HN Explorer

Ask HN: Do you trust Facebook after lying?

13 points by sonier ↗ HN
It is now widespread news that facebook may have leaked old private messages. Facebook has denied this, claiming that “Facebook engineers examined the situation and confirmed that the messages in question were old postings, which had previously been visible on the users' profiles” (http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print/935300.aspx). I and several friends have confirmed that the leak is infact real, we have found some of our previous chats being displayed publicly on our timelines and the timeline of friends.

HN: How would you react to this? Forget it as a mistake or is it time to move away from facebook?

16 comments

[ 2.5 ms ] story [ 42.6 ms ] thread
milkshakes
I'd love to see this. So far I've heard a lot of people make this claim yet nobody has produced any evidence of it.
sonier
An interesting point is made here: http://www.shinyshiny.tv/2012/09/facebook-private-message-le... "... many users who are still adamant the messages they saw were private and claim that Facebook is just trying to cover up its mistake by calling them all crazed liars."

I guess I am in that group, I strongly believe some of the messages I saw were originally private. Unfortunately, there is no easy way to prove this.

milkshakes
sure there is. it's called email.

every time you get a facebook message, you get an email. as late as 2009, those emails included the full content of the message.

thejosh
Or you know, not writing shit you don't want out over Facebook, Email, IM, Twitter, HN, Reddit PM..........
milkshakes
Right, that will help us confirm or deny this rumor.
klaut
yes, but some people clean up their mailboxes. I know I do. Specially with something as spammy as FB email notification back in 2009. I did check my timeline and some messages there DO look like they HAD to be private - no way those kind of information would be posted on my wall. Unfortunately, i do not keep FB emails from 2009 anymore. I guess many can't prove because of this fact - deleted fb notifications from 2009/2008
milkshakes
Totally. What's unfathomable to me, however, is that in the age of Gmail, in this ocean full of strident accusations, not a single person has been able to produce something like this. That's all it would take.
GFischer
Okay, I just checked, I have over 3.000 archived Facebook emails.

I just have to find some private post on my timeline, the corresponding email and write a blog post?

matthewowen
It shouldn't be hard. The email contains the body of the message. So search for the message.
Calvin099
Do you have any proof? Have you talked to any users? Seen any screen shots?

I haven't seen any of that. However, I have seen people having conversations on posts where it almost seems like the conversation belongs in an email.

Also, it is easy to be a troll by copying and pasting a section of the article.

yen223
That...is a really loaded question.

Like many people have mentioned, no one offered any proof that the "leaked" messages were actually private, rather than wall-to-wall posts that they assumed were private.

zem
if you still trust facebook after all the changes they've made to the privacy system, i don't see why lying about this should change much. i think many facebook users (and almost certainly the majority here on hn) use facebook because that's what their friends and family are talking on, but don't trust it.
autophil
No. I don't trust Facebook, but then again, I haven't trusted Facebook in a long time (which is why I deleted my account).

Except that my account isn't deleted even when Facebook said they would after 14 days. That's just one example.

But the reason why the very liberty of citizens of the United States is under threat is because people aren't willing to stand up to what is right if it's inconvenient for them. They will instead rationalize and look for more proof and stick their heads in the sand.

HN is chock full of these people.

daimyoyo
I haven't trusted Facebook since Beacon. And I never will again. I never put anything on my page I'm not comfortable with the entire internet seeing.
codegeek
I hate to bash fb but the truth is that it keeps spamming me at my old email asking me to join fb even though I am already a fb member using a new email.And these are not 2 different accounts. All I did was to update my email address.
countessa
I never "trusted" facebook in the first place. There is always a tacit understanding, in my opinion, in using free services, that they control the data that you put in there. As long as you use the service with that in mind, you're good. I never used facebook much, but even in the PM, I would never write anything more than a "hey, how are you? can I drop you an email?".....