The American programmers who can fix the problems were pushed out long ago, after training their foreign replacements. They’re probably getting by with their packages plus whatever they get paid as Walmart greeters.
The H-1B visa holders who created the problems are calling for more . . . H-1B visa holders.
For a genius with billions, Zuckerberg sure makes a lot of amateurish mistakes. Perhaps he should look at the use case of leaving.
20
We all know that FB is really, really sorry and resolves to improve. I could write their PR releases anymore. Zuck's slogan used to be "move fast and break things" and now is "quickly break everything we touch".
15
Why do we even need facebook? To hook up with someone I knew when I was 8?
23
Zuckerberg did achieve his true dream...selling user's personal information to become wealthy. He created a great cover story for Facebook--"to connect with friends and family".
But it is impossible to control and protect the information in Facebook's vast data storage. This has been made abundantly clear by the Cambridge Analytica scandal, the many advertising pages bought by Russians to politically divide the U.S. and other countries to effect election outcomes, and the Facebook-driven murders in Myanmar due to a campaign of misinformation.
Besides beefing up it's encryption technology, Facebook has to hire a prodigious number of translators, carefully vetted for their political views, to review the worldwide content seen by its 2.2 billion users. With so much power to destroy governments and people comes a huge responsibility to essentially, protect the world.
Mark's slow to admit error, slow to fix problems and evidently does not want to limit his revenue. I don't know if other competing social media companies would help with the data theft problem, because wherever an enormous amount of data is stored, it will be subject to hacking.
Even if a user paid Facebook not to sell their information, there Iis no guarantee it will be secure.
So, call friends. Meet up with them. Do not put anything on Facebook that you don't want the entire world to read. And insist that Zuckerberg's statement of, "only YOU control your information" is verifiably true.
22
I confess to being an avid Facebook user. It has been important to my career as a communications and marketing tool. But I also use it to keep up with old and new friends, family members, et al., and it's a convenient cure for boredom or loneliness. All of that said, I agree there's an awful lot of trivial and truculent information being shared (and I'm sometimes guilty on both counts). I also agree with the view that the company's leadership has been somewhat less than responsible. But I've virtually never put anything on the platform that I didn't want the world to know about me, because I was all too familiar with the Internet before Facebook ever existed. So I'm not sure I get the "privacy" issue. If you want privacy, you can find it offline.
9
Since Day One, Mark Zuckerberg has shown a cavalier attitude toward protecting people's personal information. Yet they trust him, anyway. The question remains: Why?
16
And then.....Facebook allows many accounts that are totally devoid of any information whatsoever. Just a blank where a photo can be placed and absolutely no, nada, biographical info. That is unacceptable.
Here is a good one. I make comments on articles and opinions published in my local newspaper. Another commenter who is of totally opposite political persuasion than I am has blocked me from seeing his comments and used facebook to do it. I have argued that this local paper should not allow that because it is a violation of free speech. The paper says blame facebook !
8
Facebook can be dumb or it can be great ... it's all how you pick your friends. In addition to being in touch with old pals, I've made friends and acquaintances with interesting people all over the world. I love seeing the latest virtuoso woodcut from a guy in Thailand, or the new tiny handmade kite built by my friend Sunny in Taiwan. A sculptor friend in Turkey is an excellent curator - showing her own amazing work as well as fabulous Islamic tile ceilings and geometric drawings. A woman I've known since my toddler years is making gorgeous quilts. A high school friend is a successful illustrator for science fiction books. Photos of wild eagles, humpback whales, dolphin and foxes by local NYC photographers tell me that our city is a thriving natural area. The list goes on and on.
There is plenty of junk on Facebook, but like any tool, it has it's good and bad.
7
Mark is not too worried about it...it’s like the George Costanza “Industrial Smoothing” company boss...
8
50 million accounts exposed!? That’s small fry compared to hundred of millions of users that expose themselves their families and friends on FB every second of every day.
They simply can’t resist telling the entire world - literally. Nothing is taboo and everything goes.
Privacy & Facebook is an oxymoron and can’t be used in the same sentence
7
To all those that say that they give Facebook false information about their identity so a hack doesn’t matter-
Yes it does matter. You are still using their platform and supporting them. Just quit it altogether already.
13
"In 2003, a sophomore at Harvard University named Mark Zuckerberg, hacked into protected areas of the university's computer network in order to find photos of other students. He then would pair two of them next to each other on a program called 'Facemash' and ask users to choose the more attractive person."
https://www.statista.com/statistics/273563/number-of-facebook-employees/
Do "they" ever get into Zuckerberg's or Sandberg's or any of the top executives' personal information?
Right now, account holders are pairing executives' statements on the latest hack and choosing the more moronic.
9
Hackers have been hacking my account for a while now, and Facebook's engineers just discovered it? I've closed and changed account several times, changed my passwords many times. None of this ever worked. The hacking happened mostly while on FB messenger on my IPhone7. Right after changes, I would be hacked again. However, I never post anything personal at all whatsoever. So they wasted their time with me. Regardless of hackers, why would anyone trust FB when its owner stole the idea from two guys who trusted him?
15
Is anyone really using Facebook anymore?
More irrelevant each day.....
9
Any evidence these assets had been activated, or are we to await their impact?
I'm faceless, but I still know those folks have wormed their way into my apple.
I just deleted an email my brother sent of crazy Russian propaganda about the CIA being in on this. I didn't open that one, either.
I figure if things are gonna fall, they are gonna fall. You can not catch them all.
2
I used FB during college. It was a great way for my cohort to communicate.
I used FB to find some long lost shipmates who I served with.
I then saw how FB got too big for its britches and the nonsense people were posting about Barack Obama.
I then unfriended FB...this was I don't know, a couple of years ago.
My life is free and clear of FB.
Unfriend FB.
Get your life back.
12
Social and Network are what is wrong with this world.
7
Perhaps Facebook only exists so that Mr. Zuckerberg can have nicer houses with higher walls around them than anyone else.
I suppose he's buy Catalina Island or Oahu if he could.
5
One more reason to be happy I completely closed my Facebook account nearly a year ago. Adios, data mining and junk mail, hello productive time.
10
Many critics here are saying "I have never used Facebook, but I am sure it is a waste of time, a morass, good for ego boost only" and so on. If these people have not used it, how would they know it is so bad? Billions of people use Facebook. Apparently they find it beneficial. Could it be they are all deluded, or stupid, or wrong?
I myself have never used Facebook. I have only glanced at it a few times. My wife and others I know use it, and they seem to benefit from it in their business and personal lives. Since I have not used it, I cannot judge it, and I would not condemn it.
(I have not used it because what little I saw of it seems insipid, and because I have no time. But with billions of accounts, there is probably a great deal that would interest me.)
1
After the 2016 elections and all the news came out about the Russian hackers, Cambridge Analytica, etc etc, I was able to locate, at very little time and expense, the ultimate security tool for Facebook users. You don’t even have to look for or download an app. It’s called DELETE YOUR ACCOUNT, and it’s as easy as that. Really. It took me about 3 minutes to lo find the page where you can delete your account, and after some very official looking “warnings” from FB asking if I was “sure” I wanted to do this (you must be strong and keep saying yes), I was told my data would be held for two or three weeks, “in case I changed my mind” (not likely), and then deleted. I have no idea if my data was deleted or not, but I do know that subsequent attempts to log on produced a “no account found by that name” messages. I don’t miss all that noise one bit.
16
Facebook - a billion sheep cannot be wrong. Hysterically amusing.
7
50 million is rounding error for Facebook.
7
I read a story about how hiring managers and HR people are 50% LESS likely to hire somebody without a social media account. That takes me out - I've never had an account. I prefer to leave a small footprint and low profile - and really, it's none of anybody's business.
But what a shock it would be to find out that I didn't get a job that I was qualified for - because I didn't have a social media account.
What a world we live in!
13
The US needs stronger data privacy and data protection laws, similar to those in the EU. Companies that violate privacy, intentionally or not, should pay fines. When Facebook is forced to pay massive penalties each time a data breach occurs, they might start taking user privacy seriously.
8
After Cambridge Analytica, I left Facebook permanently as I could clearly see I had been played in the dis-information scandal during the 2016 election. I had been active politically on FB and through subsequent revelations in media reporting, I could see I had been targeted on FB.
