Facebook “weaponized“ user data, app developer’s new lawsuit claims

Six4Three's website: "Tell Zuckerberg we will no longer be his patsy!"

Read the whole story

 

[warpmoon]

There is a somewhat well-known Swedish information security researcher named Frans Rosén, who says he lives in Stockholm, but it is not clear if this is the same person. This Rosén did not respond to Ars’ requests for comment.

I am not sure what information is okay to post here, but there is indeed a person named as in the article living in Stockholm with a unique "personnummer" (similar to social security number) that matches the number listed in the Styleform registration you linked.

[Edited to not reveal the name of the individual unnecessarily.]

 

[BushLin]

This just got more interesting, when it was just Six4Three it was a case of incumbent immoral corp vs. immoral startup vulture over access to private data. Now it's not so clear cut as some good was ostensibly gained by Styleform's access to data that Facebook's users had deemed private.

 

[kenhamer]

Smells like Prenda.

 

[cfarivar]

There is a somewhat well-known Swedish information security researcher named Frans Rosén, who says he lives in Stockholm, but it is not clear if this is the same person. This Rosén did not respond to Ars’ requests for comment.

I am not sure what information is okay to post here, but there is indeed a person named Frans Rosén living in Stockholm with a unique "personnummer" (similar to social security number) that matches the number listed in the Styleform registration you linked.

Can you email me (cyrus.farivar@meincmagazine.com) or Twitter DM (@cfarivar) please?

 

[nehinks]

You know, I'm slightly surprised Zuckerberg hasn't just retired yet. Not like he isn't worth enough by now, and dealing with Facebook's ongoing meltdown issues has to be rather stressful.

 

[adipose]

You know, I'm slightly surprised Zuckerberg hasn't just retired yet. Not like he isn't worth enough by now, and dealing with Facebook's ongoing meltdown issues has to be rather stressful.

His greed remains unabated.

 

[Fatesrider]

I dunno... At this point in the game, I feel like dumping all of these parties into a 55 gallon drum, pouring in gasoline and watching them burn.

Is it reasonable to root for all of them to lose?

 

[vulpes vulpes]

You know, I'm slightly surprised Zuckerberg hasn't just retired yet. Not like he isn't worth enough by now, and dealing with Facebook's ongoing meltdown issues has to be rather stressful.

Dingus is richer than god and has half the world by the balls; he knows there's not going to be any real consequences for him until he's murdered by a torches and pitchforks mob. And since he controls the platform that mob will use to organize, he figures he'll get enough warning to escape to his volcano lair, and in the meantime can make few tens of billions more money. Plus I think he's just addicted to being a smug asshole at people he knows won't touch him.

 

[vulpes vulpes]

I dunno... At this point in the game, I feel like dumping all of these parties into a 55 gallon drum, pouring in gasoline and watching them burn.

Is it reasonable to root for all of them to lose?

Needs a bigger drum.

 

[Derecho Imminent]

Not sure I understand this. Did he promise access to a database in return for something?

 

[domikai]

Sorry cancer awareness data harvesting app maker. Ends do not justify the means. Hands off peoples' personal data.

 

[hel1kx]

Not sure I understand this. Did he promise access to a database in return for something?

Scratch that, I'm not sure exactly what the issue is either :-D

 

[Urist]

Not sure I understand this. Did he promise access to a database in return for something?

Scratch that, I'm not sure exactly what the issue is either :-D

From my understanding FB promised app developers that they would have access to the full API, when FB actually had a super-secret VIP API which they only gave access to big players. It all seems pretty shady on FBs part, and I can only assume that the secret "special access" API gave these companies such unfettered access to peoples data that FB tried to conceal it's existence from the public, that however is pure conjecture.

 

[ergonomicBagel]

You know, I'm slightly surprised Zuckerberg hasn't just retired yet. Not like he isn't worth enough by now, and dealing with Facebook's ongoing meltdown issues has to be rather stressful.

Honestly, if I were him, Facebook would definitely be my baby and I’d probably have a real hard time of letting go of the “had to be me, someone else would’ve gotten it wrong” mentality. I had a group assignment (not long ago) where I took charge of the UI part because I just felt the others wouldn’t “do it right” even though I didn’t really have the time.

On the other hand, maybe he plain enjoys the work, despite it all.

 

[Pygmy Surfer]

Facebook is evil, but still, shouldn't they get to decided who they give and don't give their data too?

No! It's not Facebook's data! The users should get to decide who they give THEIR data to!

 

[Jan Doe]

You can be a kingmaker of the app economy by allowing somebody to leverage personal information for the purpose of improved advertising but also virality and improved growth

I at first misread "virality" as "virility" and was momentarily very confused

 

[Don Reba]

"It converted people and their likes, connections, locations, updates, networks, histories, and extended social networks into — quite literally — ’objects.’"

And it would then have, quite literally, procedures for destroying these objects. They call it "garbage collection", if you can believe it.

Lucky 777th post!

 

[BloodNinja]

Facebook is evil, but still, shouldn't they get to decided who they give and don't give their data too?

