News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Chris Hughes Says It’s Time to Break Up Facebook by stickfigure on Thursday May 09, 2019 @12:27PM (#19869678)
unsanctioned access to data

You misunderstand what happened. 1) Users installed a quiz app, 2) Users explicitly accepted a permission dialog that included "information about your friends", 3) The quiz app saved this data, 4) Cambridge Analytica bought the app (and data).

If CA got your data, it's because one of your friends sanctioned the critical link in this chain.

Facebook at least provided this level of security, however illusory it may have been. In a decentralized system, anyone who touches a piece of data can pass it on to whoever they want. There is no way to enforce "my friends can look at my data but it's my data and they aren't allowed to pass it on".

Privacy advocates and decentralization advocates are mortal enemies; their only common cause is that it's popular to hate on Facebook these days.

Re:Chris Hughes Says It’s Time to Break Up Facebook by hhjinks on Thursday May 09, 2019 @12:44PM (#19869816)
How is that not unsanctioned access? I can't get a mortgage in your name just because we're friends.
Re:Chris Hughes Says It’s Time to Break Up Facebook by filoleg on Thursday May 09, 2019 @01:09PM (#19870076)
Correct, but your friends are more than capable of backing up their log of emails with you and handing it over to someone else. How is it not your friend’s fault?

And CA “leak” was way more tame than this, just the information displayed on your profile for all of your friends.

Re:Chris Hughes Says It’s Time to Break Up Facebook by georgeecollins on Thursday May 09, 2019 @02:10PM (#19870647)
I think you are taking an example of a very dark pattern to say that we can't come up with reasonable rules.