If you haven’t permanently deleted your FB account you may consider doing it now. At a minimum remove the associations between your FB account and other online services.
The more dependent we are on online technology the more vulnerable we are to data attacks on our personal data.
My solution is to lock everything down including location tracking and any other type of tracking.
Less is better.
8
Facebook is important to me because I find community there - especially a community of present & former colleagues... and I use it as a touchstone with childhood friends & a few extended family members. I also love the memes, which make me laugh just when I need it.
I seem not to have been hacked this time. That said, I never log onto other sites using my Facebook account (always do a separate password). And, I never, ever link anything financial such as a credit card to my Facebook account, i.e., I don't purchase things through that site. If they do hack me they'll get my birthday, my location, and little else (all things that are 'out there' on the web anyway).
2
@Anne-Marie Hislop
Briefly had an account in 2011, after a friend told us that’s how we should stay in touch. It appeared harmless. We deactivated a few months later after I read the FB terms and conditions. They were/are astoundingly clear about owning everything a user puts on the site.
Have not missed the “benefits” at all (someone please explain them...no, don’t, idc) but we have missed being exploited by the sociopaths who created this beast, and the current group of sociopaths who are laughing everyday they still find fools using this dinosaur.
If you are still on, realize that every hacker on the planet has probably long ago harvested everything they can about you. Get off, now!
8
Facebook has had security problems for years and every time there's a breach, the company pays lip service to the press and continues with business as usual. Remember, you're the product on Facebook NOT the customer. ALL of your data is sold to multiple entities for "marketing" purposes. How do you think they make their money? You do not own your personal content. Once it's posted, it becomes "property" of Facebook to do as they wish. At this point in time, Facebook users aren't helpless victims. They are willing accomplices who just can't resist the call of mindless food pics, cat videos, and "friends" bragging about their latest purchase.
14
@My Humble Opiniom
The cable companies know what channels you watch , know what calls you make and advertisements follow. Many people do not even realize that on the new Samsung TVs, there is a listening device when internet is turned on. Conversations inside your home are followed and downloaded. Very few hsve old fashioned phone lines. All conversations are recorded if using that special internet, phone, cable package. No warrant needed. Not a phone line.
2
...and so does Google, Apple, the list goes on and on. We, the public, no longer have any privacy. Facebook now owns a patent that works in concert with the facial recognition software on phones that can analyze your reaction to content. We are in a "surveillance state" of sorts. The public has blindly accepted it with no questions asked.
8
Great buying opportunity of the stock . About two months ago hit a high of 218. Has fallen 30%. So many comments criticizing Facebook, however it has 2.2 billion users. Very easy to criticize when mistakes occur, However Facebook has been a huge success. Facebook will rebound and all of these comments will be forgotten.
1
We shall see in a few years Zuck and Sandberg in a courtroom. The charges may well be monopolistic behavior infringement. Facebuck&Rubles as we know it is history.
@Le Michelare
They are cash rich, in three years they will have 75 billion in cash. Surprised someone doesn’t buy 10% now that it has fallen and try to shake things up.
Sorry folks, I'm a fan of Facebook just like I'm a fan of online banking. Blame the criminals not the victims. This isn't the Kavanaugh sexual assault saga where the victim is blamed, this is real life hacking into the most secure systems in the world. Even the pentagon and the Democratic National Campaign site been hacked.
4
@sandcanyongal
Remember Zuckerberg knew about the Cambridge Analytica fiasco long before the public knew. He has no integrity and a moral core. Facebook users and their friends are only a product to sell. Self centered frat boy.
6
Government should require the two billionaires, mark and Sheryl to pay for the damages.
1
Avoiding damage from hacking is pretty easy: Get off of Facebook, Twitter, and ALL social media sites and delete all stored credit card information from all shopping sites. Then hope for the best.
12
It’s an obsolete product built on obsolete technology that requires replacement. Period, end of story. Hello, hello, the lights are on everybody, but nobody’s at home at Facebook.
4
When it first started to become popular, my extended family wanted me to sign up so I could "follow what was going on with the family". This family consisted of ten first cousins, who average about four kids each, and each of those kids is now having children. All I could envision is being informed of another family birthday every other day. I said "no thanks".
Well, it turns out that signing up for Facebook is like visiting a crowded stadium full of identity pickpockets. My mother always advised me to avoid bad neighborhoods.
15
Everyone in the USA should make a basic facebook account with maximum security, to get the share price up again. An attack is affecting the sharemarket and all the USA's investments. I'm guessing the attack is being done by either Iran or China or Russia. Facebook just deleted approximately 700 accounts linked to Russia and Iran.
If you live in the USA you should be using facebook more as an attack on facebook is an attack on the USA gross domestic product and taxes the government collects. USA has a very high government debt to GDP.
Maybe some foreign government is using cyber warfare to bring down the USA economy and create a recession.
2
I stopped going on Facebook about two years ago because it was too tough seeing how much better everyone else's lives were than mine, even though I knew that people were posting their highlight reels. I discovered among other things that I had 20 additional hours every week to do productive things, and as a result I've never gone back. In the process I have somehow survived not knowing what my next-door neighbor had for breakfast or how that bicycle repair went for a high school classmate I can barely remember.
13
@Paul in NJ
I couldn't agree more and I've had this exact same discussion with others recently. Facebook is nothing more than a popularity contest anymore.
7
I don't like Facebook and rarely go on it.. What exactly should I be worried about- that someone is going to see my mother's vacation pictures or my high-school friends' pro-Trump memes? Please explain. I know I should be more alarmed, but I just don't get it.
1
If you’re still using Facebook to keep in touch with the exception of truly long distance family and friends, you’re doing it wrong by now.
2
I have mine deactivated a month now. I don’t even miss it. Stay in touch in authentic, meaningful ways. Write a letter, make a phone call, share vacation photos over a conversation in messenger.
5
Another part of this problem are all of the Internet properties that blindly trust Facebook to authenticate your ownership of your email address. Through this mechanism, a security lapse on the part of Facebook could result in the compromise of your accounts on other sites, even if you don't have a Facebook account. We need proper federated authentication like OpenID, not duopolies!
14
Zuck said it himself - if FB can't protect your information then they don't deserve your trust and you should not input any data you care about into FB.
29
My account was definitely affected. I noticed because in my history there were tons and tons of pages it showed that I "liked" but which I had never seen.
8
For those saying shut it down, it's a service that comes with some risks, the way most things do. If you don't want to take the risk, don't use the service.
It's like saying "shut down Coca-cola - it's bad for you!"
Yes, perhaps the government should mandate better disclosure of data risk, but shutting down is over-doing it.
2
The government shouldn't shut it. Tens of million individuals should withdraw. I did.
16
Mark Zuckerberg is a very smart guy. But there's a void in his chest where his heart should be. By now, he should have figured out he needs to hire some senior people that possess the traits and skills that he lacks. Until that happens, he'll continue to make unforced errors that put his business, and our democracy, at unnecessary risk.
11
@markymark what is this senior people about? Management person like a chief of security? Or are you talking about senior engineers? I'm certain that the engineers on Facebook are indeed really good and paid better than most engineers. It is not a simple task to work with a complicated product even for the best engineers
I must repost the following. I wish I could claim authorship . .
"I haven’t got a computer, but I was told about Facebook and Twitter and am trying to make friends outside Facebook and Twitter while applying the same principles.
"Every day, I walk down the street and tell passers-by what I have eaten, how I feel, what I have done the night before and what I will do for the rest of the day. I give them pictures of my wife, my daughter, my dog and me gardening and on holiday, spending time by the pool. I also listen to their conversations, tell them I ‘like’ them and give them my opinion on every subject that interests me, whether it interests them or not.
"And it works! I already have four people following me; two police officers, a social worker and a psychiatrist."
133
@Texas Liberal
Thank you for adding a very bright spot in a long day of depressing Senatorial news. Have you thought of running for the Senate? If a body ever needed a sense of humor and perspective, it that which is now headed by the grim team of McConnell and Grassley.
9
I just watch Mars Attacks..one of the best spoofs on Congress to date ;)
2
I enjoy my FB experience and keep in touch with my friends but I intentionally put in the wrong birthday, wrong high school, wrong college, wrong company that I work for, fake phone number, use a recovery email that I almost never use, and every Saturday take 5 minutes to search for products I never want. Go ahead and steal that....
