on September 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
There are even a good number of professional contacts there who would much rather ping me on Facebook than through email.
posted by doctornemo at 1:36 PM on September 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
is there a facebook specific reason that you can't view your own profile as others see it just by logging out or checking from a private browser?
before facebook started cracking down on the real person thing, I made a second account that has my real account as the only friend, but also liked a few pages so the newsfeed wouldn't look so dead.
i use that to look at my real account after i change privacy settings, especially changing what each friends group can see. the friends group has been really helpful with keeping my family out of some aspects of my life and keeping coworkers out of everything altogether, but i can still interact with them through facebook if need be.
posted by numaner at 1:38 PM on September 28, 2018
before facebook started cracking down on the real person thing, I made a second account that has my real account as the only friend, but also liked a few pages so the newsfeed wouldn't look so dead.
i use that to look at my real account after i change privacy settings, especially changing what each friends group can see. the friends group has been really helpful with keeping my family out of some aspects of my life and keeping coworkers out of everything altogether, but i can still interact with them through facebook if need be.
posted by numaner at 1:38 PM on September 28, 2018
I have to wonder if they released that information to distract from the Gizmodo article claiming that Facebook targets ads to you based on the phone number provided for 2FA.
posted by jet_pack_in_a_can at 1:39 PM on September 28, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by jet_pack_in_a_can at 1:39 PM on September 28, 2018 [6 favorites]
I left a year ago, people text or email me events they think might interest me. Or I talk to them.
posted by PHINC at 1:46 PM on September 28, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by PHINC at 1:46 PM on September 28, 2018 [5 favorites]
"I deleted my Facebook" is the "I do not own a television" of 2018.
Except for the legitimate reasons for ditching both, sure. Zealots can be insufferable whatever their hobbyhorse, but it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re wrong.
posted by Celsius1414 at 1:51 PM on September 28, 2018 [12 favorites]
Except for the legitimate reasons for ditching both, sure. Zealots can be insufferable whatever their hobbyhorse, but it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re wrong.
posted by Celsius1414 at 1:51 PM on September 28, 2018 [12 favorites]
"Fuck the south" generally has the effect of "fuck minorities in the south." Walking away from facebook may be inconvenient, but my facebook "friends" are substantially less likely to lose their voting rights than my neighbors.
Assuming that the facebook model of negotiating a social network is good for you. It's not for everyone.
posted by GenderNullPointerException at 2:21 PM on September 28, 2018 [3 favorites]
Assuming that the facebook model of negotiating a social network is good for you. It's not for everyone.
posted by GenderNullPointerException at 2:21 PM on September 28, 2018 [3 favorites]
To be clear, it's the "you should move" part I'm criticizing.
posted by GenderNullPointerException at 2:42 PM on September 28, 2018
posted by GenderNullPointerException at 2:42 PM on September 28, 2018
I had to abandon Facebook along with a lot of other accounts because GG, and I am significantly more isolated than I was before. By the same token, I haven't had to watch the brain crabs turn people into trumpskis, so...
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 2:44 PM on September 28, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 2:44 PM on September 28, 2018 [3 favorites]
Assuming that the facebook model of negotiating a social network is good for you. It's not for everyone.
Nor did I ever in the tiniest amount suggest it should be for everyone.
The only thing I objected to is the insistence that people not care about what they care about. Delete your facebook! It's fine! I'm not deleting mine for a number of reasons, and all I ask is that people grant me the presumption of good faith that those reasons are real and sincere, and aren't because I hate America and freedom and Democracy and am also an idiot.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 4:14 PM on September 28, 2018 [8 favorites]
Nor did I ever in the tiniest amount suggest it should be for everyone.
The only thing I objected to is the insistence that people not care about what they care about. Delete your facebook! It's fine! I'm not deleting mine for a number of reasons, and all I ask is that people grant me the presumption of good faith that those reasons are real and sincere, and aren't because I hate America and freedom and Democracy and am also an idiot.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 4:14 PM on September 28, 2018 [8 favorites]
Fair enough, as long as MeFites also quit reviling people with a legitimate need for one of those terrible awful no-good killer automobiles.
posted by Greg_Ace at 4:27 PM on September 28, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by Greg_Ace at 4:27 PM on September 28, 2018 [5 favorites]
"I deleted my Facebook" is the "I do not own a television" of 2018.
