12 ms·

I'm currently in much the same limbo: some geezer with an IP from the other side of the world logged into my fb account, changed password and phone number and l

I'm currently in much the same limbo: some geezer with an IP from the other side of the world logged into my fb account, changed password and phone number and likely did a bunch of unsavory stuff that broke the fb "community guidelines". My account has now been "under review" since Saturday which means I can't log in, and my messenger, my fb profile and the associated businesses and groups that I manage have all disappeared from fb. Having googled around my initial hopes that it will soon be resolved has flatlined: there seems to have been a surge of this lately and nobody that I have seen have had their access back (the reviewers have been fired?). I will likely loose my WhatsApp as well, judging by the reports. Of course I realize that as an unpaying user of Meta products people might say "serves you right for being stupid". But I don't buy that. Fb is the de facto online directory of ordinary people (not counting much of the HN crowd as "ordinary" here). It's totally unreasonable (understatement) that fb can effectively erase me and my online history and business without recourse because their systems leak and they don't have manpower who can do a human review of the facts in the case. In the short term I'll be looking for other solutions, in the longer term I'll be supporting calls for making services like fb a public utility, with certain legal obligations (like not erasing online presences).

yieldcrv 4y ago
reminds me of how the most effective and quickest way to delete a facebook account is to post porn
- avh3 4y ago
  lol
ciupicri 4y ago
Since you're admitting that there's lots and lots of people on Facebook, from where do you expect it to get the manpower required to review (properly) all the many cases that might appear?
- brookst 4y ago
  Their profits?
- reaperducer 4y ago
  from where do you expect it to get the manpower required to review (properly) all the many cases that might appear? Meta had $116,610,000,000 in revenue last year. It can find a way. It's always so baffling to see people on HN rush to defend these massive companies, pretending that they're resource-strapped like two guys in a startup working out of a garage.
  - ciupicri 4y ago
    It's always so baffling to see people on HN not understanding that the sole purpose of a business is to make money, lots of money. Also why are you talking about revenue and not profit? Last, but not least, let's not forget the recent lay offs.
    - 988747 4y ago
      1. Yes, businesses exist to make money, but if they can't provide good enough service then they will soon be out of business. 2. Revenue is how much money company can spend on various things, they just need to prioritize which things are the most important for them. Facebook obviously do not prioritize customer support. 3. Recent layoffs mean then now have more free cash to hire support people :)
    - reaperducer 4y ago
      It's always so baffling to see people on HN not understanding that the sole purpose of business is to make money, lots of money. It's always so baffling to see people on HN parrot this line as if it was fact or truth, when it's far from either. Yes, there are lots of businesses that exist only to make money. But there are millions more businesses that exist for other reasons. And, no, I'm not talking about non-profits. Kelloggs, for example, was founded to improve the nutrition of people at a health retreat. The whole moustache-twirling moneybag-hoarding billionaire thing used to be a cartoon, because it was so misaligned with the reality of society. But in the Silicon Valley bubble, this has been turned on its head and elevated into some desirable goal, as if the only way to judge a company's value is by dollar signs. It is not. (It wasn't even Silicon Valley that started this flip. It goes back to the 80's, as parodied by the character Gordon Gekko in the film Wall Street.)
reaperducer 4y ago
I've been locked out of Facebook for so long (due to 2FA issues), I'd just like to delete my account. But that's not possible if I can't log in. I've always wondered how someone who is locked out of a service like Facebook is supposed to delete their content. Let's say that I'm a resident of some location with better-than-average digital privacy rights. If I can't log in to Facebook, how can I get my stuff deleted? How do people handle this in places like the EU (or maybe California)?
- ceejayoz 4y ago
  > How do people handle this in places like the EU (or maybe California)? Written requests to their privacy officer. datarequests@support.facebook.com It can be a bit of a pain; https://ruben.verborgh.org/facebook/emails/2019-02-15-dpo/ https://ruben.verborgh.org/facebook/emails/2019-02-15-dpo/
  - jorvi 4y ago
    I’ve tried this, they indeed illegally stonewall you.
    - tluyben2 4y ago
      That’s how they rack up fines for GDPR violations. Apparently still cheaper than it is to remedy anything?
    - zenexer 4y ago
      Good. If anyone can get access to all my info by merely sending a photo of my passport, I would be very disappointed. Anyone could forge that with minimal effort.
  - counttheforks 4y ago
    Reddit is worse. They will just flat out ignore you. HN isn't much better. I've emailed them asking for my data to be removed, as is my right as an EU citizen and dang simply refused saying it wouldn't be fair to other users. As if that overrides the law.
joxel 4y ago
[dead]
prmoustache 4y ago
> It's totally unreasonable (understatement) that fb can effectively erase me and my online history and business without recourse because their systems leak and they don't have manpower who can do a human review of the facts in the case. What prevents you from recreating a new account? When I left facebook I did a backup of it. Why aren't you making regular backups if your business depend on it? > In the short term I'll be looking for other solutions, in the loger term I'll be supporting calls for making services like fb a public utility, with certain legal obligations (like not erasing online presences). Public utility? Really? If anything it is contamination and pollution that prevent decent options of having room to be the public utility of choice.
- zht 4y ago
  Facebook, based on various opaque signals that they have, will ask new accounts to verify their identity with ID. Can we please stop blaming the victim?
  - prmoustache 4y ago
    Can we call a victim someone who decide to agree to stupid rules (Term of services)? Like we say, play stupid games, win stupid prizes. If my business rely on a service, I need a name for an account manager that can hear my complaints and activate whatever workflow to fix my problems.
    - pixl97 4y ago
      When the power dynamic is one where one party is a multibillion corporation with tens of thousands of employees and the other is an individual, I would almost in every case call the individual the victim. Simply put every business will behave in this manner eventually if not subjugated by monetary penalty of state regulation. That or you can scurry around every year to a new provider as the company you're doing business with is bought up by monopoly movers in the market leaving an ever decreasing pool of choices.
- GlickWick 4y ago
  Read the article. You get banned again if you make a new account. They likely have some complex digital fingerprinting that lets them re-id you. Maybe if you used entirely new hardware etc you might be able to pull it off, but the average user is just hosed if this happens to then.
joshuaissac 4y ago
If you live in the EU or the UK, this might also be a personal data breach that Facebook must report to the relevant national data protection authority, because it gave your private data to an unauthorised third party (if the release of that data could risk your rights or freedoms). Failure to notify so can result in fines of up to 2% of global turnover. You may need to contact your national data protection authority directly if Facebook has not notified them.

