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I've seen several similar threads to this one on Twitter. "Blah happened at Facebook and it is potentially a company ending event." This causes me to almost i

I've seen several similar threads to this one on Twitter. "Blah happened at Facebook and it is potentially a company ending event." This causes me to almost immediately discredit them, as while serious, this is no where near a company ending event for an organization that is headquartered in the US. Equifax lost the personal data of all Americans and is doing fine. Facebook might get fined a metric ton of money, people in some portions of the world might leave it, but the company will be just fine. You see, there is no where else for those people to go. Presumably they're on Facebook for some reason so they would want to find an alternative and there isn't an alternative that is as easy to use that their friends and family will migrate to. Like many other compromises, this one will be forgotten. There is no wordlist that will come out of it, no public artifact that will exist. People have already forgotten about Adobe, LinkedIn is fading, and this one will eventually join their ranks.

Iv 8y ago
I tend to react similarly but this event is the first one that triggered some of my non-tech FB contacts to leave for more geeky alternatives, namely diaspora. The groups of his friends is discussing moving as well. This is anecdotal but I hope several groups are considering the same now...
- skinnymuch 8y ago
  I’ll give back another anecdote. This did nothing for anyone I know.
  - diminoten 8y ago
    Not only did this not do anything for anyone I know as well, many people I know used complacency language when talking about it; large data breaches seem normalized now, they don't faze the tech-illiterate anymore. The HN bubble sort of gives us a false sense that this is a Big Fucking Deal, but I didn't get the sense that my friends and cared, or even really knew.
    - eiieirurjdndjd 8y ago
      I’m tech literate and they don’t phase me either. Why would they? My business is already in the streets. What does it matter if one more company leaks my personal info?
      - stevew20 8y ago
        Unfortunately, this is how I feel at this point too... Though I might be special here, as the group that dumped my data was the US Government, and the data they dumped is ALL of the important stuff, including a photocopy of my DD-214...
    - skinnymuch 8y ago
      I’m not sure they faze much of anyone besides some of Reddit and HN. The tech literate friends I know don’t care much either. There’s a handful of things that both those sites over-do like crazy compared to the norm and this is one of them.
stephengillie 8y ago
This is what climate change news feels like too. > "Blah happened at City/Nation and it is potentially a planet ending event." It's hard to take Chicken Little serious. All of the sensationalism feels like a magician waving a cloth with one hand, to distract the audience from the other hand.
- rimunroe 8y ago
  I don't know what to tell you. The sensationalism is there because it's a catastrophic problem that requires major action. There's consensus that a very bad thing is happening, its effects are already being felt, and they will get much worse over time. Scientists have tried to communicate this in every way, but people have hemmed and hawed or outright denied it for so long that it's going to be bad no matter what at this point. There are still things that can be done to reduce the impact, but the picture isn't good.
  - tunap 8y ago
    Heh, just to clarify, are you referring to climate change, surveillance economy, data breaches or all of the above? As it applies to all, and yet, they all end up blaming end users in one way or another while patently ignoring the forces that drive public policies... Profit, industry, Guv regs & profit. I know, I know, profit deserves two mentions.
  - stephengillie 8y ago
    Everything is a catastrophic problem to someone. Sensationalism is about the worst way to communicate this, and is likely why so many refuse to believe. The reality of climate change is that we're trading inhospitable poles for an inhospitable equator. Yes, this will be painful to those who have to adapt or relocate. But it is a form of NIMBYism.
    - lancewiggs 8y ago
      There’s a lot more than weather to climate change. What if there were no more fish? What if the ocean didn’t absorb CO2. Read more.
UpshotKnothole 8y ago
It’s like people who make those posts didn’t remember that the tobacco industry still exists. Literally killing people and lying about it for profit isn’t “company ending” if you have scads of money and lawyers, and a market eager for your poison.
- codemac 8y ago
  > It’s like people who make those posts didn’t remember that the tobacco industry still exists Ah, but at least everyone agrees you should quit smoking cigarettes for your health.
  - ohithereyou 8y ago
    Oddly enough, Scientologists believe lung cancer is caused by not smoking enough[1]. 1 - http://www.xenu.net/archive/multimedia.html#smoking http://www.xenu.net/archive/multimedia.html#smoking
  - UpshotKnothole 8y ago
    True, but took about much more than a century for that, and for quite a long time tobacco smoke was seen as medicinal!
Youden 8y ago
> Equifax lost the personal data of all Americans and is doing fine. Because Equifax lost the personal data of _Americans_. Not all nations/regulators are so hands-off and Facebook is an international company with the vast majority of its users outside the US.
gavinsblog 8y ago
I'm the OP. The data is qualitatively different, but as I repeatedly say in the thread, we know very little so far except that 50m accounts were entirely compromised.
compcoffee 8y ago
>Like many other compromises, this one will be forgotten. When people say, "It'll work this way in the future because it worked this way in the past" I tend to discredit them.
- intern4tional 8y ago
  I mean I could provide statistical data and show trends etc, but that's a lot of effort. I am presuming that people here will have kept up on major breaches to realize that point. That might be a really bad assumption but I know there are some really smart infosec people on hacker news. Yes, social events do not always follow the same pattern (see Trump election), but the odds in this case are very much on the side of Facebook's breach being the same as others before it.