No! It's not Facebook's data! The users should get to decide who they give THEIR data to!

Erm, not really.

If you willingly give a free service a ton of information, you've got to expect they're going to do something with it to pay the bills.

If you don't want that information to leak, keep it to yourself.

 

[Matthew J.]

Or, put another way, despite a user marking updates as "private," making them unreadable to other Facebook friends, that data continued to be machine-readable.

So... are these good folks angry because the API was updated to respect privacy setting? Am I missing something important here?

 

[jnk1000]

Or, put another way, despite a user marking updates as "private," making them unreadable to other Facebook friends, that data continued to be machine-readable.

So... are these good folks angry because the API was updated to respect privacy setting? Am I missing something important here?

Just greedy assholes being greedy assholes, clusterfuck style.

 

[jihadjoe]

This whole thing sounds a lot like a corporate cloud version of the old gang wars, and these small time mobsters want to try taking a bite out of the godfather's turf.

 

[ytene]

Facebook is evil, but still, shouldn't they get to decided who they give and don't give their data too?

No! It's not Facebook's data! The users should get to decide who they give THEIR data to!

I'm not trying to be argumentative, but as a point of law, I believe you are wrong. Facebook have posted their Terms and Conditions and in that text it explains that when you post "your" information, you are, in effect, giving them an irrevocable, non-exclusive license to everything you do, including the right to make derivative works.

In other words, "when the product is free, you're the product..."

It is important to mention the "derivative works" piece here, because the significant part of the "value" that FB provide to the companies that access their API for data mining purposes is based upon their own internal analysis of the data. There isn't the space to explain that observation in detail here, but I would strongly recommend searching out comments from Christopher Wylie, the data architect for Cambridge Analytica, who has explained just how much can be learned about people from the data they post.

A bit like the conclusion of the Matthew Broderick movie "Wargames" ("The only way to avoid losing is to not play the game..."), the only way to avoid being abused by Facebook is to not have an account and to block all their domains in an ad-blocker (to protect your browse from their drive-by cookies).

 

[ToplevelpoT]

Just to reiterate:
Facebook can be used in evil ways;

Facebook provided ways app-makers could be evil;

Facebook provided a VIP-level way of evil to those willing to pay;

We enabled Facebook by giving over the data in the first place.

We weighed the balance between privacy, connectivity, and convenience, made our choice without forethought to how our data could be used.

Now we do not like the results.

 

[Deranged]

There is a somewhat well-known Swedish information security researcher named Frans Rosén, who says he lives in Stockholm, but it is not clear if this is the same person. This Rosén did not respond to Ars’ requests for comment.

I am not sure what information is okay to post here, but there is indeed a person named Frans Rosén living in Stockholm with a unique "personnummer" (similar to social security number) that matches the number listed in the Styleform registration you linked.

Can you email me (cyrus.farivar@meincmagazine.com) or Twitter DM (@cfarivar) please?

Now, I’m not a privacy expert but I THINK revealing identifiable information about a Swedish individual, in a publication like ArsTechnica, is possibly illegal under former Swedish privacy laws, and the new GDPR is supposedly stricter in some aspects. While a lot of information about Swedish citizens are public records, that doesn’t mean that publications are free to publish it without the individual’s consent, which seems to not have been sought in this case.

Not saying I’m right, but Ars should be aware of it in any case.

-edit- referring to the information which is already in the article, not specifically about revealing an individual’s personal number.

 

[Voyna i Mor]

There is a somewhat well-known Swedish information security researcher named Frans Rosén, who says he lives in Stockholm, but it is not clear if this is the same person. This Rosén did not respond to Ars’ requests for comment.

I am not sure what information is okay to post here, but there is indeed a person named Frans Rosén living in Stockholm with a unique "personnummer" (similar to social security number) that matches the number listed in the Styleform registration you linked.

Can you email me (cyrus.farivar@meincmagazine.com) or Twitter DM (@cfarivar) please?

Now, I’m not a privacy expert but I THINK revealing identifiable information about a Swedish individual, in a publication like ArsTechnica, is possibly illegal under former Swedish privacy laws, and the new GDPR is supposedly stricter in some aspects. While a lot of information about Swedish citizens are public records, that doesn’t mean that publications are free to publish it without the individual’s consent, which seems to not have been sought in this case.

Not saying I’m right, but Ars should be aware of it in any case.

-edit- referring to the information which is already in the article, not specifically about revealing an individual’s personal number.

Public interest defence for journalists I think.
It might be better if the person who has the information sought permission first.
Plus I doubt Ars staff are going to be arrested the moment they enter Europe. It's not as if they were directors of a company that is worrying successful at competing with Apple.

 

[Voyna i Mor]

Facebook is evil, but still, shouldn't they get to decided who they give and don't give their data too?

No! It's not Facebook's data! The users should get to decide who they give THEIR data to!

I'm not trying to be argumentative, but as a point of law, I believe you are wrong. Facebook have posted their Terms and Conditions and in that text it explains that when you post "your" information, you are, in effect, giving them an irrevocable, non-exclusive license to everything you do, including the right to make derivative works.