yieldcrv 4y ago

reminds me of how the most effective and quickest way to delete a facebook account is to post porn

avh3 4y ago
lol

ciupicri 4y ago

Since you're admitting that there's lots and lots of people on Facebook, from where do you expect it to get the manpower required to review (properly) all the many cases that might appear?

brookst 4y ago
Their profits?
reaperducer 4y ago
from where do you expect it to get the manpower required to review (properly) all the many cases that might appear? Meta had $116,610,000,000 in revenue last year. It can find a way. It's always so baffling to see people on HN rush to defend these massive companies, pretending that they're resource-strapped like two guys in a startup working out of a garage.
- ciupicri 4y ago
  It's always so baffling to see people on HN not understanding that the sole purpose of a business is to make money, lots of money. Also why are you talking about revenue and not profit? Last, but not least, let's not forget the recent lay offs.
  - 988747 4y ago
    1. Yes, businesses exist to make money, but if they can't provide good enough service then they will soon be out of business. 2. Revenue is how much money company can spend on various things, they just need to prioritize which things are the most important for them. Facebook obviously do not prioritize customer support. 3. Recent layoffs mean then now have more free cash to hire support people :)
  - reaperducer 4y ago
    It's always so baffling to see people on HN not understanding that the sole purpose of business is to make money, lots of money. It's always so baffling to see people on HN parrot this line as if it was fact or truth, when it's far from either. Yes, there are lots of businesses that exist only to make money. But there are millions more businesses that exist for other reasons. And, no, I'm not talking about non-profits. Kelloggs, for example, was founded to improve the nutrition of people at a health retreat. The whole moustache-twirling moneybag-hoarding billionaire thing used to be a cartoon, because it was so misaligned with the reality of society. But in the Silicon Valley bubble, this has been turned on its head and elevated into some desirable goal, as if the only way to judge a company's value is by dollar signs. It is not. (It wasn't even Silicon Valley that started this flip. It goes back to the 80's, as parodied by the character Gordon Gekko in the film Wall Street.)