You misunderstand. The latter is simple virtue signalling. The former is an encouragement to others that they too can help make the world a better place.
posted by exogenous at 4:57 PM on September 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
You misunderstand. The latter is simple virtue signalling. The former is an encouragement to others that they too can help make the world a better place.
posted by exogenous at 4:57 PM on September 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
"I deleted my Facebook" is the "I do not own a television" of 2018.
Sure, if you really could "ruin your eyes from sitting too close."
posted by rhizome at 5:02 PM on September 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
Sure, if you really could "ruin your eyes from sitting too close."
posted by rhizome at 5:02 PM on September 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
Quit 4 years ago. Glad I did.
posted by metasunday at 5:20 PM on September 28, 2018
posted by metasunday at 5:20 PM on September 28, 2018
The latter is simple virtue signalling.
"Did you see ... on ... ?!" is also a signal, as is "Do you eat ... ?" I know this because you asked me that yesterday, and the day before, and when we drove up to visit for your birthday, and you still don't remember the answer.
posted by GenderNullPointerException at 5:56 PM on September 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
"Did you see ... on ... ?!" is also a signal, as is "Do you eat ... ?" I know this because you asked me that yesterday, and the day before, and when we drove up to visit for your birthday, and you still don't remember the answer.
posted by GenderNullPointerException at 5:56 PM on September 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
It's OK to not know everything about everybody all the time.
I've begun to really love this exact thought.
Since like 6 months ago, I go on Facebook maybe once a week. It's great. I plan to really try to abandon it fully, but projects in some of my specialized hobby areas will likely mean total abandonment may not be possible. We'll see.
I think a lot about The Beforetime, when social media didn't exist, and yet people still somehow managed to live their lives. I miss those days. I resent what feels increasingly like omnipresent pressure to SHARE EVERYTHING. I even hate the word SHARE with a disproportionate level of animosity. It feels more like a mandate than anything else. And I Would Prefer Not To.
I hate that my choices place me in the position of managing the uncertain reactions of friends who can't accept that I think Facebook is the devil. I know I don't have to explain myself to anyone, but... I usually end up having to explain myself to someone. And the fact that every single time I go on Facebook, I end up feeling worse than I did before, is kind of hard to explain. I doubt I'm the only one who feels that way, but still. I just had yet another set of married friends who were poster-child Facebook lovebirds to the Nth degree announce their impending divorce. It's just... a wasteland of fakery and desperation, wrapped in a tortilla of intolerance, deep-fried in a vat of misery.
I regret the data breach, and hope for as little negative impact as possible to anyone affected. But I sort of don't mind that there's now yet another good reason for staying away from it.
And of course others may love Facebook and if so, more power to you. Different strokes and all.
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 6:23 PM on September 28, 2018 [5 favorites]
I've begun to really love this exact thought.
Since like 6 months ago, I go on Facebook maybe once a week. It's great. I plan to really try to abandon it fully, but projects in some of my specialized hobby areas will likely mean total abandonment may not be possible. We'll see.
I think a lot about The Beforetime, when social media didn't exist, and yet people still somehow managed to live their lives. I miss those days. I resent what feels increasingly like omnipresent pressure to SHARE EVERYTHING. I even hate the word SHARE with a disproportionate level of animosity. It feels more like a mandate than anything else. And I Would Prefer Not To.
I hate that my choices place me in the position of managing the uncertain reactions of friends who can't accept that I think Facebook is the devil. I know I don't have to explain myself to anyone, but... I usually end up having to explain myself to someone. And the fact that every single time I go on Facebook, I end up feeling worse than I did before, is kind of hard to explain. I doubt I'm the only one who feels that way, but still. I just had yet another set of married friends who were poster-child Facebook lovebirds to the Nth degree announce their impending divorce. It's just... a wasteland of fakery and desperation, wrapped in a tortilla of intolerance, deep-fried in a vat of misery.
I regret the data breach, and hope for as little negative impact as possible to anyone affected. But I sort of don't mind that there's now yet another good reason for staying away from it.
And of course others may love Facebook and if so, more power to you. Different strokes and all.