17
@Ylem
Great strategy. It's the same thing with account security questions: Experts suggest submitting nonsense words for answers (of which one must of course keep track) so that someone trying to compromise or steal the account cannot deduce your security answers from other known information about you. Simple, low-tech but effective strategy.
@Ylem: Sounds like an awful lot of trouble for very little return. Why not actually call or write your friends? If they really mean something to you, that doesn’t sound like such a lot of trouble, does it?
1
Facebook is for folks who need an ego boost. Like Donald Trump at one of his roadside carnival "rallies".
It's pathetic.
16
@Will.
Oddly enough, Trump has no individual presence on Facebook. He saves that for Twitter. Facebook merely acknowledges the Office of the Presidency, without a bit of characteristic blather from Trump.
It always cracks me up when people who've never actually created a Facebook profile make blanket statements about how Facebook works or who actually enjoys it. After all, it's so easy to generalize about two billion users.
1
They say it was the Russian oligarchs who payed hackers to hack our accounts. https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/know-your-oligarch-a-guide-to-the-jewish...
2
Never had a Facebook account, never will. There are too many online interests pilfering, stealing, or selling people's personal information.
No need to give my personal information to Facebook for free so they can lose it.
12
Using Facebook is a choice. Anyone who doesn't understand the risks hasn't been paying attention.
I would rather Congress get its panties in a twist about protecting something critical, like our voting systems. That would be time well spent.
21
Facebook has been hacked (again). There are three things you should do-- unsubscribe, unsubscribe, unsubscribe.
14
Facebook needs to evolve from Mark Zuckerberg into Sheryl Sandberg.
1
When someone works for an evil person, they too are evil, and more so the closer to their management tier they are—and Zuck and Sandy practically share a bed there. (Poor Chan.)
I'd rather Lean Out from the watchful gaze of BOTH, thanks.
1
If you're on FB, get off it.
If you're Catholic, it's time to leave the Church.
If youre a Republican, it's time to change parties.
82
@zumaman outstanding! Exactly right on all three accounts.
5
@Paxinmano - Perhaps not the republican but otherwise spot on, Still many good republicans !
Enough, quit FB they are destroying you all from within and to the highest buyer.
8
“Who wants to bet that a week or two from now they “discover” it was 100 million accounts, and then eventually admit it was 200 million?” Gruber
26
Assuming Zuckerberg is not a Russian agent, the Fakebook board should demand his resignation. This is the 4th consecutive breach of user accounts and all he can say is “we’re taking this really seriously” and “it shouldn’t have happened In the first place “? Really Mark?
This is the CEO of a multi billion dollar company that allowed 50 million accounts to be breached and that’s all he’s got to say?
Charlatan.
19
This company is a train wreck.
Don't use it.
12
I experienced not being able to post on my business page of Milla de Oro Magazine.
What thinking person is on Facebook? Manipulation, fake news, compromised security, endless ads and the selling of your personal data that you give up freely.
So lame.
19
Reading the adjacent artcle "Facebook was hacked. Here are three things you should do" by Brian X. Chen, many of the Facebook subscribers (and I am not one of them) may ask, is the game worth the candle? I think, not.
3
"Not at all shocking. More like inevitable. "
Yes indeed. And yet millions plow blindly forward into it anyway.
What did you all do before this lame stuff ? How did you get through a day ? I don't need to worry because I have never given it 2 seconds thought.
WHY on earth do I need to know or CARE what 47 (or 4700) other people I don't really know are doing ?
It reminds my of walking through a Dept store with my 6 year old daughter. Kids are drawn to other kids, so they talk. It's nice to see. But friends ? My daughter would inevitably say after the stranger walked away "she's my friend". Sometimes I still wonder if she ever learned the difference. As I wonder about the millions of socially stunted adults who cannot get through the day without such nonsense. And on top of that - to give up every personal bit about yourself in the process ! Just so someone else can make a buck on your very essence.
For what ? How many Dog & Cat / vacation /anything pictures can you look at in any given day ? Why on earth would anyone want to know what I ate yesterday or who you slept with or ????
Its a sickness and mass addiction.
5
API tokens are one of the most secure authentication methods out there. However, this is another moment where Zuckerberg messed up really bad.
Here's a simplified explanation. You submit your user name and password to Facebook and ask Facebook to remember your info. In return, Facebook gives you an API token that acts as a substitute for your un/pw. This IS a feature. People don't want to type their password every time they use Facebook.
More importantly though, API tokens prevent you from repeatedly sending your un/pw over insecure internet connections. You send your un/pw once and then use your token instead. Next time you login, your device sends the token. Facebook checks their database for a matching token linked to your account. You're logged-in without ever noticing.
Two problems.
1) Facebook isn't linking your API token to any known hardware. Your router has a fixed IP address wherever your home connects to the ISP. On mobile devices that frequently switch connections, you'd tie the ID to the device's motherboard or MAC address. You will know when an unknown device is using the token and prompt for un/pw. Facebook clearly isn't doing this.
2) Facebook isn't cycling tokens. The user keeps submitting the same token over and over again. Every one, five, ten logins Facebook could send a new token back and update their database to link the new token to your account. You'd never know. It's the equivalent of forced pw updates. Facebook clearly isn't doing this either.
6
Reality check - why would any use FB?
6
Facebook is a test. Most of you fail. If you delete your account or if you say you are too good for it, you fail. I transformed my algorithm while I had schizophrenia and was drunk. I deleted that account and parts of my algorithm followed me to my new life and eventual company foundation. I am thankful Facebook remembers me, I progress daily and get better. Facebook is by far a leader in technology and is part of the transformation to an appless, paperless future. I understand that just like famous people, all my words can bring me down. I live to write more and speak more. So with that I stand by my dismissal manic self of a sometimes depressive nature as a new found bipolar and continue on with Facebook.
1
Like I've been saying for years about Facebook - their lack of privacy and regard for users is a non starter. Stay away - it's also another time waster.
10
Oh - PS -
If you are all so worried about our Democracy. Our Elections. Our freedom ?
Quit Facebook. Quit Twitter. And all the rest. Doesn't matter WHAT side of the political fence you are on. You can solve this problem in a day.
But I highly doubt many will do it. Can you imagine any large number of adults in this country sacrificing anything personal ? Even to help our Democracy ? Compile a book of excuses there - as to why they can't - it would be 4 feet thick.
4
Let's regulate Facebook. Too much depends on the whims of has beens.
4
Facebook will fix the problem. No one lost any money.ftom thevhsvjing. I predict it was programmer hacks who wanted attention. No credit card info lost. However it is time for Facebook to buy back it’s stock or it might crash. The stock was at 218 , is now at 164.. Close to 30% decline in three months. Facebook has from 49 to 50 billion in cash. Shareholders are going to want Facebook to buyback shares. Apple has been buying back shares for years. Apple is at record highs.
Facebook needs strategic direction. No time for a boring reaction. I would not be surprised to find out a sovereign nation/ Saudi Arabia has bought 10% of Facebook. Easy to buy back shares. Dividend is not necessary.
2
Yes another reason not to use Facebook. Seriously, folks, how many reasons do you need?
I find it difficult to understand just how obtuse people can be.
16
Knowing what we all know of the mismanagement, greed and general incompetence of this company's leadership begs a simple question. Why would anyone with an ounce of brains still have an active account on this train wreck?
8
Now we know with certainty that we are vulnerable to sharing personal information about our lives with more than those authorized to see that information.
Remember that as you post your lives on Facebook.
2
@Emergence
Everyone knows that. Remember the old phones those weren’t allowed to be tapped without a warrant. Every conversation you make on a cell is recorded. Every email you send is recorded. Google makes a copy of every search and every email. Remember the modern hi tech TVs record your conversations in your house especially the Samsung sets. The voice is heard after you download the new tech. Majority of homes do not have old phone lines but purchase their phone connection through their package. The voice is recorded. Sorry to tell you what is actually occurring.
5
this is minor compared to the Equifax breach where the financial information of millions was stolen.
5
If all facebook users in the US log out tonight and not access facebook for 24 hours, what would happen to their revenue for the next 24 hours? I am curious. I do not have a facebook account.
5
It was fun to reconnect with old friends at first. But we all change over time. It's really kind of sad to discover how different I am from people I was very close to 20 years ago.
