3 ms·

Dude Facebook did it, twitter requires a phone number, YouTube requires your details in a lot of scenarios. I remember when we were taught to not dox ourselves

Dude Facebook did it, twitter requires a phone number, YouTube requires your details in a lot of scenarios. I remember when we were taught to not dox ourselves online, the change in that tone interestingly coincides with the rise in malware being published by these companies. Reddit will do it eventually too.

Sayrus 3y ago
Enrolling into GitHub education already required a school email which usually contains your name or school documents which most definitely have your name on it. The change being discussed is not about sharing your name with Microsoft GitHub but about having it on your profile. Your profile is shared to third-party such as apps with the right OAuth scope.
- planede 3y ago
  A couple of years ago I verified that they really only just looked for *.edu.* in the domain part of the email address. I could easily enroll with something like john@edu.my.domain.com . I reported it but they didn't give a damn.
  - elashri 3y ago
    While they did not respond to your report. They currently definitely make it hard to pull something like this, as they will ask for real docs to prove that you are a student.
    - planede 3y ago
      Oh, they did respond, they just wrote that they don't give a damn. I guess they care now. As I remember this was way before the Microsoft acquisition though, so there is that.
      - elashri 3y ago
        Before MS acquisition, they were a small player. The GitHub education pack was much smaller in terms of what it offers than today. This means it was less of an abuse target, and probably some of the contracts between providers and GitHub is that they must have a restricted student verification process. They afforded to ignore that before, but can't today.
elric 3y ago
Are you saying we should just roll over and accept this? Because somehow these companies have become trustworthy?
- friend_and_foe 3y ago
  No, I thought my malware peddling accusation against them made that clear. I'm saying all the big corp websites are going to do it and you should jump ship now to the real internet, where people still host websites and run services for fun and a little profit on the side. I wouldn't dream of committing new code to github, or having a twitter, Facebook or google account and I can't understand why so many people cling to these honestly mediocre at best websites.
  - weikju 3y ago
    What are they going to do? When they first install their browser (even Firefox!), the default tabs are littered with these malware. Their start menu as well. Ads on TV. News on TV. QR codes and URLs everywhere "visit our instagram page! Follow us on Twitter!" This IS the Internet for most people... And it was built by people like us who should know better :(
    - Pannoniae 3y ago
      Yup, in my university, lots of things like societies etc. are on instagram and facebook. I don't have any, so I can't really participate. Ah well, it's the price for not getting in the loop of soycial media
  - HeckFeck 3y ago
    I agree in principle but it is basically at the expense of having an age-appropriate social life anywhere that isn't online - ironic. Practically everything around me in the 20s-30s age range is organised on walled garden social media. I also hear offhand that when seeking relationships you need some online presence or you will be seen as suspicious.
    - 3y ago
fernvenue 3y ago
The problem here, is actually require you to share real name on PUBLIC PROFILE, so everyone can see, not just GitHub employee, I believe this has nothing to do with GitHub needing to verify my identity, it can ask for my personal information privately. By the way, I feel that your point doesn't hold true in other situations as well. Just because someone took my coat, it doesn't mean I should also give them my underwear.
snovv_crash 3y ago
The moment FB started requiring this is the day it started dieing. Everyone moved to Instagram which is also owned by Meta now but doesn't have the requirement.
- jkaplowitz 3y ago
  Facebook has always officially had a real name requirement. The main difference between theirs and the much more famous one which Google+ had is that Facebook has traditionally not been proactive about enforcing theirs, whereas Google engineers controversially made an attempt to implement the official policy in code like any other specification. (Disclosure: although I worked for Google years ago and did read an internal memo back then from employees which complained about this policy, my comment is not based on any secret internal knowledge. My own job had nothing to do with Google+ or the real names policy.)

Sayrus 3y ago

Enrolling into GitHub education already required a school email which usually contains your name or school documents which most definitely have your name on it. The change being discussed is not about sharing your name with Microsoft GitHub but about having it on your profile. Your profile is shared to third-party such as apps with the right OAuth scope.

planede 3y ago
A couple of years ago I verified that they really only just looked for *.edu.* in the domain part of the email address. I could easily enroll with something like john@edu.my.domain.com . I reported it but they didn't give a damn.
- elashri 3y ago
  While they did not respond to your report. They currently definitely make it hard to pull something like this, as they will ask for real docs to prove that you are a student.
  - planede 3y ago
    Oh, they did respond, they just wrote that they don't give a damn. I guess they care now. As I remember this was way before the Microsoft acquisition though, so there is that.
    - elashri 3y ago
      Before MS acquisition, they were a small player. The GitHub education pack was much smaller in terms of what it offers than today. This means it was less of an abuse target, and probably some of the contracts between providers and GitHub is that they must have a restricted student verification process. They afforded to ignore that before, but can't today.

elric 3y ago

Are you saying we should just roll over and accept this? Because somehow these companies have become trustworthy?

friend_and_foe 3y ago
No, I thought my malware peddling accusation against them made that clear. I'm saying all the big corp websites are going to do it and you should jump ship now to the real internet, where people still host websites and run services for fun and a little profit on the side. I wouldn't dream of committing new code to github, or having a twitter, Facebook or google account and I can't understand why so many people cling to these honestly mediocre at best websites.
- weikju 3y ago
  What are they going to do? When they first install their browser (even Firefox!), the default tabs are littered with these malware. Their start menu as well. Ads on TV. News on TV. QR codes and URLs everywhere "visit our instagram page! Follow us on Twitter!" This IS the Internet for most people... And it was built by people like us who should know better :(
  - Pannoniae 3y ago
    Yup, in my university, lots of things like societies etc. are on instagram and facebook. I don't have any, so I can't really participate. Ah well, it's the price for not getting in the loop of soycial media
- HeckFeck 3y ago
  I agree in principle but it is basically at the expense of having an age-appropriate social life anywhere that isn't online - ironic. Practically everything around me in the 20s-30s age range is organised on walled garden social media. I also hear offhand that when seeking relationships you need some online presence or you will be seen as suspicious.
  - 3y ago

fernvenue 3y ago

The problem here, is actually require you to share real name on PUBLIC PROFILE, so everyone can see, not just GitHub employee, I believe this has nothing to do with GitHub needing to verify my identity, it can ask for my personal information privately. By the way, I feel that your point doesn't hold true in other situations as well. Just because someone took my coat, it doesn't mean I should also give them my underwear.

snovv_crash 3y ago

The moment FB started requiring this is the day it started dieing. Everyone moved to Instagram which is also owned by Meta now but doesn't have the requirement.

jkaplowitz 3y ago
Facebook has always officially had a real name requirement. The main difference between theirs and the much more famous one which Google+ had is that Facebook has traditionally not been proactive about enforcing theirs, whereas Google engineers controversially made an attempt to implement the official policy in code like any other specification. (Disclosure: although I worked for Google years ago and did read an internal memo back then from employees which complained about this policy, my comment is not based on any secret internal knowledge. My own job had nothing to do with Google+ or the real names policy.)