Iv 8y ago

I tend to react similarly but this event is the first one that triggered some of my non-tech FB contacts to leave for more geeky alternatives, namely diaspora. The groups of his friends is discussing moving as well. This is anecdotal but I hope several groups are considering the same now...

skinnymuch 8y ago
I’ll give back another anecdote. This did nothing for anyone I know.
- diminoten 8y ago
  Not only did this not do anything for anyone I know as well, many people I know used complacency language when talking about it; large data breaches seem normalized now, they don't faze the tech-illiterate anymore. The HN bubble sort of gives us a false sense that this is a Big Fucking Deal, but I didn't get the sense that my friends and cared, or even really knew.
  - eiieirurjdndjd 8y ago
    I’m tech literate and they don’t phase me either. Why would they? My business is already in the streets. What does it matter if one more company leaks my personal info?
    - stevew20 8y ago
      Unfortunately, this is how I feel at this point too... Though I might be special here, as the group that dumped my data was the US Government, and the data they dumped is ALL of the important stuff, including a photocopy of my DD-214...
  - skinnymuch 8y ago
    I’m not sure they faze much of anyone besides some of Reddit and HN. The tech literate friends I know don’t care much either. There’s a handful of things that both those sites over-do like crazy compared to the norm and this is one of them.

stephengillie 8y ago

This is what climate change news feels like too. > "Blah happened at City/Nation and it is potentially a planet ending event." It's hard to take Chicken Little serious. All of the sensationalism feels like a magician waving a cloth with one hand, to distract the audience from the other hand.

rimunroe 8y ago
I don't know what to tell you. The sensationalism is there because it's a catastrophic problem that requires major action. There's consensus that a very bad thing is happening, its effects are already being felt, and they will get much worse over time. Scientists have tried to communicate this in every way, but people have hemmed and hawed or outright denied it for so long that it's going to be bad no matter what at this point. There are still things that can be done to reduce the impact, but the picture isn't good.
- tunap 8y ago
  Heh, just to clarify, are you referring to climate change, surveillance economy, data breaches or all of the above? As it applies to all, and yet, they all end up blaming end users in one way or another while patently ignoring the forces that drive public policies... Profit, industry, Guv regs & profit. I know, I know, profit deserves two mentions.
- stephengillie 8y ago
  Everything is a catastrophic problem to someone. Sensationalism is about the worst way to communicate this, and is likely why so many refuse to believe. The reality of climate change is that we're trading inhospitable poles for an inhospitable equator. Yes, this will be painful to those who have to adapt or relocate. But it is a form of NIMBYism.
  - lancewiggs 8y ago
    There’s a lot more than weather to climate change. What if there were no more fish? What if the ocean didn’t absorb CO2. Read more.

UpshotKnothole 8y ago

It’s like people who make those posts didn’t remember that the tobacco industry still exists. Literally killing people and lying about it for profit isn’t “company ending” if you have scads of money and lawyers, and a market eager for your poison.

codemac 8y ago
> It’s like people who make those posts didn’t remember that the tobacco industry still exists Ah, but at least everyone agrees you should quit smoking cigarettes for your health.
- ohithereyou 8y ago
  Oddly enough, Scientologists believe lung cancer is caused by not smoking enough[1]. 1 - http://www.xenu.net/archive/multimedia.html#smoking http://www.xenu.net/archive/multimedia.html#smoking
- UpshotKnothole 8y ago
  True, but took about much more than a century for that, and for quite a long time tobacco smoke was seen as medicinal!

Youden 8y ago

> Equifax lost the personal data of all Americans and is doing fine. Because Equifax lost the personal data of _Americans_. Not all nations/regulators are so hands-off and Facebook is an international company with the vast majority of its users outside the US.

gavinsblog 8y ago

I'm the OP. The data is qualitatively different, but as I repeatedly say in the thread, we know very little so far except that 50m accounts were entirely compromised.

compcoffee 8y ago

>Like many other compromises, this one will be forgotten. When people say, "It'll work this way in the future because it worked this way in the past" I tend to discredit them.

intern4tional 8y ago
I mean I could provide statistical data and show trends etc, but that's a lot of effort. I am presuming that people here will have kept up on major breaches to realize that point. That might be a really bad assumption but I know there are some really smart infosec people on hacker news. Yes, social events do not always follow the same pattern (see Trump election), but the odds in this case are very much on the side of Facebook's breach being the same as others before it.