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Facebook engineer and 'professional stalker' reportedly fired over creepy Tinder messages
There's no shortage of Facebook news this week on account of F8, but this creepy Facebook-adjacent event with a good outcome seems worth noting. An engineer accused of abusing his access to data at the company in Tinder messages has been fired, Facebook confirmed to TechCrunch today.
The issue arose over the weekend: Jackie Stokes, founder of Spyglass Security, explained on Twitter that someone she knew had received some rather creepy messages from someone she personally confirmed was a Facebook engineer.
The engineer described themselves as a "professional stalker," which however accurate it may be (they attempt to unmask hackers) is probably not the best way to introduce yourself to a potential partner. They then implied that they had been employing their professional acumen in pursuit of identifying their new quarry.
Also at Motherboard.
(Score: 5, Informative) by snufu on Friday May 04 2018, @11:09PM
We can finally relax knowing Facebook will never again abuse personal data.
(Score: 2) by NewNic on Friday May 04 2018, @11:31PM (4 children)
Is there a poster here who suddenly has a lot of free time on their hands?
lib·er·tar·i·an·ism ˌlibərˈterēənizəm/ noun: Magical thinking that useful idiots mistake for serious political theory
(Score: 4, Touché) by takyon on Friday May 04 2018, @11:48PM (3 children)
It's tough to find a Facebook user around here, much less an employee.
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 04 2018, @11:58PM (1 child)
False, it's actually very easy - MDC mentioned using FB, and he's all over the place :)
(Score: 3, Informative) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Saturday May 05 2018, @12:38AM
That's because I have a lot of free time: two hours each way to and from work on public transportation.
Not having to drive gives me lots of quality time with Facebook.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Monday May 07 2018, @12:52AM
I use Facebook. It's a fantastic company, fantastic place of fantastic people. Although Brad Parscale does most of my tweets there, to be honest with you.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Saturday May 05 2018, @12:01AM (3 children)
Facebook accumulates data that can give people near god-like power over other people. Your stalker knows when you're home, when you're out, your favorite music, favorite foods, how you spend your time, who your relatives and loved ones are. Facebook even offers to link to all your accounts online. And, we are surprised when some damned fool gives in to temptation, and uses those god-like powers? So, Facebook fires a stalker when they catch him. Big deal - Facebook is constantly training up the next batch of stalkers.
This does say something about Zuckerberg though. Zuck is the consummate stalker, the God of Gods among stalkers. And, he doesn't like the competition when one of his underlings uses a little data for his own ends. The demigods will be punished if they challenge Zuck.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by RS3 on Saturday May 05 2018, @01:07AM (2 children)
I thought I remember hearing somewhere that Zuck started FB to get dates, essentially stalking. I say "essentially" because people naively trustingly assume the information they give to websites is somehow private.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 05 2018, @05:04AM (1 child)
dumb fucks
(Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Saturday May 05 2018, @05:17AM
Thanks for remembering what needed to be remembered.
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/05/14/facebook_trust_dumb/ [theregister.co.uk]
http://www.businessinsider.com/well-these-new-zuckerberg-ims-wont-help-facebooks-privacy-problems-2010-5 [businessinsider.com]
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 05 2018, @07:52AM (1 child)
Hm. Killing him may have been a little bit excessive, but you gotta do what you gotta do.
:)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 05 2018, @10:52PM
it'd probably be a better use of a terminator to aim for the top of the org chart than just some underling.