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 6:23 PM on September 28, 2018 [5 favorites]
The more interesting and personal sharing on my feeds ended up drowned in what felt like constant passive-aggressive political and religious spam. I've been thinking about Laurie Penny's argument that political debate is performative theater rather than discussion and have started (or continued) to examine a lot of social media in the same light. Having seen that go wrong so many times over the last 25 years, that's not something I want to do with family on terms defined by a corporation that wants maximum pageviews.
posted by GenderNullPointerException at 8:51 PM on September 28, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by GenderNullPointerException at 8:51 PM on September 28, 2018 [3 favorites]
a wasteland of fakery and desperation, wrapped in a tortilla of intolerance, deep-fried in a vat of misery.
So, it's Tuesday, huh?
posted by Chitownfats at 2:33 AM on September 29, 2018 [1 favorite]
So, it's Tuesday, huh?
posted by Chitownfats at 2:33 AM on September 29, 2018 [1 favorite]
projects in some of my specialized hobby areas will likely mean total abandonment may not be possible
I am genuinely glad for you that a hobby is the thing that keeps you reliant on Facebook.
Without Facebook I won’t have contact with most of my family as we live in different countries and they don’t really care enough about me to keep in touch in other ways. They like me fine, but they have plenty of family where they are, they don’t need me. Same with my old friends, the people who have known me as a child and young adult, we meet and have a lovely time every time I am home, but it’s the small day-to-day interactions on Facebook that make them want to be available when I come home. Same for friends where I live. People like me fine, I have good close friends, I don’t think there’s anyone who considers me their best friend, but I’m ok with that I do know though that if I don’t do the reaching out I could go months without a personal contact, and if Facebook is how I most efficiently manage the “burden” of that, then I choose that over loneliness.
Without Facebook I will have no queer content in my day to day. Stuff won’t just turn up on TV or in the newspaper, or on billboards I pass, or in my workplace or on metafilter. I can seek it out, absolutely, google ‘lesbian’ and hope for the best or actively keep a blogroll that makes it obvious that my life looks different, that I’ve got some sort of minority lifestyle choice thang going on. I am sure they still put events in the back pages of the free local paper, right?
I could do this for all the aspects of my complicated identity, but imma go boardgame shopping instead. Social media protocol, NOW and then let people use whatever platform they prefer to acces that content. If im getting your events as Facebook things or dropped straight into my calendar app or getting tagged in them on Insta it’s all good, just invite me.
posted by Iteki at 3:16 AM on September 29, 2018 [11 favorites]
I am genuinely glad for you that a hobby is the thing that keeps you reliant on Facebook.
Without Facebook I won’t have contact with most of my family as we live in different countries and they don’t really care enough about me to keep in touch in other ways. They like me fine, but they have plenty of family where they are, they don’t need me. Same with my old friends, the people who have known me as a child and young adult, we meet and have a lovely time every time I am home, but it’s the small day-to-day interactions on Facebook that make them want to be available when I come home. Same for friends where I live. People like me fine, I have good close friends, I don’t think there’s anyone who considers me their best friend, but I’m ok with that I do know though that if I don’t do the reaching out I could go months without a personal contact, and if Facebook is how I most efficiently manage the “burden” of that, then I choose that over loneliness.
Without Facebook I will have no queer content in my day to day. Stuff won’t just turn up on TV or in the newspaper, or on billboards I pass, or in my workplace or on metafilter. I can seek it out, absolutely, google ‘lesbian’ and hope for the best or actively keep a blogroll that makes it obvious that my life looks different, that I’ve got some sort of minority lifestyle choice thang going on. I am sure they still put events in the back pages of the free local paper, right?
I could do this for all the aspects of my complicated identity, but imma go boardgame shopping instead. Social media protocol, NOW and then let people use whatever platform they prefer to acces that content. If im getting your events as Facebook things or dropped straight into my calendar app or getting tagged in them on Insta it’s all good, just invite me.
posted by Iteki at 3:16 AM on September 29, 2018 [11 favorites]
@Chitownfats- yup, pretty much.
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 3:18 AM on September 29, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 3:18 AM on September 29, 2018 [1 favorite]
The problem with watching these dumpster fires comes in the form of realizing so many people you know rooting around in those dumpsters looking for scraps.
posted by filtergik at 4:10 AM on September 29, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by filtergik at 4:10 AM on September 29, 2018 [2 favorites]
I grew up in several different countries. When I lived in the USA last, I lived in 4 different time zones over a 6 year period. My profession is nomadic. My extended family is grouped in the UK, Canada, USA, Philippines, Spain, Italy, and Germany. My favorite ex-coworkers (people who I’ve holidayed with!) mostly live in Europe.