I deleted my FB, Twitter, and Instagram accounts months ago and glad to walk away. Current friends have my email and phone number.
FB's privacy policy is meaningless. It all belongs to Zuck to shape and sell to any bidder. It puts us all at risk from any interested parties.
30
“This is another sobering indicator that Congress needs to step up and take action to protect the privacy and security of social media users,”
I don't want the government taking control of the security/privacy of any of my data! I know this is looking bad on FB, but if the government was running the show, just from a software engineering perspective, I think we'd be in a much worse place.
2
Not at all shocking. More like inevitable.
We in this country like to think of the super-smart, successful, famous and unimaginably wealthy and powerful symbols of Silicon Valley like Mark Zuckerberg, Sergey Brin et al. as infallible ubermenches. The dangerous effects of holding on to that delusion become more apparent every day.
Facebook is basically an unwieldy behemoth of a company run by a bunch of individual human beings who are by no means superpowers or gods, and who are able to self-justify all kinds of risks they take with the proof of their genius in the past, if not with thoughts putting the interests of the company's shareholders above those of their users.
We all need to remember that, with little difference, the same or worse is true of all companies, public or private, whose internet-based services permeate our lives.
12
Maybe because I got online back in the DOS /CompuServe days, I've never had an online account of any kind, that reflected my true identity. I was working remotely at the time, and set up everything then and since, with a false ID that's had no relation to my real life for over almost 40-years now.
Between that and being an early adopter of VPN's, I can actually sleep at night, unafraid of what the box with flickering hard drive on my desk, my bedside camera-less laptop, or the Smartphone safely ensconced in my kitchen is doing at night, while I'm asleep.
9
“We didn’t take a broad enough view of what our responsibility is. That was a huge mistake, and it was my mistake.” You think? And how many will pay?
6
@Deborah Carey
By becoming a little less of a Multi-Billionaire.
2016 presidential elections, Facebook, getting black people purged from voter registration roles, voting machines in key battleground states, and all the checks on voting tallies. Hillary won by 13 million, but they pared it down to a loss and just 3 million ahead, losing the electoral college.
4
Recall WSJ reporting 7 weeks ago: “The social-media giant [FB] has asked large U.S. banks to share detailed financial information about their customers, including card transactions and checking-account balances, as part of an effort to offer new services to users.”
FB should be regulated like manufacturers of automobiles and consumer goods: product safety is prioritized over lust for corporate
revenue and stockholders’ advantage. Data aggregators must be forced to forego business opportunities if they cannot comply with regulatory protections.
Now Congress needs to do its job and bring those protections forward.
22
@Brenda M
Once FB set up pipes to share data, the hackers could scoot into the banks.
2
It's obvious that securing Facebook's website against break-ins is far from settled. While I hope that Facebook will allocate more resources than before to keeping its site secure, it's clear that we can longer be confident that Facebook can keep out all those waiting in the wings to undermine our elections. We need to be on our guard while Facebook continues to find ways to handle a massive technological challenge.
3
And that additional personal information is immediately sold to companies like Apple, Ford, McDonalds, Levi Strauss, Maybelline, Black and Decker, the list goes on.
Maybe Facebook users should start charging Facebook for the free service?
Get off Facebook. Will Ferrell did. Will Ferrell knows a joke when he sees one.
4
Facebook is a Trojan horse without the horse, and yet people still allow it entry into their lives. I keep wondering what additional horrors it will take for its users to just say no.
11
If you don't Facebook or Twit, your data can't be hacked thru these sources.
9
This might a great opportunity to deactivate my Facebook account.
7
@Jorge
Might? Just do it.
2
Just do it! I’m a month in to my deactivation and I don’t even miss it. You might get several “am I blocked???” messages, but after awhile it stops and you just feel all around lighter.
Zuckerberg the thief could care less about users data.
All he wants to do is monetize their data in anyway possible.
15
Well that is one way to "accidentally"sell data.
2
Mark Zuckerberg has appear before Congress at least 4 times, each time acknowledging Facebook's mishandling of user info and promising to do better, each time declaring “We’re taking it really seriously.” And, from the mouths of Facebook employees, it's done nothing to actually remedy the exposed faults -- just window dressing.
It's way past time for legal consequences. Whatever the user agreement might say: Violation of Constitutional rights is still illegal.
As is lying to Congress.
7
@Texas Liberal
He answered all their questions. They really didn’t understand Facebooks business. Facebook should buy back their stock.
@Ralph Petrillo He told Congress that, if you delete your Facebook account, all is gone, completely. A lie. For example: Your data will remain on their backups, for months, and they can restore it -- and continue to sell it -- until the backup is overwritten.
Is posting your pictures flying in business class or eating in a nice restaurant really worth all the risk? Really?
On its very BEST days, Facebook (aka "Facebrag") is a colossal waste of time. On its worst days it is a propaganda machine for foreign powers, a platform for conspiracy theorists, a bullying pulpit and, as we see, a grave threat to privacy and data integrity.
STOP.
155
@Will. So accurately stated. At its best it is "Facebrag." I have terminated offline friendships because they stopped communicating in person and even on Facebook did not reciprocate, just brag!
1
BRAG indeed. I've never liked FB because all it really promoted, in my eyes, was the only propagation of more cliques. BUT, that seems to be the standard for all of the internet. If it weren't FB, I daresay that we can't doubt that it would be something else, some other website. It's a human flaw.
Also, a scoreboard during peak football season.
I heard of the new mega churches, but these stadium size seatings for “worship” are just all wrong!
I am so glad I do not have a Facebook account. Nothing I have heard about it, will make me want to get one in the future.
At this point, I think Zuckerberg is not capable of running Facebook and should Resign. Moreover at this point I would like to see the federal government have more oversight of these social networks. I think they are dangerous.
54
@ judyweller
The federal government has actrilloon dollar deficit every year.
Lol, you want the federal government to overtake private business growing at 33% a year.
Lol!
@ judyweller I am not sure how effective more government oversight would be, but at present the internet is like the Wild, Wild West. There seems to be no way for individuals to keep Facebook hackers at bay. Not having a Facebook is no guarantee that someone else has not established an account in your name. I have taken a number of precautions and would drop my Facebook account altogether except for concern that someone else woud immediately reopen it at a fake site.
Who in their right mind would continue to compromise the integrity of our election system, among other things, in order to maintain a social media platform to stay in touch with old high school friends?
8
Zuckerberg is the only other con man who has suckered more people than the Republican Party and Donald Trump. Not bad for a man named Mark.
11
Thought I'd post another comment because I read a lot of "I love to keep in touch with people..." "how will I do this without Facebook?"... guess what, it's 2018, international calling, unlimited texting and FaceTime/Skype, etc are very cheap/free, how about you keep in touch like that with the people you love and care about? We are all so disconnected socially because we barely interract with people directly.
22
Facebook should be shut down until the midterm elections are complete - the company is a risk to national security.
29
Facebook is the uncoolest thing you can do,
26
If the hacking was by Russia,
Facebook must unfriend Vladimir!!!!
For years I have been receiving malware e-mail "from" heavy Facebook using "friends" that have been spoofed and whose iPhone address books have been exploited, by hackers, through Facebook. It's a Facebook-based address-book exploiting virus.
These are always stolen address-books from the same Facebook addicts that have sloppy online habits in general.
Some people don't seem to care anymore. Facebook has had years to fix this (but hasn't) so it must be beyond their capabilities.
8
When is there going to be an adult in charge of Facebook. There's no turning the clocks back on how imbedded Facebook is in our lives, our privacy and security and the security of this country. Facebook's board of directors has an obligation to take this seriously and to grasp the magnitude of the risks. Its time for Zuckerberg to move on and let professional leaders and top security minds take over the running of this company. Enough is enough.
5
Yes, there is a way to turn back the clock on Facebook. Stop using it. It was a danger to my privacy and to my mental health. I stopped.
5
Here's what happened, Mark Warner: A for-profit corporation whose product is personal information just sustained a loss because it doesn't really care a fig about its customers, except for those with blatant economic power. But not to worry, it'll find its way to increased profitability, anyway. Mediocrity personified, but most customers can't do a thing about it without spending their own money or wasting their time. Guess what, Senator, that's called your economic system.