In other words, "when the product is free, you're the product..."

It is important to mention the "derivative works" piece here, because the significant part of the "value" that FB provide to the companies that access their API for data mining purposes is based upon their own internal analysis of the data. There isn't the space to explain that observation in detail here, but I would strongly recommend searching out comments from Christopher Wylie, the data architect for Cambridge Analytica, who has explained just how much can be learned about people from the data they post.

A bit like the conclusion of the Matthew Broderick movie "Wargames" ("The only way to avoid losing is to not play the game..."), the only way to avoid being abused by Facebook is to not have an account and to block all their domains in an ad-blocker (to protect your browse from their drive-by cookies).

I have never signed up to Facebook T&C but they still try to track me with cookies.

I also suspect that the Facebook T&Cs are invalid under the laws of a number of EU countries.

 

[Embattle]

You know, I'm slightly surprised Zuckerberg hasn't just retired yet. Not like he isn't worth enough by now, and dealing with Facebook's ongoing meltdown issues has to be rather stressful.

His greed remains unabated.

His luck may finally be running out.

 

[greenleaves]

Mark Zuckerberg is a complete cvnt.
Why do people still use his products?

 

[stine]

Someone made a comment about T&Cs. I don't have a facebook account, so they don't have any of those rights to my personal data unless every company that uses FB like-button code is also required to have some specific language in their T&Cs. On the other hand, as has been noted elsewhere above, I have most fb.com domains defined as loopback, so its unlikelly that they get much of anything from my browser.

 

[Tipler]

There is a somewhat well-known Swedish information security researcher named Frans Rosén, who says he lives in Stockholm, but it is not clear if this is the same person. This Rosén did not respond to Ars’ requests for comment.

I am not sure what information is okay to post here, but there is indeed a person named Frans Rosén living in Stockholm with a unique "personnummer" (similar to social security number) that matches the number listed in the Styleform registration you linked.

Can you email me (cyrus.farivar@meincmagazine.com) or Twitter DM (@cfarivar) please?

Now, I’m not a privacy expert but I THINK revealing identifiable information about a Swedish individual, in a publication like ArsTechnica, is possibly illegal under former Swedish privacy laws, and the new GDPR is supposedly stricter in some aspects. While a lot of information about Swedish citizens are public records, that doesn’t mean that publications are free to publish it without the individual’s consent, which seems to not have been sought in this case.

Not saying I’m right, but Ars should be aware of it in any case.

-edit- referring to the information which is already in the article, not specifically about revealing an individual’s personal number.

Public interest defence for journalists I think.
It might be better if the person who has the information sought permission first.
Plus I doubt Ars staff are going to be arrested the moment they enter Europe. It's not as if they were directors of a company that is worrying successful at competing with Apple.

Even so, email, twitter? At least use a secure channel, Signal maybe. It's just common decency.

 

[SixDegrees]

Facebook is evil, but still, shouldn't they get to decided who they give and don't give their data too?

No! It's not Facebook's data! The users should get to decide who they give THEIR data to!

Maybe. But at a minimum, providers of that data ought to have a share in the profits beyond access to a lame, propaganda-infested website. The compensation gap between those providing the data (essentially zero dollars) and those collecting it (essentially hundreds of billions) is repugnantly large.

 

[Voyna i Mor]

Mark Zuckerberg is a complete cvnt.
Why do people still use his products?

Because they don't understand what they do, and even if they do sort-of understand "how else can I stay in touch with my family?"

A bit like former East Germany. Yes you could opt out of spying on your family and co-workers. Just don't expect a decent job or somewhere decent to live.

At least we know it cannot be Zuckerberg himself downvoting these posts because he would never give out enough information to a social media website in order to register.

 

[dj__jg]

Facebook is evil, but still, shouldn't they get to decided who they give and don't give their data too?

No! It's not Facebook's data! The users should get to decide who they give THEIR data to!

Erm, not really.

If you willingly give a free service a ton of information, you've got to expect they're going to do something with it to pay the bills.

If you don't want that information to leak, keep it to yourself.

I'm glad I live somewhere where we don't quite think like this

 

[notATroll123]

Facebook was stupid for giving that level of access in the first place... And Devs were stupid if they thought it would continue.

 

[tmt]

Just to reiterate:
Facebook can be used in evil ways;

Facebook provided ways app-makers could be evil;

Facebook provided a VIP-level way of evil to those willing to pay;

We enabled Facebook by giving over the data in the first place.

We weighed the balance between privacy, connectivity, and convenience, made our choice without forethought to how our data could be used.

Now we do not like the results.

it was a calculated risk...

...shame that most of us suck at math.

(no, I'm not excluding myself)

 

[haar]

I thought you never buttoned the top button in a suit jacket... (Zuckerberg has the top button done)

 

[SixDegrees]

I thought you never buttoned the top button in a suit jacket... (Zuckerberg has the top button done)

I can't see the picture well, but it's usually the top button that's fastened with a two-button jacket, only sometimes with a three-button.

Zchmuck can afford to pay someone to get him dressed.