8 ms·

Oh come on, it was a honeypot from the beginning. Everybody in the last few days was talking about Parler -- they got more exposure than ever in their life. Th

Oh come on, it was a honeypot from the beginning. Everybody in the last few days was talking about Parler -- they got more exposure than ever in their life. The takedown from AWS was announced a few days before, so more users could register. Parler was running a "Verified Parler citizen" (wat?) campaign, to gather more personal data. And now, hackers conveniently exposed everything. Hackers are unpredictable, you know. I am not defending the Parler audience; the honeypot was elegant, but is it ethical?

l33tbro 6y ago
I signed up to explore the site yesterday. Was curious from hearing in the news and it required an account to view. There was no verification process whatsoever. I popped in a fake email and then got immediate access. So not sure what this "Verified Parler citizen" thing refers to ...
- frollo 6y ago
  To get verified you had to post a scan of your driving license or another document, which was then stored in Parler's database. After all that happened (and even before 6/1 it was clear that Parler was being closely watched by a lot of three letter agencies), it was clearly a honeypot.
- bmarquez 6y ago
  "Verified Parler Citizen" is basically a red badge to prove that you weren't a bot account. I think there were other benefits but I can't recall off the top of my head. As a privacy-conscious person, the thought of uploading the front and back of a driver's license + selfie, or passport just to get an "I'm not a bot" badge is ridiculous.
- srwx 6y ago
  Prior to Okta and Twilio revoking their accounts you needed to provide SMS authorization to create an account (you give them a number, they send you a code, etc.). It seems likely after their API access to Okta/Twilio was revoked their services weren't written to catch and handle the new exception these API calls were probably raising... Based on this twitter thread from Nov 2020 they may not have been hiring the best developers: https://twitter.com/davetroy/status/1327253991936454663 https://twitter.com/davetroy/status/1327253991936454663
uncledave 6y ago
It was funded by the Mercers so probably wasn’t a honey pot as they have interest in its business model as a primary cause. It may have ended up as one intentionally anyway.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
LarvaFX 6y ago
Yeah, sure buddy. Financed by the Mercers[1], are you kidding me. [1] https://edition.cnn.com/2020/11/15/media/rebekah-mercer-parler/index.html https://edition.cnn.com/2020/11/15/media/rebekah-mercer-parl...
- atemerev 6y ago
  So what? The operation could have been approved only in the last few weeks or so. It is this "account verification" thing that convinced me. Even Facebook does not encourage you to upload a driving license, ffs.
  - asutekku 6y ago
    I mean, if you don't remember your password to Facebook you do need to provide your driving license: https://www.facebook.com/help/contact/183000765122339 https://www.facebook.com/help/contact/183000765122339
  - LarvaFX 6y ago
    So what? Anything could be. Maybe this site is a honeypot! Maybe not. Just always cherry-picking the interpretation you happen like to be true does not lead to the truth, it leads to conspiracy phantasms.
notadev 6y ago
The verification, according to their ToS, was only required if the user wanted to take part in their monetization program. Their ToS states that US law requires them to gather certain PII for auditing purposes. A regular user didn't need to submit anything but an email address.
- atemerev 6y ago
  Not exactly. They were promoting verification on their front page, as a measure to "fight bots". Verified accounts were displaying a "not a bot" badge.

l33tbro 6y ago

I signed up to explore the site yesterday. Was curious from hearing in the news and it required an account to view. There was no verification process whatsoever. I popped in a fake email and then got immediate access. So not sure what this "Verified Parler citizen" thing refers to ...

frollo 6y ago
To get verified you had to post a scan of your driving license or another document, which was then stored in Parler's database. After all that happened (and even before 6/1 it was clear that Parler was being closely watched by a lot of three letter agencies), it was clearly a honeypot.
bmarquez 6y ago
"Verified Parler Citizen" is basically a red badge to prove that you weren't a bot account. I think there were other benefits but I can't recall off the top of my head. As a privacy-conscious person, the thought of uploading the front and back of a driver's license + selfie, or passport just to get an "I'm not a bot" badge is ridiculous.
srwx 6y ago
Prior to Okta and Twilio revoking their accounts you needed to provide SMS authorization to create an account (you give them a number, they send you a code, etc.). It seems likely after their API access to Okta/Twilio was revoked their services weren't written to catch and handle the new exception these API calls were probably raising... Based on this twitter thread from Nov 2020 they may not have been hiring the best developers: https://twitter.com/davetroy/status/1327253991936454663 https://twitter.com/davetroy/status/1327253991936454663

uncledave 6y ago

It was funded by the Mercers so probably wasn’t a honey pot as they have interest in its business model as a primary cause. It may have ended up as one intentionally anyway.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

LarvaFX 6y ago

Yeah, sure buddy. Financed by the Mercers[1], are you kidding me. [1] https://edition.cnn.com/2020/11/15/media/rebekah-mercer-parler/index.html https://edition.cnn.com/2020/11/15/media/rebekah-mercer-parl...

atemerev 6y ago
So what? The operation could have been approved only in the last few weeks or so. It is this "account verification" thing that convinced me. Even Facebook does not encourage you to upload a driving license, ffs.
- asutekku 6y ago
  I mean, if you don't remember your password to Facebook you do need to provide your driving license: https://www.facebook.com/help/contact/183000765122339 https://www.facebook.com/help/contact/183000765122339
- LarvaFX 6y ago
  So what? Anything could be. Maybe this site is a honeypot! Maybe not. Just always cherry-picking the interpretation you happen like to be true does not lead to the truth, it leads to conspiracy phantasms.

notadev 6y ago

The verification, according to their ToS, was only required if the user wanted to take part in their monetization program. Their ToS states that US law requires them to gather certain PII for auditing purposes. A regular user didn't need to submit anything but an email address.

atemerev 6y ago
Not exactly. They were promoting verification on their front page, as a measure to "fight bots". Verified accounts were displaying a "not a bot" badge.