1
I guess Facebook isn't as good at protecting our data as they claim to be. I've worked in IT for a long time. Because I do not trust the companies who create the applications to test them or patch them properly, or to protect our confidential information as fiercely as we are expected to, I do not bank online, pay my bills online, or put a whole lot of private information out there online.
I don't care if the company I'm applying to for a job online requires the last four digits of my SSN as an identifier: I stop the application there because it's none of their business unless they are planning to offer me a job before they interview me. I refuse to give my SSN to any utility to use as an id. I realize that this is probably not enough but it's the best I can do online.
When companies ask us to give them key data the very least they can do is protect it with their lives, so to speak. Otherwise all those letters and ads telling us that they care about us as customers are just so much garbage.
15
The real point here is that hackers can get into anything, whether it's a junk site like Facebook or the National Security Agency and no doubt the nuclear codes within Trump's reach. A catastrophe of breathless proportions is inevitable if we continue to ignore this problem and pretend it doesn't exist, like man-made global warming.
9
Why would anyone keep a Facebook account after Cambridge Analytica is beyond me.
42
Can they do ANYTHING right?
3
@Matty
absolutely!!! They excel at making excuses and assuring that it will never happen again!!!!
8
I love it. Let's see Augustus Z-sar tap dance his way out of this one.
I suggest that Facebook deletes all Facebook site's that have more than one Facebook site and only allow them to use one site ONLY! Hacker's enter in old site's to get their Link's but A site the person is no longer able to use and have to forward all from old site's to the New one when I was on Facebook I was hacked yet was turned down when I requested for all old site's to be deleted. Old site's remaining on Facebook is mostly how Hacker's use your old site's to be able to hack information! It's all used by legal official's to get all information about your entire family and life styles I will not sign into Facebook ever again and people are still using and hacking to pretending to be that person. Remove All old site's or CLOSE FACEBOOK DOWN...
2
It is very important that put a total freeze on your credit history with all three credit bureaus. That service is now free. With a total credit freeze in place identity thieves can’t open up new accounts or get loans in your name. DO THIS NOW.
7
Just delete your Facebook account. Instagram too. Why is anyone willingly making themselves a Facebook product?
6
I guess I'm confused. What exactly is the news in this story?
2
Gee, turns out the instagram dudes quit just in time.
6
Congress will call in Facebook again for another photo op & dog and pony show yet Equifax goes merrily along with the new head of the FTC a former General Counsel to Equifax.
14
Close your facebook account, problem solved.
5
Facebook account: never had it, never will.
7
This upcoming election should be very interesting. Way to go, Zuckerberg.
Nothing is private on the Internet. Heck..this NY Times site asks you to log in with either your Facebook or Google account to post a comment...BAM...just gave another database my login information for a popular social media site. Plus...how many of us use the same password for the same sites? Lots. So if hacker hacked NT Times guess what? They have my social media log in and could possible have my password to use with other sites.
If you use the Internet, you are not protected - period.
4
"Just gave another database my login information" is not fully correct. Yes, there is kind of a connection to your FB login. But no, they (NYT) wont ever see your FB user or password.
If you want to know how this works google for OAuth2.0 and Open ID Connect.
3
Facebook never sent an email notification to alert me to log off. Why not? They certainly have the access.
I have set up fb to receive emails from family when they post new photos, otherwise I don’t use it. I guess you have to actually be on facebook to get an alert.
1
@Vmerri They alerted 90 million users, a small fraction of their user base. I know, higher math.
@Vmerri "Facebook forced more than 90 million users to log out of their accounts" If you were not forced off, then your account was not identified as having used the vulnerable features.
1
Time to close the account. Facebook is incompetent.
8
Um, being on Facebook in and of itself exposes your personal information. It's a giant Trojan horse. Anyone who doesn't realize that at this point is clueless.
6
This is ironic - firstly MZ should realize that there are a LOT of smart people outside his company who can and will hack his network and secondly he should know that unlike the Obama administration which cared about the rule of law and sensible oversight, this government does not - so he and his minions are on their own now..good luck MZ!
1
Mark Zuckerberg looks to be more and more locked into the career arc of Navin R. Johnson.
1
Readers would help me if a few could explain to me why anyone still uses Facebook. One could see all the disinformation spread on Facebook for many months before the 2016 election.
As soon as it was over, I left Facebook. They played an out sized role in helping Putin pocket Trump. That's frightening.
Ya wanna influence what Sheryl & Mark do? Put your Facebook account to sleep for awhile.
4
A guy I know puts his full name and date and place of birth on his Twitter "bio" page.
I'm not sure why he would do that.
1
I CANNOT believe an alternative Facebook (with absolute security) couldn’t enter the market and sink this anarchic old Facebook...! I think all Americans would like a “do over” with social media
1
This should be no surprise...
Fool you once, shame on FB.
Fool you twice, shame on you, users.
Fool you three times, shame on FB and shame on you users for your gullibility and foolishness to think of this company as anything but another exploitive corporation that doesn't give a hoot about you, your family, your job, your life.
Good luck, just keep hoping that's all you got!
5
So when FB says give me additional information about you so we can guarantee the security of your account it I saying "give me more of your personal data that hackers can steal".
3
So glad that I dropped Facebook over a year ago. Only regret is that I didn't do it sooner. Manipulative, time-wasting, and now dangerous. Facebook is a social disease.
6
What sort of private information? Putin already knows I loathe Manchester United.
3
facebook should be careful about who it hires. how did the hackeres know the vulnerabilities in the code without building the code themselves?
1
@anna You assumption that flaws can only be discovered by direct code inspection is not consistent with the current consensus in cybersecurity. "Security through obscurity" is considered a very weak form of security. Moreover, FB uses a lot of software that's not built in house, like, for example, the PHP language on which its web site was built and I believe still runs on.
2
"Breached". Not intentionally given away like to C'Analytica, or like the thousands of Dumb [un-Fit to Print]s Zuck referred to in its infancy, or like the tons of ad space putin got to enjoy, or like the deep personal demographics that racist landlords and other marketercreeps got to use for their ads.
Uh-huh.
I sense someone's marketing website was about to get an exposé in the news about it. They're sorry only they got caught.
Still using Facebook? You deserve everything you get. Run.
8
Ahhh! So that’s why, in the past day, I had been logged out of my FaceBook account on all of my devices. That was done for my own protection. OK. That’s a good thing.
Facebook has not been a positive force in our society. That said, I don't understand why anyone would put personal information out there for anyone to see.
11
does anyone still believe the nonsense that comes out of zuckerburg/sandberg? but rather than wait for Congress to make a bigger mess of it, I would suggest that everyone open multiple faux facebook accounts. twenty to one hundred would do. then watch what happens when facebook tries to sell the data. when advertisers discover that they are spamming sites that don't exist in reality, the only buyers of facebook advertising will be the GOP and Putin.
13
So the data Facebook was going to sell anyways got stolen.
74
If you put it on the internet, someone will see it of you want them to or not. It has been suggested that people use fake biographical information when opening a social account such as Facebook.
Create a "history " that is totally fake. Claim to reside somewhere you don't. Make up your past education, family and jobs.
DOn't add anyone to your social media contacts unless you know them in real life.
Regularly change your passwords for all of your financial accounts.
9
@Jeff I would suggest not saving passwords online as well. Some places do not need to be automatic.
1
Facebook? Tried it - didn't care for it.
Zuckerberg wants way too much personal data for a social media platform that doesn't need to know anything about me. We're nothing but product to sell to advertisers to him.
And I refuse to cooperate.
25
Yet another reason not to smear oneself all over creation. Use your telephone or email. Technology has its limits and we don't need to travel this fast in most cases.
The Pony Express has its usefulness.
6
HAHAHAHA 'exposed the personal information of nearly 50 million users'.
The POINT of Facebook is to expose EVERYONE's personal information - to advertisers and anyone else with the cash to buy it. I fail to see how this differs from a group of hackers doing the same, except that the hackers didn't pay Facebook for the data.
If you use Facebook at all, consider yourself exposed.
201
@Mr. Adams I agree. Facebook makes its fortune mining user's data and selling it for profit. With the security breaches that occurred during the past years, I don't know why people still use it. Security of personal information? What a joke.
13
@Mr. Adams
Exactly, you are right on target. Maybe their competition in the future will be a hacking website that charges 90% less then Facebook by hacking Facebook to advertisers.
