Facebook data on more than 500M accounts found online

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

NEW YORK (AP) — Details from more than 500 million Facebook users have been found available on a website for hackers.

The information appears to be several years old, but it is another example of the vast amount of information collected by Facebook and other social media sites, and the limits to how secure that information is.

The availability of the data set was first reported by Business Insider. According to that publication, it has information from 106 countries including phone numbers, Facebook IDs, full names, locations, birthdates, and email addresses.

Facebook has been grappling with data security issues for years. In 2018, the social media giant disabled a feature that allowed users to search for one another via phone number following revelations that the political firm Cambridge Analytica had accessed information on up to 87 million Facebook users without their knowledge or consent.



FILE - In this Oct. 15, 2013 file photo, Chuck Goolsbee, site director for Facebook's Prineville data centers, shows the computer servers that store users' photos and other data at the Facebook site in Prineville Ore. Details from more than 500 million Facebook users have been found available on a website for hackers. The information appears to be several years old, but it is another example of the vast amount of information collected by Facebook and other social media sites, and the limits to how secure that information is. (Andy Tullis/The Bulletin via AP, File)


Read more: https://apnews.com/article/business-media-social-media-fce118b1adfef8f6c51518f71465dd4b

[Initech]

1. Really makes me glad I haven't logged into my Facebook account in like four years.

[Skittles]

4. they still have your information

[hlthe2b]

6. Makes me really glad that I have NEVER registered a personal account.

[Skittles]

7. it is disturbing, how many people have been sucked into the FB Borg

yup

[DownriverDem]

12. Thanks to FB

I have found many left leaners there. I'm married, but have no children. FB has really been a help when it comes to connecting with like minded people. I go there every day. I'm on liker.com too, but it's been hacked and won't be back in working order until May. Why do folks sound so sanctimonious when it comes to attacking FB? They seem really clueless about how many of us are glad for FB.

[Midnight Writer]

2. Oh, hell, if their customer data is not stolen, it is sold. By them.

Facebook is a free service that is worth hundreds of billions of dollars.

Where do people think that value comes from?

They make money by selling their users. They sell your data, they sell your interests, they sell your connections, they sell profiles of your likely behavior.

Hacking into your account and selling your information is what Facebook does every day.

That is their business model.

[mezame]

11. Social Dilemma

Watched it. Deleted my FB acct, never looked back. Too old for Twits, not interested in Pinterest or TikTok, no social media for this gal, Duckduckgo instead of the googlies, etc. And I despair for how lost humanity has become when I see most everyone's noses buried in hand-held media devices 24/7, addicted and mindless - just where the ReThugs want 'em. I tell my friends, they've watched the film and they still won't give it up, making excuses about staying in touch with yadda yadda yadda ad naseum. And now I'm practically an outcast, lost, unreachable (even though they know how). I wish Facebook had never been born.

#FUCKZUCK

[Skittles]

3. how do they know facebook didn't sell it to them

that's the business they are in - selling user data

[cstanleytech]

5. Anyone that sees my facebook info is going to be really disappointed LOL

[PatSeg]

10. Same here

Who earth includes information like their phone numbers on Facebook?

[ancianita]

14. Heh heh same here. No phone numbers, either.

[twodogsbarking]

8. Anyone surprised?

Anyone?

[bucolic_frolic]

9. Enabling for profit

The financial incentive to keep information private? Near zero. A lost profit opportunity, and costs huge IT time as well. No wonder it's made of swiss cheese.

[Mike Nelson]

13. No surprise...

...when we went on the Internet, we gave up privacy. However, it's still worth changing your privacy settings on Facebook, Twitter, and any others. Over 500 million are simply at default, or public setting... anything posted is public.