I will not cavalierly discard the one platform that my elderly aunties and uncles feel comfortable with. I will stay available to them until they are dead.
I try and not take too much personally but the holier than thou attitude was a bit much today. Don’t have much bandwidth for people sneering at my choices right now.
posted by lemon_icing at 4:13 AM on September 29, 2018 [11 favorites]
I will not cavalierly discard the one platform that my elderly aunties and uncles feel comfortable with. I will stay available to them until they are dead.
I try and not take too much personally but the holier than thou attitude was a bit much today. Don’t have much bandwidth for people sneering at my choices right now.
posted by lemon_icing at 4:13 AM on September 29, 2018 [11 favorites]
Like some others on here, I live a fairly nomadic life and people I love are scattered around the globe. I'm old enough to have also lived like this pre-social media and pre-internet, and honestly, it sucked by comparison. I lost touch with people's day to day lives. I was far more isolated.
I can keep up with my elderly mother pretty much daily now and have reconnected with relatives and friends I haven't seen in years. Professionally, my network is also global, and FB is one of the main ways we keep up with one another. I love seeing my friends' pets, their vacation photos, their kids, little snippets of their day to day lives. It would not be possible to keep up this level of interaction, which I enjoy immensely, via phone calls, letters, and email (although we use those as well).
Would I like a better service than FB? Yes, of course. Am I troubled by its polarizing influence, what it's done to our discourse, all the other bad things? Absolutely. Have I signed up for other, new services because if nobody signs up, they won't grow? Yep, repeatedly. But there's nobody there. It's wonderful that some people live lives that are not significantly materially changed when they get rid of FB, but that's really not the case for everyone. I honestly don't care at all when people say they aren't on FB--when they tell me they aren't, I actually sometimes say "Don't start!"--but it's a bit tiresome when people try to present their lack of FB presence as a virtue, moral or otherwise, or that the rest of us are just so much sheeple if we aren't following along.
posted by tiger tiger at 4:46 AM on September 29, 2018 [6 favorites]
I can keep up with my elderly mother pretty much daily now and have reconnected with relatives and friends I haven't seen in years. Professionally, my network is also global, and FB is one of the main ways we keep up with one another. I love seeing my friends' pets, their vacation photos, their kids, little snippets of their day to day lives. It would not be possible to keep up this level of interaction, which I enjoy immensely, via phone calls, letters, and email (although we use those as well).
Would I like a better service than FB? Yes, of course. Am I troubled by its polarizing influence, what it's done to our discourse, all the other bad things? Absolutely. Have I signed up for other, new services because if nobody signs up, they won't grow? Yep, repeatedly. But there's nobody there. It's wonderful that some people live lives that are not significantly materially changed when they get rid of FB, but that's really not the case for everyone. I honestly don't care at all when people say they aren't on FB--when they tell me they aren't, I actually sometimes say "Don't start!"--but it's a bit tiresome when people try to present their lack of FB presence as a virtue, moral or otherwise, or that the rest of us are just so much sheeple if we aren't following along.
posted by tiger tiger at 4:46 AM on September 29, 2018 [6 favorites]
If you don't link your FB account to a phone number, or use it on your phone, there's no way for them to verify your real identity. I have never used it on my phone, and have an account with a fake name registered to a burner email address.
I find FB fairly nauseating, but it is useful for various reasons described in other comments here. I find that having a wall between my FB identity and my real identity really helpful.
posted by SystematicAbuse at 7:05 AM on September 29, 2018 [2 favorites]
I find FB fairly nauseating, but it is useful for various reasons described in other comments here. I find that having a wall between my FB identity and my real identity really helpful.
posted by SystematicAbuse at 7:05 AM on September 29, 2018 [2 favorites]
If you don't link your FB account to a phone number, or use it on your phone, there's no way for them to verify your real identity.
This isn't a very tenable assumption. Half the sites on the internet (more, these days?) have Facebook tracking code on them for "Log in to Facebook!" or "Share on Facebook!" stuff, or analytics, or deeper integrations. So you need to take more precautions than just not directly giving them your real identity—you need to never use the same browser/IP address combination (see https://panopticlick.eff.org/ to determine how unique your combination is) on any site Facebook is getting telemetry from where you also expose your real identity, or have an ad blocker/privacy plugin that screens out all tracking code that might send information to Facebook on such sites.