It's unfortunate about the security breaches, but I still like Facebook. It's a nice way to keep up in a casual way with lots of people I've met along the way -- kind of like Christmas cards all year long. Realistically, aside from my parents, there's nobody there who I would call that often, maybe ever. Instead of totally losing touch with many people, it's fun to see how their lives are going here and there. And yes, I know, it's a 'curated' view etc, but isn't everyday conversation too?
5
If Facebook had bothered to aggressively roll out FIDO’s U2F standards to simplify login (with security built in), instead of trying to create their own custom login protocol, then maybe this wouldn’t have happened. But security, even when well executed, is the bane of convenience, and convenience is what Facebook relies on to keep its users coming back...
3
I have never understood why anyone over the age of 12 uses facebook and the like.
54
@What's a girl to do Millions of people in other countries, eg. in Southeast Asia, use Facebook as their primary news source.
Because it’s a fun way to keep in touch with people.
Glad the hackers don't have my birthday, they don't have my hometown and they don't have my phone number, at least from this data breach. And everyone can be jealous that I'm from Shangri-La. Who knew it is Colombia??!
2
@Yogasong, It used to be Camp David. During the war the President often went to Shangri-La to relax. I liked that name for it best of all.
This was foreseeable. The hackers now have data that I am 102 years old, born on a leap day, live in Bhutan and am from a town that has a population of 12. Good luck monetizing that one...
80
I think it's important to recognize that this isn't a problem affecting one company or even one industry. Breaches like this can affect social media, credit companies, and even medical providers. Any organization that stores data electronically needs to be concerned about the security of that information.
And all of us - even those who don't use facebook - need to be aware that our private lives aren't so private anymore.
40
@Kim
Of course every company storing electronic data is at risk of a breach. But what is so upsetting are the false assurances and claims of privacy on the part of Facebook in particular, and the fact that their approach encourages ever greater sharing of personal data that they in turn profit from.
4
@Kim
Unlike many of the other entities you mention, we can choose to use FB or not. Our information is out there without our consent or control in many places, but at least we don't have to voluntarily give it to someone like FB.
3
Equifax. Now everyone can impersonate you via phone, SS number and DOB. Privacy? Forget it.
Isn't it time we admit activities on the internet are insecure? These breaks in security are never ending.
21
@FreddieBeach
Exactly.
Facebook has shown repeatedly it's disdain for the users of it's platform. Facebook has sold personal information of account holders. It has used software to track the location of user phones, user calls and user messaging. It has collected user contacts and used this information to put profits ahead of ethics. It has sold itself to despots and other governments that have lengthy civil rights violations. Zuckerberg has sneered his contempt at the world with his overbearing hubris. He claims to facilitate the democratization of the Internet, but in reality he is nothing more than a latter day Robber Baron.
It is time to regulate this company and others who have decided that profits are more important than user safety.
22
I was a 7th grader when Facebook was released for general public use.
It was cool during that time period, novel and innovative compared to MySpace and definitely changed the ways that students interacted and shared things at the time...
It was the worst mistake I ever made. Had I know at that time, this platform would become a tool for destroying a democracy, spreading disinformation, and selling the information and habits of millions of Americans and citizens of other nations to corporations, special interests and political groups, I never would have signed up or supported the platform.
Mark Zuckerberg was probably always a shallow and relatively unethical person, an understanding of Facebook's inception at Harvard would reveal that.
He got lucky. He partially stole an idea. He has done terrible things with it. There is no accountability at that company. To say that any part of Facebook is necessary to our lives would be a fallacy. We may *rely* on Facebook for communications with family across the world, but last I checked, they have cellular phones.
I cancelled my Facebook account in 2017 and I pray for Generation Z who has been so integrated with social media and information technologies that the "Cambridge Analytica's" of the future will know the exact millisecond they defecate each day.
64
@Andrew
Just a note, I was a Harvard grad (nothing special, transfer...no biggie) who continued to live in Cambridge, MA for at least 12 years following graduation in 1995. I don't think I personally knew MZ when he was an undergrad, although I continued to meet, mingle, and mix with many new students as they arrived, continued and completed their Harvard educations.
My appreciation of FB at the time it became available, was "I don't want to enter Mark Z's 'black hole' of a Universe", and in retrospect, I think I made the right decision. A secondary reason was I felt I already spent enough time on the internet/in front of a computer, and I didn't feel like wasting any more of that. Probably a good call as well.
1
The ruination of the nation is online.
10
Facebook is a terrible violation of one's privacy. I'm not a hacker but I was able to enter through the back door so to speak in an effort to find out more about old school buddies, etc.
Since then, I've understood the vulnerabilities but needed to join facebook to access certain groups I wanted to belong to. Initially, I tried to create a fictitious account but after several months Facebook deleted it.
I have had my identity stolen 3 times - one bank, a credit bureau, and the IRS. The penalties for identity theft are insufficient, plus the real problem is there is no punishment for those who have lapses in their security protocol. Experian should have been run out of business, and not shielded from lawsuits because of their lack of sufficient security. Everybody who had a credit file with Experian which is everyone who has credit have had their identity stolen. That information is floating out there and can be used anytime to attack your identity.
Anyway, don't share anything on Facebook that you don't want the whole world to know about.
15
EVERYONE PLEASE QUIT FACEBOOK.
TODAY!
If this isn't reason enough, watch John Oliver's chilling peace about Facebook in Myanmar that aired this past Sunday on HBO.
25
Delete your account. Walk away. Stop being a victim.
70
Isn't facegook all about sharing?
4
Like drugs Facebook is an addiction and Russia is the purveyor.
7
Shut it down already.
11
You'd really have to be a masochist to still be using Facebook at this point. Just... why?
9
Life before facebook was quite wonderful. You picked up the phone and arranged to meet people, real people. Life was not vicarious, it was real, real hugs, kisses, even arguments. Facebook, Instagram, the stupidity of Twitter, they've all conspired to steal that life and give us a no-touch preview of life as robots.
It's not about security, friends, it's about being human.
Dump that junk and get back to being touchable and lovable. Email and a phone serve the the same purpose - and better.
43
I'm so glad i never signed up for Facebook. This is what the dumb public gets for trusting a greedy corporate fool. Want friends? Do it the old fashioned way, go out and socialize. Want news? read newspapers, watch it on T.V. Bored? Read a book, go out on adventures. Get a life.
32
Same old, same old. What's new? We all know what Zuckerberg looks like pursing his lips.
6
Again? Yawn...
2
I quit FB after Cambridge Analytica. I encourage you all to do likewise. None of these “social media” giants deserves our trust.
Until they to a reasonable payment model that no longer mines my life for their profit and until they are broken up as a monopoly I will not use Facebook again.
The same needs to be done to Google and Twitter as well.
5
So glad I deleted my Facebook account before this one.
How can anyone feel secure? They need to start acting on their words of security.
1
Once again, if you don’t pay for the service, you’re not the customer, you’re the product.
And don’t expect any corporation to take data security seriously. None of them do. It’s an overhead. Look at how criminally lax Target, Equifax, Anthem, Yahoo! and a host of others have been.
The internet and social media are deliberately engineered around anonymity loopholes, to allow bad actors, both state and non-state to move in the shadows. You right to privacy and security doesn’t trump you government’s desire to act covertly and unethically.
3
@Xoxarle
"if you don’t pay for the service, you’re not the customer, you’re the product."
The same was true about transmitted television. The product was you the viewer watching the ads.
Back then we watched ads and content, and they didn't watch us.
As an side, with cable your both a customer and the product. You have to pay for cable while advertisers pay for you to see their adds.
John
1
I'm an oldie that's ahead of the game. I've always been cautious about giving out details on facebook and only use it as a tool. I have everything set to minimum public and don't accept friends or have any Facebook friends.
They keep asking me to supply my phone number to secure my account but logic tells me that's less security for me, the more information I give out. I've never had a security breach. They sent me a survey to do and one of the questions was, do you think you have enough friends on Facebook, and I ticked the answer that said, "about the right number of friends". lol!
The internet, overall, is getting less and less security on it and I only buy stuff over the internet if a third party is involved, like PayPal.
3
Oh, so this is why I've been forced to sign back in on my phone twice in three hours? There was another story on the site saying this breach has affected some 90 million people, and they were logged out and told to log back in for security purposes.
