Facebookery: 533 million Facebook PII Leaked

Superb reportage-in-action:

"The exposed data includes personal information of over 533 million Facebook users from 106 countries, including over 32 million records on users in the US, 11 million on users in the UK, and 6 million on users in India. It includes their phone numbers, Facebook IDs, full names, locations, birthdates, bios, and — in some cases — email addresses."

"The leaked data could provide valuable information to cybercriminals who use people's personal information to impersonate them or scam them into handing over login credentials, according to Alon Gal, CTO of cybercrime intelligence firm Hudson Rock, who first discovered the leaked data on Saturday."

-- all via the inimitable Aaron Holmes, reporting at Business Insider and brought to my attention by the erudite Trey Blalock at Verification Labs

Via The Department Of Better Late Than Never: Federal Trade Commission Sues Facebook Inc.

Very pleased with this news. Let the Zuckerbergian Chicanery Commence!

Australian Information Commissioner Holds Facebook's Feet To The Barbie...

via Natasha Lomas - writing at TechCrunch, comes this story of the Australian Information Commissioner filing proceedings targeting Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) over the Cambridge Analytica data breach outrage. My take: Good on ya, Commissioner!

'Australia’s Privacy Act sets out a provision for a civil penalty of up to $1,700,000 to be levied per contravention — and the national watchdog believes there were 311,074 local Facebook users in the cache of ~86M profiles lifted by Cambridge Analytica . So the potential fine here is circa $529BN. (A very far cry from the £500k Facebook paid in the UK over the same data misuse scandal.)' - via Natasha Lomas at TechCrunch

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Updated: 20200310 1631 - Here's David Bisson at The State of Security blog take on the news:

As the Australian Information Commissioner, Angelene Falk has the authority to apply for a civil penalty order alleging that an organization bound to comply with the APPs committed serious and/or repeated violations against s 13G of the Privacy Act 1988. The Federal Court could then respond by issuing a penalty of up to $1,700,000 AUD for each serious and/or repeated violation of privacy."

via h/t

Facebookery: New Year, Same Missteps

via the inimitable Kate Cox - reporting at ArsTechnica of the most egregious political missteps by Mark Zuckerberg & Company. Carry-on, nothing to see here...

'Following months of criticism for its decision to allow candidates for political office to tell outright lies in advertising, Facebook is trying to correct course not by changing advertiser behavior but by telling users to opt out of being shown certain ads. Facebook today announced a change to its political ad system that will "expand transparency.' - via Kate Cox - reporting at ArsTechnica

Facebookery: Where's That Little Dutch Boy We Hired?

The Zuckerberg Papers: Seven Thousand Pages of Facebookery leaked...

Libra Unstablecoin: The Fleet-Of-Foot Chronicles

Interesting movement in Facebook, Inc.'s (Nasdaq: FB) highly unstablecoin (cryptocurrency-refer-to-us-as-a-country-dammit) effort monikered Libra. And, in which, the social-manipulation leviathan's so-called 'Libra Association' - physically based in Geneva, Switzerland - suffered wholesale defections by four (plus two) payment processors in a single day. To wit: Visa, Stripe, Mastercard, Mercado Pago and the plus two PayPal and eBay. All of whom, invoked the drop-and-roll, not wasting any time getting the-hell-out of the line-of-fire, so to speak.

"The timing is not a coincidence. The Libra Association is scheduled to hold its first official meeting on Monday. At that meeting, members will be asked to make binding commitments to the project. So for members who weren't prepared to commit to the project, Friday was a good day to get out." - via Timothy B. Lee, writing at the well-beloved Ars Technica

Facebookery: The Conflation

via Ina Fried, writing in the Axios Newsletter monikered Login, comes news of the latest egregious Facebookery episode within the fiefdom of world-disinformation ruled over by Facebook, Inc. (Nasdaq: FB).

