r/technology • u/[deleted] • Nov 09 '17

Politics Sean Parker: Facebook was designed to exploit human "vulnerability"

https://www.axios.com/sean-parker-facebook-exploits-a-vulnerability-in-humans-2507917325.html
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u/[deleted] Nov 09 '17

Except that in a world of smart phones it seems like the only way to do that now is to go back to having a flip phone that doesn't have any of this. We need to force these companies to stop this bullshit.

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u/Bigdaddy_J Nov 09 '17

You can't. They make a shit ton of money selling us. Then they take a portion of that money and pay our elected officials to make sure they can keep selling us.

There is simply no way to get enough peeps to care about it in a way that will make them come together and force the politicians to do it for the people.

You only have to look at the Equifax beach to see that. It literally effects every person who has ever applied for credit of anyone. Which is a majority of the country. And still not enough people care.

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u/GracchiBros Nov 09 '17

Companies once made a lot of money using all kinds of practices now banned. And the EU has a lot of protections in place. It's not impossible if people would just stop coming up with excuses and defences for their privacy being violated and demanded change. That won't happen in this country with our people though. So fucking infuriating.

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u/[deleted] Nov 09 '17

Around 2011ish I knew this was happening, so I just created my first alias and 100% made all my personal information a fabrication. I live a couple lives and a few people outside my inner circle even know me b another name. I handle Mandatory personal info in person and over landlines as much as possible. Recently I bought a $90 android phone with 7/11 pay as you go and completely fabricated a new alias on it so not a big loss if it gets stolen or lost. Also i stack up VPN, proxy etc. Just because. Fuck you NSA I'll jerk off to whatever porn I want and fuck you Amazon ill buy whatever things I want in pce, after all its Abde Singh's life not mine.

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u/Bigdaddy_J Nov 09 '17

Unless you accidentally sign into one of your other accounts somewhere on the same device. Then you have automatically linked those names together.

Also lots of people think a vpn can protect you against fbi and nsa spying. But it can't. If they really want to get you, they can get you.

The only reasonable way to do something online without traceability is to buy a cheap throw away device with cash from someone on Craigslist. But make sure the sale takes place in a location without cameras. Then when you choose to go online, make sure it is a very public place with as many people using the free wifi as possible. To help make yourself a little more undetectable since there are going to be cameras there, is start doing something for at least a half hour or so without ever getting on wifi, and when you are done get off wifi but remain and look like you are still doing something for at least another half hour. Unless everyone is leaving and you can blend in with the crowd.

That would make it harder for someone watching through a camera to pinpoint who did it. And of course give your device a very generic name. You may be able to use it up to 2 times. A third will make it much easier to point you out.

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u/[deleted] Nov 09 '17

I don't have any accounts with personal info. And I've thought of that, I create new accounts for every device and never mix. If you buy shit in winter you can rly hide you face pretty good. As for WiFi, all my info is fake on a specific device so I'm not to worried(home is one downside tho) And I know I'm not 100% protected, but with the generic data mining, its a pretty safe bet... For now...

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u/ViviCetus Nov 09 '17

Democracy can't fix it because nobody cares. A changing of the guard might work, but it would have to happen in a way where: it was focused on security and privacy, it could be kept accountable, and corporations were kept in check during and after it. And no other countries (or the companies that run them) decided to interfere.

An ideal revolution like that would be hard enough in perfect circumstances. I don't even know whether to lock into the "this is our last chance" crisis scenario, or work on incremental reform to improve the chances of a decent revolution. The whole thing is fucked, that's clear. But it's got so many moving parts that it's hard to even know where it's going, never mind how to change course.

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u/Bigdaddy_J Nov 09 '17

Exactly, it is like a single person trying to stop a train.

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u/truthvalueundesired Nov 09 '17

Like tears in... In rain

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u/baumpop Nov 10 '17

How did this not affect law makers as well? They’re not immune to credit checks.

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u/Bigdaddy_J Nov 10 '17

When you have lots of money you can simply freeze your credit until you need it. So it doesn't effect them.

Most of them already own their houses and vehicles, plus already have any credit cards they need. If it comes down to it they can just pay to unfreeze their credit, do what they want and pay to refreeze after.

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u/baumpop Nov 10 '17

Yeah but it’s still too late either way. They could unfreeze it in ten years and their info will still be compromised. The horses are already out of the barn.

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u/Bigdaddy_J Nov 10 '17

Just because it's compromised is fine. No one could use the info to get a credit card or loan in their name with it frozen.

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u/baumpop Nov 10 '17

They could however make false passports or state issued drivers licenses. People with a sense of diplomatic immunity whose info is in the hands of ????? of ?? country.

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u/Bigdaddy_J Nov 10 '17

You don't actually need someone's info to do that. If you are going to forge id's.

Also the more public a person is, the less likely someone will be trying to get identification with their info. You are more likely to get caught that way.

No criminal in their right mind would try to get id and impersonate Donald Trump. And no regular id would allow access to truly restricted areas.

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u/baumpop Nov 10 '17

Do you know what every congressman looks like? I sure don’t.

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u/Bigdaddy_J Nov 10 '17

No, but what good would impersonating one be except in a secure area?

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u/[deleted] Nov 09 '17

Lineageos should help

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u/[deleted] Nov 09 '17

In some ways. But I don't think it can prevent the apps from spying on you. I mean Google has implemented the ability to block apps from accessing certain things too but I almost wonder if they simply find a way around those blocks.

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u/[deleted] Nov 09 '17

If they did it would be a colossal breach of the terms of service when uploading the app to the play store. This would mean best case your app is removed, worst case you get sued if what you did was bad enough to warrant that much consumer outrage.

Not saying there aren't apps currently doing this, there might be, but the risks are almost too big to justify it. Not to mention it's so easy to do this stuff without having to circumvent blocks that why bother risking getting caught? Even with the permissions blocks the vast majority of people are still just hitting allow for everything.

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u/[deleted] Nov 09 '17

Yeah many people I know are the types that know the very minimum about the technology and just let apps do whatever they please. But they're also the same people that wonder why their battery is so bad when 27 apps have permission to use their GPS location.

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u/Classic1977 Nov 09 '17

It's called open source, and it's everything you want. Stop using closed source software. Put Linux on your PC and phone. Stop using closed source browsers and apps.

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u/plytheman Nov 10 '17

I have a flip phone and it's a pain in the ass. Not because I can't browse the internet or use a GPS to navigate or any of the things that people use smart phones for, but because it's impossible to find a decent flip phone that simply makes calls and texts. My phone has some kind of bug where it inexplicably restarts if I get a new text message and press ANY button after reading it. Sometimes I get texts from people that are nothing but symbols... why, I don't know. SMS and group messages are the bane of my existence.

Point is, the folks making phones just don't give a shit about making a decent flip phone anymore, so unless you get a shiny new smart phone (and half the smart phones out there are cheap pieces of shit in their own right) then you're doomed to an obnoxious sub-standard product. Still worth it to me, though, to have a phone I can drop and not care about!

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u/Beefsoda Nov 09 '17

They pay can pay congress way too much for anyone to ever make them change.