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The article tries to downplay what I think is the core issue: He added some functionality to the plug-in that sent statistics back to a server he controlled. He

The article tries to downplay what I think is the core issue: He added some functionality to the plug-in that sent statistics back to a server he controlled. He claims the data collection was minimal for most users but those who opted in had a lot more information collected. It appears everyone who used the plug-in had some amount of data collected by the author. He’s trying to spin this as Facebook trying to bury an anti-addiction tool, but I think it’s a simple case of someone getting caught writing a plugging that automates API requests and collects data from Facebook users to a 3rd-party server. I don’t think he’d be in trouble if he simply wrote an adblocker-style plugin that simply hid the feed. It was the automated spamming of the API and the 3rd-party data collection that likely got him in trouble.

munk-a 5y ago
I don't mean to shock you but as someone who worked on a game that interacted with facebook data - everyone in the world is harvesting some information from facebook when they're making calls to their API. Sometimes it's as "innocent" as spamming your friends with requests to play (or enabling the user to do that for in-game rewards!) and sometimes it's cambridge analytica. No application in the world just wants to altruistically be helpful by having a facebook integration - I can't even imagine what that'd look like it'd probably, honestly, be just not having a facebook integration at all.
- finfinfin 5y ago
  There are many applications that only request logged in user’s name and email address to be populated in the registration form. I myself implemented this many times without “harvesting” anything else.
  - munk-a 5y ago
    You mean for SSO functionality? Is that log in optional and a method for users to potentially preserve their progress across multiple devices?
cutemonster 5y ago
> had some amount of data collected Ratio of followed people to total connections. I think it makes no sense to ban an extension for that, and I don't think that's why they banned it. Instead, it could have threatened their bottom line, that's the problem. It's reasonable important to get some tiny insight in if one's extension works or not. They could have communicated with him and the University about what data to gather, for those who opted in.
- romwell 5y ago
  It's a red herring. Here's what Facebook actually wrote as the reason for the ban[1]: > Facebook has gathered evidence that your Chrome extension "Unfollow Everything for Facebook" facilitates unauthorized functionality on Facebook. Specifically, your extension automates action on Facebook, including mass following and unfollowing of Friends, Pages, and Groups. Your extension also impermissibly makes use of Facebook's trademarks. These activities violate Facebook's terms. [1]https://louisbarclay.notion.site/Unfollow-Everything-cease-and-desist-letter-from-Facebook-ea219169421b457bb7ce010b7bf9ce1f https://louisbarclay.notion.site/Unfollow-Everything-cease-a...
YeBanKo 5y ago
I suspect he did not use the API and rather emulated actions in browser. Action was performed on behalf of the user and data scope he collected was limited to one user using extension, which theoretically equivalent to a user’s execution of a custom script in js console.
ncr100 5y ago
If what you claim is true: Users send THEIR FB data to him. That's their choice...FB sent data to the Users, they forwarded it to him. He's not hacking Facebook's data.
- romwell 5y ago
  What they imply is not true at all. The app author was banned specifically for the functionality of the app, and not any data collection[`]. > Facebook has gathered evidence that your Chrome extension "Unfollow Everything for Facebook" facilitates unauthorized functionality on Facebook. Specifically, your extension automates action on Facebook, including mass following and unfollowing of Friends, Pages, and Groups. Your extension also impermissibly makes use of Facebook's trademarks. These activities violate Facebook's terms. [1]https://louisbarclay.notion.site/Unfollow-Everything-cease-and-desist-letter-from-Facebook-ea219169421b457bb7ce010b7bf9ce1f https://louisbarclay.notion.site/Unfollow-Everything-cease-a...
romwell 5y ago
>The article tries to downplay what I think is the core issue Because that's just what you think is the core issue (without having any basis to do so), and not what Facebook thinks is the core issue. How do I know? Well, here's what the actual cease-and-desist letter[1] says right at the top: > Facebook has gathered evidence that your Chrome extension "Unfollow Everything for Facebook" facilitates unauthorized functionality on Facebook. Specifically, your extension automates action on Facebook, including mass following and unfollowing of Friends, Pages, and Groups. Your extension also impermissibly makes use of Facebook's trademarks. These activities violate Facebook's terms. So, please, let's stop with pulling things out of thin air to make Facebook look better. They wrote in no unclear terms that they perma-banned the author for the functionality of this app. [1]https://louisbarclay.notion.site/Unfollow-Everything-cease-and-desist-letter-from-Facebook-ea219169421b457bb7ce010b7bf9ce1f https://louisbarclay.notion.site/Unfollow-Everything-cease-a...
romwell 5y ago
> I think it’s a simple case of someone getting caught writing a plugging that automates API requests and collects data from Facebook users >It was the automated spamming of the API and the 3rd-party data collection that likely got him in trouble Hmm, I wonder why you'd think that, versus believing that author's "spin" that Facebook is "trying to" bury an anti-addiction tool. Let's see what the cease-and-desist letter[1] says: > Facebook has gathered evidence that your Chrome extension "Unfollow Everything for Facebook" facilitates unauthorized functionality on Facebook. Specifically, your extension automates action on Facebook, including mass following and unfollowing of Friends, Pages, and Groups. Your extension also impermissibly makes use of Facebook's trademarks. These activities violate Facebook's terms. Oh. It turns out, Facebook specifically buried an anti-addiction tool for being an anti-addiction tool; and the comment that you made was an unsubstantiated and needless attack on the author. Comments like that don't belong here. [1]https://louisbarclay.notion.site/Unfollow-Everything-cease-and-desist-letter-from-Facebook-ea219169421b457bb7ce010b7bf9ce1f https://louisbarclay.notion.site/Unfollow-Everything-cease-a...