'Facebook responded on Twitter Saturday that broadcast stations across the country aired this ad nearly 1,000 times, as required by law. "FCC doesn't want broadcast companies censoring candidates' speech," Facebook said. "We agree it's better to let voters — not companies — decide."' Yes, but: The broadcast networks operate under unique rules because they are using public airwaves. Businesses operating in nearly every other type of media can (and often do) set their own rules, including cable, internet and outdoor media.' - via Ina Fried, writing in the Axios Newsletter Login

Classic Facebookery: Zuckerberg, Harms Suffered

via Kate Cox, come this well-crafted piece at Ars Technica, detailing new defensive machinations undertaken by Facebook, Inc. (Nasdaq: FB) attorney's and (as a matter of course) Mark Zuckerberg)...

"Facebook's $5 billion settlement with the Federal Trade Commission this summer smashed records: the FTC had never before fined any company such a hefty amount. But even though critics immediately lambasted the deal as a comparative slap on the wrist for Facebook, which earned about $56 billion in revenue in 2018, newly released documents show that the company was working hard to avoid any penalty at all—and its arguments then are just a prelude to defenses it may mount now, as dozens of state, federal, and international probes pile up around it." - via Kate Cox, comes this superlative piece at Ars Technica

Facebookery: Liar, Liar, Hoodies On Fire

via Kate Conger, Gabriel J.X. Dance and Mike Isaac reporting at The New York Times, comes news and a modicum of analysis by Daring Fireball's John Gruber. Enjoy the latest data theft, data misappropriation and mishandling revelations from the criminal enterprise also known as Facebook, Inc. (Nasdaq: FB)!

Daring Fireball

'If these privacy violations weren’t so serious, and if Facebook weren’t so powerful and influential to the daily lives of billions, it would be comical the way they vastly underestimate any and all privacy or security problems, only to come back months later with a more accurate number. They do it every time, and the errors are always in the direction of underreporting severity.' - via John Gruber writing at Daring Fireball's

The New York Times:

'The extent of how many apps Facebook had cut off was revealed in court filings that were unsealed later on Friday by a state court in Boston, as part of an investigation by the Massachusetts attorney general into the technology company. The documents showed that Facebook had suspended 69,000 apps. Of those, the majority were terminated because the developers did not cooperate with Facebook’s investigation; 10,000 were flagged for potentially misappropriating personal data from Facebook users.' - via Kate Conger, Gabriel J.X. Dance and Mike Isaac writing at The New York Times

Who’s Watching The Criminal Enterprise Known As Facebook Watch You?

via Bhaskar Chakravorti, PhD - the Dean of Global Business, The Fletcher School at Tufts University, comes this thought provoking piece targeting Facebook Inc.'s (NASDAQ: FB) new 'Privacy Cop'. Certainly, today's Must Read.

'In my opinion, in order to be effective, there are three main privacy-related concerns the FTC’s newly designated cop would need to look out for: the potential for genuine violations of users’ privacy; the targeted spread of harmful content, especially resulting in election manipulation and ethnic violence; and instances of collecting and harvesting far more data than is warranted to provide services to users.' - via Bhaskar Chakravorti, PhD Dean of Global Business, The Fletcher School at Tufts University

Instagram 2FA Bypass, A Tale of Superlative Bug Hunting Skills & Indolent Multi-Factor Authentication

Via Tara Seals writing at the Threatpost Blog, detailing the highly competent bug hunting skill set of Laxman Muthiyah, examining - if you will - the lackadaisical 2FA data flow promulgated by Facebook, Inc. (Nasdaq: FB) on the company's owned Instagram.

"Independent researcher Laxman Muthiyah took a look at Instagram’s mobile recovery flow, which involves a user receiving a six-digit passcode to their mobile number for two-factor account authentication (2FA). So, with six digits that means there are 1 million possible combinations of digits making up the codes." - Via Tara Seals writing at the Threatpost Blog

Facebookery Circa 2018

An Astonishing High Level Of Dishonesty... H/T

Facebookery: “There Is No Invasion Of Privacy At All, Because There Is No Privacy."