But even besides that Facebook probably has enough information and a high enough vantage point, surveillance-wise, to know how someone with the ‹SystematicAbuse's realname› identity would behave. So you're probably only introducing enough ambiguity to limit it to "This user is either ‹SystematicAbuse's realname› or someone who is for some reason behaving exactly how ‹SystematicAbuse's realname› would behave", and thus all of your online activity Facebook can see still gets attached to the ‹SystematicAbuse's realname› identity.
posted by XMLicious at 7:42 AM on September 29, 2018 [4 favorites]
I don’t think it’s helpful to name call and shame those who are attempting to point out the very real problems of Facebook.
posted by Don.Kinsayder at 8:03 AM on September 29, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by Don.Kinsayder at 8:03 AM on September 29, 2018 [3 favorites]
Hey could we all take a deep breath here? Pointing out the many problems with FB: good. Citing some of the ways to try to mitigate its most egregious flaws and sins: great. Chastising others for using FB: not good.
posted by PhineasGage at 9:11 AM on September 29, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by PhineasGage at 9:11 AM on September 29, 2018 [7 favorites]
Citing some of the ways to try to mitigate its most egregious flaws and sins: great.
They're not "flaws and sins," though. They're literally the company's business model. The service itself is the problem.
posted by halation at 11:19 AM on September 29, 2018 [4 favorites]
They're not "flaws and sins," though. They're literally the company's business model. The service itself is the problem.
posted by halation at 11:19 AM on September 29, 2018 [4 favorites]
I've ranted against Facebook and have talked about how I've never had a FB account and never will because that site has been bad news from the very beginning when it was still called TheFacebook and needed an EDU email to join. (Which has to have been the most brilliant infection/growth strategy ever, limit it to the cool rich kids for the first few years, then open it to the public.)
Instead I'll talk about what I use instead of Facebook.
Lately I've been throwing pretty regular dance/DJ music nights and doing it without Facebook has been interesting, but it's working. I choose dates at least several months out then do a lot of slow, traditional word of mouth promotion with actual fliers and a whole lot of real, genuine emotional labor in being sincerely interested in the people I'm trying to bring together and hold space for.
So, I don't make Facebook event pages. I don't do any real online or social media promotion at all beyond directly texting and emailing a few select people, and these people aren't influencers being targeted or anything, they're just people I don't see in person IRL as much.
As it has become more and more popular there's been an interesting phenomenon, which is the unofficial Facebook event page for my events. For the last show there were something like 3-4 ad hoc event pages that other people had created, including at least one pre-func party with a dozen-odd confirmed attendees. (Which, sure, cool, I'm not going to get annoyed at people using whatever tools they want to use to do community promotion.)
It seems to be paying off and even helps with the audience that I attract. The last one was nicely attended and crowded and full of all the familiar faces I actually wanted to see there having a good time and dancing, and had pretty much zero unwanted attention or douchetastic dudebros looking to grab ass. The people that show up actually want to be there and have been planning on it for weeks or months. It's marked on their calendars, my fliers are on their fridges.
The novelty of doing the promotion as a sort of pastiche of how we used to do it for raves back in the day also seems to get people more interested and keeps the events from getting drowned out in a foaming sea of social media promotion. It stands out because of the physicality of the promotion - I actually hand you a flier during a real conversation that actual means something. I design, print and cut the fliers all by hand. I often use scissors to intentionally give them a rough, hand-made feel that stands out by leaving flaws that are tactile and physical.
I'm communicating through words and actions something like "Hey, this is made with love and I'm trying to make something special to share with you, and I can't do it without you. Please do attend."
Granted, this is all my own edge case and aesthetics. I live in a small town where there's not a lot of competition for good electronic/dance music. I have a big fish in a small pond effect that turns my old crufty raver past from random schmoe to vaguely wizard-ish.
But I'm doing and throwing successful events without Facebook and plan to continue to do so.
And by doing it I'm showing people they don't necessarily need Facebook all the time for all the things. It's important to actually do the things without Facebook, not just tell people to delete Facebook.