reaperducer 4y ago

I've been locked out of Facebook for so long (due to 2FA issues), I'd just like to delete my account. But that's not possible if I can't log in. I've always wondered how someone who is locked out of a service like Facebook is supposed to delete their content. Let's say that I'm a resident of some location with better-than-average digital privacy rights. If I can't log in to Facebook, how can I get my stuff deleted? How do people handle this in places like the EU (or maybe California)?

ceejayoz 4y ago
> How do people handle this in places like the EU (or maybe California)? Written requests to their privacy officer. datarequests@support.facebook.com It can be a bit of a pain; https://ruben.verborgh.org/facebook/emails/2019-02-15-dpo/ https://ruben.verborgh.org/facebook/emails/2019-02-15-dpo/
- jorvi 4y ago
  I’ve tried this, they indeed illegally stonewall you.
  - tluyben2 4y ago
    That’s how they rack up fines for GDPR violations. Apparently still cheaper than it is to remedy anything?
  - zenexer 4y ago
    Good. If anyone can get access to all my info by merely sending a photo of my passport, I would be very disappointed. Anyone could forge that with minimal effort.
- counttheforks 4y ago
  Reddit is worse. They will just flat out ignore you. HN isn't much better. I've emailed them asking for my data to be removed, as is my right as an EU citizen and dang simply refused saying it wouldn't be fair to other users. As if that overrides the law.

joxel 4y ago

[dead]

prmoustache 4y ago

> It's totally unreasonable (understatement) that fb can effectively erase me and my online history and business without recourse because their systems leak and they don't have manpower who can do a human review of the facts in the case. What prevents you from recreating a new account? When I left facebook I did a backup of it. Why aren't you making regular backups if your business depend on it? > In the short term I'll be looking for other solutions, in the loger term I'll be supporting calls for making services like fb a public utility, with certain legal obligations (like not erasing online presences). Public utility? Really? If anything it is contamination and pollution that prevent decent options of having room to be the public utility of choice.

zht 4y ago
Facebook, based on various opaque signals that they have, will ask new accounts to verify their identity with ID. Can we please stop blaming the victim?
- prmoustache 4y ago
  Can we call a victim someone who decide to agree to stupid rules (Term of services)? Like we say, play stupid games, win stupid prizes. If my business rely on a service, I need a name for an account manager that can hear my complaints and activate whatever workflow to fix my problems.
  - pixl97 4y ago
    When the power dynamic is one where one party is a multibillion corporation with tens of thousands of employees and the other is an individual, I would almost in every case call the individual the victim. Simply put every business will behave in this manner eventually if not subjugated by monetary penalty of state regulation. That or you can scurry around every year to a new provider as the company you're doing business with is bought up by monopoly movers in the market leaving an ever decreasing pool of choices.
GlickWick 4y ago
Read the article. You get banned again if you make a new account. They likely have some complex digital fingerprinting that lets them re-id you. Maybe if you used entirely new hardware etc you might be able to pull it off, but the average user is just hosed if this happens to then.

joshuaissac 4y ago

If you live in the EU or the UK, this might also be a personal data breach that Facebook must report to the relevant national data protection authority, because it gave your private data to an unauthorised third party (if the release of that data could risk your rights or freedoms). Failure to notify so can result in fines of up to 2% of global turnover. You may need to contact your national data protection authority directly if Facebook has not notified them.