I love showing stories like these to all my acquaintances who ridicules me for deleting my Facebook account last year
6
FB is not secure, it is used to spread all kinds of propaganda, and it tracks you while "sharing" your data with advertisers and who-knows-who else.
The real question is why anyone would still use it.
6
“We’re taking it really seriously,” Well ok then. Whew... I feel better now.
2
Another nail in Facebook's coffin. "Like"!
4
Further reason to stay off Facebook or eventually address future self inflicted turmoil.
1
These virtual monopolies need to be broken up into cells, owned by totally different people.
Breaking into "one" is like having the pass code to profound numbers of victims.
1
I'll say one thing...(not necessarily to be taken as a good thing)...
The news is A LOT more interesting than when Obama was in office...
People who badmouth Facebook and then say they don't use it have no credibility. They probably still use flip phones, too.
2
What's next, Facebook? Twenty fifth-graders from Ann Arbor break into Mark Zuckerberg's bank account? Can't you guys keep anything safe? Secure? Private?
1
Every time I read articles like this I am thankful I never had a Facebook account. If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
20
@susan I'm furious that a workplace ever coerced me into opening a facebook account. Even having shut it down, who knows whether it's gone or stolen or sold or what.
1
Facebook is also good Quality Assurance for business owners so the top suits are kept in the loop and are not isolated in their Ivory Towers. I've found facebook quite useful when you are not getting good customer service when you contact businesses through their business websites. If you write your gripe on their facebook page you get the customer service you expect to sort out the problem very quickly!
3
@CK Fine. Let companies have FB that users don't have to have FB to access, just like any other company URL.
1
I do not use Facebook. I do not trust Facebook. If I miss out on something so be it. My privacy is more important than being a Facebook lemming.
75
@lynne matusow
You mean like missing a picture of what a friend had for lunch?
1
comments generally critical of zuckerberg et. al., not unlike the ones I read here, are rarely constructive.
this is an ethics issue, yes, but not something solvable by complaining. fb hires some of the most talented programmers and the more I learn about these data breaches, the more I find that this issue is as non-trivial as can be.
calling out perceived inability of others when you yourself know very little on the nuances and technicalities behind the issue is just useless.
4
@Jeffrey Here's a good in-depth reveal of the whole situation. Zuckerberg's wealth and ego are in the way of our democracy and people growing up.
"Can Mark Zuckerberg Fix Facebook Before It Breaks?"
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/09/17/can-mark-zuckerberg-fix-fa...
"Zuckerberg has the power to fix Facebook but whether he has the will; whether he will kick people out of his office—with the gusto that he once mustered for the pivot to mobile—if they don’t bring him ideas for preventing violence in Myanmar, or protecting privacy, or mitigating the toxicity of social media. He succeeded, long ago, in making Facebook great. The challenge before him now is to make it good.?
5
@Jeffrey
So it’s ok to be unethical and invade privacy routinely just because it’s really hard to prevent it via programming. What a cop out! It’s a flawed model and id evn highly talented experts can’t fix it, it’s time to kill it and start anew with a reasonable model.
5
Most commenters are under the impression that the only purpose to use Facebook is to throw your life open to the world and hook-up with like-minded individuals. To post comments in NYT, and other sites, I sign-in using my FB account. I don't use it for anything but an occasional log-in to sites that allow FB log-in (most do) and require either log-in or registration.
In 9 years my FB account, under my "nom de web", was hacked twice and FB sent me email to change my password.
Like everything else, FB is a good tool if used correctly.
9
You can still register here with an email, as I have.
Don't let the marketing websites like FB and Google+ break account registrations and further centralize the web—DEMAND an email option for a good site that doesn't have one (and ignore bad sites that don't).
At least email providers are not limited to two or three or even five criminal behemoths. Some pay ones are even (and far) better than the popular creepy ones.
1
"The extremes are screaming while the majority whispers"
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/10/01/how-russia-helped-to-swing...
I'm using quotes to retain clarity and detail. This article is worth reading in full.
"A meticulous analysis of online activity during the 2016 campaign makes a powerful case that targeted cyberattacks by hackers and trolls were decisive."
"Of the 470 Facebook accounts known to have been created by Russian saboteurs during the campaign, a mere 6 of them generated content that was shared at least 340,000,000 times. ****The Facebook page for a fake group, Blacktivist, which stoked racial tensions by posting militant slogans and stomach-churning videos of police violence against African-Americans, garnered more hits than the Facebook page for Black Lives Matter..****"
"The Blacktivist ruse was part of a larger Russian plot to divide Americans ... An expert told the committee that automated accounts typically push extremist views twenty-five to thirty times more often than authentic American social-media users do."
"voters were unaware of the foreign effort to manipulate them on social media. .... “We want voters to be aware of who is trying to influence them. ... “That’s the reason we have disclosure requirements on our campaign ads. We’ve known, at least since Aristotle in Western culture, that the source is judged as part of the message.”"
21
Yes, it's a little off topic, but more than 50 million Americans were put at risk by the hate promoting, reality-denying, greedster in chief. Since Facebook was a primary vehicle for Russian (and complicit Assange's) attacks on our election, we are stuck with planetary destruction and an overheated economy that will come to smash which many suffer from the trickle-up effects of the poseur and cowardly bully and his henchpeople. And no doubt social media will continue to fail to stop the promotion of lies and deception in the name of big profits.
2
@Susan Anderson So of course voter manipulation. And of course credit card and SSN fraud. and probably password breaches because people re-use the same passwords. What other schemes does this breach facilitate?
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While this might be shocking to all users and others it still pales in comparison to the Equifax data breach of some 140+ million US citizens, which included sensitive data such as SSNs.
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@Mike
The difference is that we have a choice about using FB, whereas Equifax gathers data about us without our knowledge or consent.
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@Mike And your point is...?
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This boils down to leaders that are incapable of providing a secure social platform for their consumer. Cambridge Analytica showed us how much power one has by using the data that is stored in Facebook. I think it could be time for some changes in leadership. Mark Zuckerberg clearly does not have leadership presence which is a leader’s ability to connect authentically with the thoughts and feelings of others in order to motivate and inspire them toward a desired outcome. To learn more about leadership presence check out this article --> https://info.arielgroup.com/blog/the-definition-of-leadership-presence-a...
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No, it boils down to a culture that wants to share every bit of their lives and to find a measure of instant "fame" online. Technology is the tool, not the culprit. In this case, however, the tool is broken and Zuckerberg knows it and keeps pushing the product even when it's clear there's no safety online. Anywhere.
If users keep wanting to post videos, pictures, text and reveal their personal lives in this way, the culture and the problems will continue all while Facebook's, Google's and other data gathering companies pull in the big bucks.
If you can't live without Facebook, kiss your privacy goodbye.@Ian
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No matter how much money and effort
Facebook sinks into security measures, there are hackers out there who out of boredom, spite, curiousity or patriotic/financial motives will spend hours looking for weaknesses. So, Cambridge Analytica aside, it is naive to have faith in Mr. Zuckerberg's claims.
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Facebook is good to use if you want to check out what an individual is saying compared to what the news media are saying then you use deduction to draw your own conclusions. I quite often look at Donald J Trump facebook page to see what he's saying.
Lots of local businesses and local government have lots of good information on facebook. Local Market Days couldn't exist without facebook advertising. It's a great tool and does have a positive side.
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@CK
It’s a time waster and privacy invader. You can do everything you just cited, just as well without FB. I do!
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All that money and not an iota spent on regular upgrades and developing better security on their systems and networks.
This is so typical of all businesses today.
We will continue to be vulnerable from top to bottom until more is spent on securing technology. As it is today we are all exposed.
Unless of course you are MZ.
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Facebook spend quite a bit on security, and from what I can tell have one of the better security teams out there (as do Google, etc). The problem - and it's one that applies everywhere - is that the security team needs to be lucky all the time, but an attacker only needs to get lucky once. There's no real way of avoiding this.
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@makomk
They have not had a Chief Security Officer for quite some time. They may have a good team, but there is no leader.
@makomk The actual problem is. as security professionals know, that it IS POSSIBLE to lock down security very tightly, but to do that will cause users to complain or even stop using the app.
Example: You could require users to use complex passwords of 12 letters or more. But no one wants type is 12 letters and symbols to login. Just one example. You could require 2 factor authentication, like require we send a text to you cell phone with a security code (like banks do) to login. Only online banking users are willing to go to that much effort.............