The more people that leave Facebook, the easier it'll be for all of us to get over Facebook. Leave as soon as you can. Build your personal alternatives and methods.
posted by loquacious at 11:47 AM on September 29, 2018 [9 favorites]
Instead I'll talk about what I use instead of Facebook.
Lately I've been throwing pretty regular dance/DJ music nights and doing it without Facebook has been interesting, but it's working. I choose dates at least several months out then do a lot of slow, traditional word of mouth promotion with actual fliers and a whole lot of real, genuine emotional labor in being sincerely interested in the people I'm trying to bring together and hold space for.
So, I don't make Facebook event pages. I don't do any real online or social media promotion at all beyond directly texting and emailing a few select people, and these people aren't influencers being targeted or anything, they're just people I don't see in person IRL as much.
As it has become more and more popular there's been an interesting phenomenon, which is the unofficial Facebook event page for my events. For the last show there were something like 3-4 ad hoc event pages that other people had created, including at least one pre-func party with a dozen-odd confirmed attendees. (Which, sure, cool, I'm not going to get annoyed at people using whatever tools they want to use to do community promotion.)
It seems to be paying off and even helps with the audience that I attract. The last one was nicely attended and crowded and full of all the familiar faces I actually wanted to see there having a good time and dancing, and had pretty much zero unwanted attention or douchetastic dudebros looking to grab ass. The people that show up actually want to be there and have been planning on it for weeks or months. It's marked on their calendars, my fliers are on their fridges.
The novelty of doing the promotion as a sort of pastiche of how we used to do it for raves back in the day also seems to get people more interested and keeps the events from getting drowned out in a foaming sea of social media promotion. It stands out because of the physicality of the promotion - I actually hand you a flier during a real conversation that actual means something. I design, print and cut the fliers all by hand. I often use scissors to intentionally give them a rough, hand-made feel that stands out by leaving flaws that are tactile and physical.
I'm communicating through words and actions something like "Hey, this is made with love and I'm trying to make something special to share with you, and I can't do it without you. Please do attend."
Granted, this is all my own edge case and aesthetics. I live in a small town where there's not a lot of competition for good electronic/dance music. I have a big fish in a small pond effect that turns my old crufty raver past from random schmoe to vaguely wizard-ish.
But I'm doing and throwing successful events without Facebook and plan to continue to do so.
And by doing it I'm showing people they don't necessarily need Facebook all the time for all the things. It's important to actually do the things without Facebook, not just tell people to delete Facebook.
The more people that leave Facebook, the easier it'll be for all of us to get over Facebook. Leave as soon as you can. Build your personal alternatives and methods.
posted by loquacious at 11:47 AM on September 29, 2018 [9 favorites]
Facebook earlier blocked the AP story about its hack as potential spam.
Source: @emilybell
posted by chappell, ambrose at 12:36 PM on September 29, 2018 [4 favorites]
Action Blocked: Our security systems have detected that a lot of people are posting the same content, which could mean it’s spam. Please try a different post.Either Facebook hasn’t whitelisted the AP, or it’s doing this deliberately. Either option reflects really poorly on them.
Source: @emilybell
posted by chappell, ambrose at 12:36 PM on September 29, 2018 [4 favorites]
I have successfully contacted groups whose events I attend and convinced them to create newsletters. Since then I've been able to almost entirely stop visiting it. I still use my account though: I have alerts set up to ping me anytime certain family members post because otherwise I might never find out that someone died, is ill etc.
posted by tofu_crouton at 9:31 AM on September 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by tofu_crouton at 9:31 AM on September 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
Just a follow up to apologize if my above comment came off as "holier than thou", because that certainly was not my intention.
I had hoped to show that their security and privacy issues are a hill that some of us chose to die upon, and left.
I had also hoped to show that leaving Facebook and their ecosystem is horrifically inconvenient, so use caution should you also decide to leave the premises. It is not a decision to be taken lightly, as I found out.
Finally, I would totally go back to Facebook or a Facebook-like site if THEY WOULD JUST FUCKING BEHAVE.
Again, sorry if my comment made me sound like an asshat.
posted by Major Matt Mason Dixon at 11:57 AM on September 30, 2018 [2 favorites]
I had hoped to show that their security and privacy issues are a hill that some of us chose to die upon, and left.
I had also hoped to show that leaving Facebook and their ecosystem is horrifically inconvenient, so use caution should you also decide to leave the premises. It is not a decision to be taken lightly, as I found out.