munk-a 5y ago

I don't mean to shock you but as someone who worked on a game that interacted with facebook data - everyone in the world is harvesting some information from facebook when they're making calls to their API. Sometimes it's as "innocent" as spamming your friends with requests to play (or enabling the user to do that for in-game rewards!) and sometimes it's cambridge analytica. No application in the world just wants to altruistically be helpful by having a facebook integration - I can't even imagine what that'd look like it'd probably, honestly, be just not having a facebook integration at all.

finfinfin 5y ago
There are many applications that only request logged in user’s name and email address to be populated in the registration form. I myself implemented this many times without “harvesting” anything else.
- munk-a 5y ago
  You mean for SSO functionality? Is that log in optional and a method for users to potentially preserve their progress across multiple devices?

cutemonster 5y ago

> had some amount of data collected Ratio of followed people to total connections. I think it makes no sense to ban an extension for that, and I don't think that's why they banned it. Instead, it could have threatened their bottom line, that's the problem. It's reasonable important to get some tiny insight in if one's extension works or not. They could have communicated with him and the University about what data to gather, for those who opted in.

romwell 5y ago
It's a red herring. Here's what Facebook actually wrote as the reason for the ban[1]: > Facebook has gathered evidence that your Chrome extension "Unfollow Everything for Facebook" facilitates unauthorized functionality on Facebook. Specifically, your extension automates action on Facebook, including mass following and unfollowing of Friends, Pages, and Groups. Your extension also impermissibly makes use of Facebook's trademarks. These activities violate Facebook's terms. [1]https://louisbarclay.notion.site/Unfollow-Everything-cease-and-desist-letter-from-Facebook-ea219169421b457bb7ce010b7bf9ce1f https://louisbarclay.notion.site/Unfollow-Everything-cease-a...

YeBanKo 5y ago

I suspect he did not use the API and rather emulated actions in browser. Action was performed on behalf of the user and data scope he collected was limited to one user using extension, which theoretically equivalent to a user’s execution of a custom script in js console.

ncr100 5y ago

If what you claim is true: Users send THEIR FB data to him. That's their choice...FB sent data to the Users, they forwarded it to him. He's not hacking Facebook's data.

romwell 5y ago
What they imply is not true at all. The app author was banned specifically for the functionality of the app, and not any data collection[`]. > Facebook has gathered evidence that your Chrome extension "Unfollow Everything for Facebook" facilitates unauthorized functionality on Facebook. Specifically, your extension automates action on Facebook, including mass following and unfollowing of Friends, Pages, and Groups. Your extension also impermissibly makes use of Facebook's trademarks. These activities violate Facebook's terms. [1]https://louisbarclay.notion.site/Unfollow-Everything-cease-and-desist-letter-from-Facebook-ea219169421b457bb7ce010b7bf9ce1f https://louisbarclay.notion.site/Unfollow-Everything-cease-a...

romwell 5y ago

>The article tries to downplay what I think is the core issue Because that's just what you think is the core issue (without having any basis to do so), and not what Facebook thinks is the core issue. How do I know? Well, here's what the actual cease-and-desist letter[1] says right at the top: > Facebook has gathered evidence that your Chrome extension "Unfollow Everything for Facebook" facilitates unauthorized functionality on Facebook. Specifically, your extension automates action on Facebook, including mass following and unfollowing of Friends, Pages, and Groups. Your extension also impermissibly makes use of Facebook's trademarks. These activities violate Facebook's terms. So, please, let's stop with pulling things out of thin air to make Facebook look better. They wrote in no unclear terms that they perma-banned the author for the functionality of this app. [1]https://louisbarclay.notion.site/Unfollow-Everything-cease-and-desist-letter-from-Facebook-ea219169421b457bb7ce010b7bf9ce1f https://louisbarclay.notion.site/Unfollow-Everything-cease-a...

romwell 5y ago

> I think it’s a simple case of someone getting caught writing a plugging that automates API requests and collects data from Facebook users >It was the automated spamming of the API and the 3rd-party data collection that likely got him in trouble Hmm, I wonder why you'd think that, versus believing that author's "spin" that Facebook is "trying to" bury an anti-addiction tool. Let's see what the cease-and-desist letter[1] says: > Facebook has gathered evidence that your Chrome extension "Unfollow Everything for Facebook" facilitates unauthorized functionality on Facebook. Specifically, your extension automates action on Facebook, including mass following and unfollowing of Friends, Pages, and Groups. Your extension also impermissibly makes use of Facebook's trademarks. These activities violate Facebook's terms. Oh. It turns out, Facebook specifically buried an anti-addiction tool for being an anti-addiction tool; and the comment that you made was an unsubstantiated and needless attack on the author. Comments like that don't belong here. [1]https://louisbarclay.notion.site/Unfollow-Everything-cease-and-desist-letter-from-Facebook-ea219169421b457bb7ce010b7bf9ce1f https://louisbarclay.notion.site/Unfollow-Everything-cease-a...