Facebook is more of a liability than a benefit to society. Russia, with Republicans purposely looking the other way, has exploited our society for way too long.
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What data is compromised? With friends from places I've lived across North America and Europe, I love staying in touch through FB. But it's never had my credit card numbers. It doesn't have my phone number. It doesn't have my age, because I lied, and I haven't said where I currently live. It knows where I grew up, went to college, and law school. I'll tell that to anyone.
So what kind of data was hacked?
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@dobes If only it was that simple. Unless you are very meticulous and lock down your web browser, Facebook is able to track your use of the web across multiple websites. From this information it is likely able infer a wealth of information about you. It probably knows your shopping habits, your political beliefs, your income, your age, your race, and a lot more even if you never explicitly gave it this information .
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@dobes, I'd say the biggest risk is for those folks who use their Facebook account as logins for other services. Known as "single-sign on," Facebook makes it very easy to obtain logged in access to content sites (like NY Times), shopping sites, and more. This makes it easier for small purveyors to not have to worry about your security (and puts the responsibility for your data security square on the shoulders of the service you use to log in with). So, what is the risk? It's mostly marketing and being sold to, unless you are one of the very many people who provide not only specific demographic information but financial data and other PII. When you use Facebook and stay logged in, comment on a news post, recommend a product, all that activity is logged and then used in "remarketing" campaigns. In and of itself, remarketing is not nefarious because it uses your history and activities to show you more products/services that their research and algorithms have determined fit with your activity. So, you will read an news article with an ad in the middle that'll be different than what your work colleague might see while reading the same article on their device. One thing you can to in order to see how much exposure your FB account has given you is to do a web search on your name and provide some other salient details. Some folks also unknowingly (or deliberately) post their feed publicly, which exposes them to potential bad actors.
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@dobes Assuming that you access FB through your mobile most of the time, and from your computer every once in a while, I can tell you that FB follows you throughout your day, checks the web pages that you visit, phone numbers you usually call, people you contact frequently, knows your location and how long you usually stay at single places. It knows where you’ve been and very likely already has a map of your routine. Trust me, Facebook knows who you are, and certainly knows you lied about your age (which in any event is pretty irrelevant) it knows where you live and very likely knows a few things about you that you probably don’t.
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Many on FB still do not understand the levels of security they have control over, nor do they realize who can see their posts. On top of that may be the ignorance of FB itself until there are breaches, oops. Nor do FB fuses realize what they have linked to their FB accounts or its implications for their own security, including banking, personal information, contacts, and passwords. Good Luck come the election.
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Gizmodo ran a piece a couple of days ago suggesting that Facebook uses the phone number you provide for two-factor authentication in order to target you with ads.
Although the company previous suggested that it didn’t deliberately misuse security details, it has now admitted that it does in fact do this …
Facebook/Instagram/Whatsapp (let's remember that it's not just Facebook)
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This is yet ANOTHER reason to break up all these high-tech sellers of people's data. They are more interested in peddling what they know about us than they ever cared about protecting the stuff from thieves.
I figure four different Facebooks in America - one per time zone, maybe - and let the EEC insist on their Facebook being independent from any others. The Facebook in China will simply become a cog in the Red Chinese government machine, of course.
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@L'osservatore So how do you coordinate them, or does everyone just have multiple Facebook apps? I have family in 3 time zones, friends across the globe. How many apps should I have to install to be able to communicate with them?
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Facebook's top management is unfit. They are incapable of fulfilling their duty to their customers: all of us. Their complete lack of personal and business ethics is breathtaking. If Equifax was unfit to protect 65 million citizens' data, because they're not really in the software business, then what can one say about Facebook, which was founded by the nerdiest of nerds: Mark Zuckerberg and the Winklevoss twins?
In a normal world, these companies would be held to some kind of standard. In this world, they're in the Wild, Wild, West, where they can run a company however they want, sell people's data however they want and profit from it as much as they want, give access to whomever they want and when they get hacked, all we get is an oops.
Zuckerberg needs to be supervised. Equifax got away with stupendously unprofessional conduct and a huge blunder. Don't be surprised when Google makes an announcement. They're all vulnerable. The bottom line, however, for all of them, is what matters. Not your information. Not your security. Theirs alone.
The government should be involved closely in the operations of these companies. It isn't, when it should be.
===
Things Trump Did While You Weren’t Looking
https://wp.me/p2KJ3H-2ZW
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Facebook's customers are advertisers, not users. Equifax's customers are businesses, not consumers. So long as their actual customers pony up, they could care less about the damage to us.
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@Anne Hajduk
Exactly.
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When is it time to for Zuckerberg and Sandberg to step aside and let adults run the company?
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I have no use for Facebook, never have, never will.
Stuff I want to keep track of, I write down in black and white notebooks, the same kind I used back in the third grade. I must have 50 of them now. The old ones I store in the attic.
The U.S. government already has or can easily secure access to my bank, tax, health, credit card, driving, library, school and juvenile court records. The only thing they don't have and never will get are my old love letters, and that is because they are safely stored away under my bed in Macanudo cigar boxes which are guarded night and day by Kota the Wonder Dog in the picture here.
Macanudos are world-renowned for their savory flavor, consistency and smoothness. If you are looking for top-level security protection for your most important secrets which no Russian agent will ever be able to penetrate -- together with a great smoke rolled by hand in the Dominican Republic incorporating tobacco from the rich farmlands of the San Andres Tuxtla Valley of Mexico -- I heartily recommend their cigar boxes.
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@A. Stanton You gave me a big laugh. I needed it.
Kudos to you and Kota the Wonder Dog. It is sad that more people are not astute enough to realize that anything on social media is up for grabs.
@A. Stanton
hah!
@A. Stanton Just don't save your calendars, dude.
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This isn’t the first time a major network has been breached and it won’t be the last. While I think that there’s obviously a corporate responsibility to ensure that its users’ data is protected, I think it’s important to be realistic.
As with everything online, consumers must be careful about what they choose to share with sites like Facebook.
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Shut it down. It has outlived it’s useful life and now poses more of a threat than a benefit.
Plus, imagine the return to productivity, community building, and real life interaction with neighbors that may occur if Facebook was down for even a day, a week, a month.
My guess is, no one would really, deep down want to go back to it.
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@Human Being You cannot turn back the clock, social media is here to stay and it will grow much bigger still as mobile platforms get more capable. Facebook lets people interact, share photos movies and ideas, what's wrong with that?
@Human Being I like it. I have friends & family all over the world that I can connect with.
@ITG People did all of those things before Facebook and massive data breaches. Sometimes they even had substantive face-to-face conversations, or if that wasn't an option, lengthy e-mails. I don't miss my Facebook account one bit and I'm wasting a lot less time.
For many years, friends and coworkers have shaken their heads in puzzlement when they learn that I’m not on Facebook and have no interest in ever being on Facebook. To them I say again, I think the risks outweigh the benefits.
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@Pala Chinta Existing has risks, including a 100% chance of death. Still worth it?
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@Pala Chinta I'm with you! No FB in my life, either!
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Doesn't Zuckerberg already have enough billions?
Time to take this arrogant platform down before it does more harm. For every good, there is a bad, and that's not good enough.
Free isn't free. We humans are getting very very lazy.
Just think, for a good part of earth's population, clean water, let alone hot and cold running water, is a luxury. Perhaps we don't need the likes of Alexa (yes, I know that's not Facebook) to do things for us that we should do for ourselves.
What will be do as power outages become more widespread? Time to think about that instead of how many more luxuries we need and how many more chores we can hand over to robots (thus losing jobs as well).
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@Susan Anderson When has free ever meant free? Our freedom isn't free. Buy one get one free is just 50% off each when you buy 2. Free advice still requires the investment of your time into listening or reading that advice. Both Google and Apple offer free mobile operating systems. Both collect your data, which is how they make money from you.
Who's to say that if you take this platform down another won't spring up in its place? Remember when Myspace was a thing? Then Myspace stopped being relevant and in came Facebook. Facebook goes out and another site will just fill the void.
What will we do as power outages become more widespread? I don't know, maybe invest in better tech? If your home is solar powered and the grid goes down, you still have power. Wind farms help to decentralize power generation. Instead we have a president who wants to go backwards in time and push coal.
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