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They weren't duped into running it, i.e. they knew they were downloading and installing an app from Facebook Research. They likely did not understand the effect
by morpheuskafka 8y ago
They weren't duped into running it, i.e. they knew they were downloading and installing an app from Facebook Research. They likely did not understand the effect of installing the VPN and trusted root provided by the app.
- Wowfunhappy 8y ago> They likely did not understand the effect of installing the VPN and trusted root provided by the app. I'm just not convinced on this point. I think it's likely a lot of people did understand that Facebook could see all their internet traffic, and thought for $20 it was a fair trade. There's a HN user down thread (anonymous5133) who says he used the app and quite liked the exchange. Now, it's possible these users did not think through all the consequences that sending this data to Facebook could have—but just how much responsibility does Facebook have here? Does Facebook need to say in big red type, "This data could be given to health insurance companies some day and used to deny coverage?" (I'm not even clear if that would be legal, but I bring it up as an oft-cited nightmare scenario.)