News, originally brought to my attention by the eponymous John Gruber, with further details from Mikael Thalen, writing at The Daily Dot, of Facebookery at it's finest:

"A lawyer for Facebook argued in court Wednesday that the social media site’s users “have no expectation of privacy.” According to Law360, Facebook attorney Orin Snyder made the comment while defending the company against a class-action lawsuit over the Cambridge Analytica scandal. “There is no invasion of privacy at all, because there is no privacy,” Snyder said." - via Mikael Thalen, writing at The Daily Dot

Kara's Analysis: It's Fakebook

As the post title says, the new, apropos moniker for Facebook, Inc. (Nasdaq: FB) has arrived. A snippet of Kara Swisher's reporting follows, read it and marvel at the prevarication of Zuckerberg et cie. That is all.

"Not making these hard choices won’t work: The many indignities of being a Facebook user are making the platform a worse and worse place to be. So far, that has yet to infect the business itself, which is making money and continues to grow. But without a steadier hand at the wheel, Facebook cannot outrun a simple fact: It’s still Fakebook, and we already know how that story will end. Badly." - via Kara Swisher, writing at The New York Times

Facebookery: All The Many Datas of Zuckerberg

via Sam Biddle, writing at The Intercept, comes this astonishing story of manifest Facebookery firmly situated within the rarified telecom world of data sharing between and betwixt the telecom leviathans and that scourge of privacy Facebook, Inc. (Nasdaq:FB). h/t

“What they’re doing is filtering Facebook users on creditworthiness criteria and potentially escaping the application of the Fair Credit Reporting Act. … It’s no different from Equifax providing the data to Chase.” - via Sam Biddle, reporting for The Intercept, with this superb article

Facebookery: Plans Underway To Disrupt Credit Card Business With Facebook Cryptocurrency Payment Network

Would you really trust this guy with your hard won simoleans? With the stunning criminal behavior, almost complete lack of honesty, and evidence of political manipulation at a national scale, a Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) owned and operated cryptocurrrency targeting a critical component of our economy is the last thing any thinking person would want to participate in... Perhaps the next player in this areana will be Organized Crime...

The Deathknell of Facebook? Nope, Nothing to See Here Except Another 540 Million Users Exposed

Is this the final outrage, or are there more to come? h/t

Facebookery: Remember When They Said 5% Of Banned App Users Were Kids? The Truth Is Very, Very Different

Does nearly four times that figure float your boat Mom and Dad? When will Mark Zuckerberg and Company cease the BS? via Kieren McCarthy, writing at El Reg, comes the truth.

One more thing, remember that when using Instagram, your data is fully available/abused to/by Facebook, Inc. (NYSE: FB) systems, algorithms, personnel, etc. as Facebook, Inc. owns Instagram.

"Which makes it entirely possible that there was in fact no real difference between someone under 18 and someone over 18 when they signed up and Facebook is creating an entire fiction around its now-banned program. Who'd have thought that a company run by a liar and filled with lying liars would stoop so low?" - via Kieren McCarthy, writing at El Reg, comes his superlative reportage.

Facebookery: The Tell-All App

via Sam Schechner, writing at The Wall Street Journal (Warning: Paywall), comes a story of immense Facebookery that serves to reinforce the notion of user distrust from the top to the bottom at the now embattled Social Data Vacuuming firm. I give them (at most) five more years, what's your wager of the company's lifespan?

"Under pressure over its data collection, Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said last year that the company would create a feature called “Clear History” to allow users to see what data Facebook had collected about them from applications and websites, and to delete it from Facebook. The company says it is still building the technology needed to make the feature possible." - via Sam Schechner, writing at The Wall Street Journal, in his piece on tell - all apps

Gangster of Digitals

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via Jon Brodkin, writing at Ars Technica, in which, the Good Mr. Brodkin details the United Kingdom's House of Commons excoriating report on the antics of Facebook, Inc. (NYSE: FB) and it's 'bad boy' CEO Mark 'Sweaty' Zuckerberg. Enjoy the report...