Finally, I would totally go back to Facebook or a Facebook-like site if THEY WOULD JUST FUCKING BEHAVE.
Again, sorry if my comment made me sound like an asshat.
posted by Major Matt Mason Dixon at 11:57 AM on September 30, 2018 [2 favorites]
FTFY
I know I'm a bit oversensitive, but can we not do this snarky disagreement thing that feels a lot like gaslighting from my chair? Thank you.
posted by GenderNullPointerException at 12:34 PM on September 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
I know I'm a bit oversensitive, but can we not do this snarky disagreement thing that feels a lot like gaslighting from my chair? Thank you.
posted by GenderNullPointerException at 12:34 PM on September 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
Facebook earlier blocked the AP story about its hack as potential spam.
The only surprising this about this is Facebook actually telling users that the story is blocked instead of their typical creepy practice of controlling what people see based on The Algorithm and just silently hiding it.
posted by exogenous at 2:29 PM on October 1, 2018 [2 favorites]
The only surprising this about this is Facebook actually telling users that the story is blocked instead of their typical creepy practice of controlling what people see based on The Algorithm and just silently hiding it.
posted by exogenous at 2:29 PM on October 1, 2018 [2 favorites]
NY Times (soft paywall warning): "A Wise Man Leaves Facebook" on Instagram founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger:
“Social media is in a pre-Newtonian moment, where we all understand that it works, but not how it works,” Mr. Systrom told me, comparing this moment in the tech world to the time before man could explain gravity. “There are certain rules that govern it and we have to make it our priority to understand the rules, or we cannot control it.”posted by exogenous at 7:53 AM on October 2, 2018
It would be nice if he was still in the room to articulate that to powerful people like Mr. Zuckerberg. But now, just like that, he’s not
The only surprising this about this is Facebook actually telling users that the story is blocked instead of their typical creepy practice of controlling what people see based on The Algorithm and just silently hiding it.
Maybe I'm hoping against hope, but the developments over the last year signal to me that they can't hide behind The Algorithm anymore, nor do they want to (this is the hope part). If anybody can counter with "you mean the Russian Algorithm?" Zuck is not going to stand for leaving that weakness hanging out there. They'll find something new.
posted by rhizome at 11:45 AM on October 2, 2018
Maybe I'm hoping against hope, but the developments over the last year signal to me that they can't hide behind The Algorithm anymore, nor do they want to (this is the hope part). If anybody can counter with "you mean the Russian Algorithm?" Zuck is not going to stand for leaving that weakness hanging out there. They'll find something new.
posted by rhizome at 11:45 AM on October 2, 2018
The Facebook Security Meltdown Exposes Way More Sites Than Facebook (Brian Barrett and Lily Hay Newman for Wired, Sept. 28, 2018)
posted by filthy light thief at 1:57 PM on October 2, 2018 [2 favorites]
On Friday, Facebook revealed that it had suffered a security breach that impacted at least 50 million of its users, and possibly as many as 90 million. What it failed to mention initially, but revealed in a followup call Friday afternoon, is that the flaw affects more than just Facebook. If your account was impacted it means that a hacker could have accessed any account that you log into using Facebook.Emphasis mine -- the problem with using Facebook, Google or any other platform as the gatekeeper for access is that if someone compromises the gatekeeper, they can unlock many more gates.
posted by filthy light thief at 1:57 PM on October 2, 2018 [2 favorites]
Yep, and Tinder has been really turning up the "hey, come back!" notifications
posted by rhizome at 2:02 PM on October 2, 2018
posted by rhizome at 2:02 PM on October 2, 2018
Facebook was used as a tool to fuel genocide in Myanmar (NY Times link).
posted by exogenous at 1:47 PM on October 15, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by exogenous at 1:47 PM on October 15, 2018 [1 favorite]
After this thread originally went up, I read Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now by Jaron Lanier. I highlighted a lot of things thinking I'd share them, but having run out of spoons, I'll just post one thing that really stood out for me:
Go where you are nicest.
posted by tofu_crouton at 3:57 PM on October 15, 2018 [1 favorite]
Go where you are nicest.
posted by tofu_crouton at 3:57 PM on October 15, 2018 [1 favorite]
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posted by yellowbinder at 10:18 AM on September 28, 2018 [20 favorites]