Facebook Notification Spam Has Crossed the Line (wired.com) 98
Facebook has always nudged truant users back to its platform though emails and notifications. But recently, those prods have evolved beyond comments related to activity on your own profile. From a report: Now Facebook will nag you when an acquaintance comments on someone else's photo, or when a distant family member updates their status. The spamming has even extended to those who sign up for two-factor authentication -- which is a great way to turn people off to that extra layer of security. "The part of it that bugs me is that two-factor authentication is something [Facebook] should be encouraging people to use, but instead the way this is working here is that they're driving people away from two-factor and making people less secure," says Matt Green, a professor at the Johns Hopkins University Information Security Institute, who has done contracted security work for Facebook in the past.
"It's abusive, people's attention is deliberately tweaked by what looks like a two-factor authentication message." Green says he's received near-daily SMS messages from Facebook since January alerting him that one of his friends performed some action on the platform. Before he started receiving the messages, Green says he hadn't logged into Facebook for a long time and had actually forgotten his password. The weirdest part about the SMS notifications is what happens if you reply to them. If you respond, your message is posted to your own profile. Further reading: Facebook Really Wants You To Come Back, Facebook Is Spamming Users Via Their 2FA Phone Numbers, and Facebook Makes Moves On Instagram's Users.
"It's abusive, people's attention is deliberately tweaked by what looks like a two-factor authentication message." Green says he's received near-daily SMS messages from Facebook since January alerting him that one of his friends performed some action on the platform. Before he started receiving the messages, Green says he hadn't logged into Facebook for a long time and had actually forgotten his password. The weirdest part about the SMS notifications is what happens if you reply to them. If you respond, your message is posted to your own profile. Further reading: Facebook Really Wants You To Come Back, Facebook Is Spamming Users Via Their 2FA Phone Numbers, and Facebook Makes Moves On Instagram's Users.
Secure? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Secure? (Score:5, Interesting)
They don't want some hacker to hijack your account and start generating inaccurate data.
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Re:Secure? (Score:5, Insightful)
I doubt they care all that much, but they need to convince their buyers that the data is accurate.
Re:Secure? (Score:4, Insightful)
What high school/college did you go to?
What was the name of your first date?
What is your mother's maiden name?
All of this published at Facebook... Oops. That's enough to reset your bank password.
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Only if you answer those questions truthfully.
Be like Creed Braxton. Don't be honest with authority.
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Being easy to hack does give them plausible deniability when some third party turns up with detailed info on hundreds of millions of Facebook products.
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Re:Secure? (Score:4, Insightful)
yeah, but google doesn't send me messages for non-login related activities.
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Confirmed. In the years since I signed up, I've never gotten a single spam text from Google.
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Why should Facebook be "secure"? I don't get it.
This particular complaint is about Facebook being a PITA, not about it being insecure. It is both of course, but most of its users don't care about either; only Prof Matt Green is complaining about security here.
Facebook is a cancer (Score:5, Insightful)
Lol, when will you learn that Facebook doesn't give a shit about its users.
What a maroon (Score:5, Insightful)
Then turn off SMS messaging you moron. It's not Facebook's fault that you're an idiot, nor that you're an idiot looking for your fifteen minutes.
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Re:What a maroon (Score:5, Informative)
All he had to do was reply with a text with "Stop" in the body to disable the SMS service. Pretty much every single SMS subscription service supports this and other similar commands to a normal text console. Sending a message of "Help" will list this and various other commands. This was figured out from a quick 5 second Google search. There is no need to even log into the account to disable these notifications.
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Re:What a maroon (Score:4, Informative)
"Then turn off SMS messaging you moron"
Read and comprehend the next sentence of the summary, where it is EXPLICITLY stated "Before he started receiving the messages, Green says he hadn't logged into Facebook for a long time and had actually forgotten his password."
Only moron I see here is you. He's a professor at John Hopkins, what are your credentials?
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He's a professor at John Hopkins, what are your credentials?
That actually suggests he's got a lower intelligence than average, if the Harvard professor who went to prison for scamming his friends and family out of $600,000 [theregister.co.uk] to send to the Nigerian prince is any indication. He insisted, in an interview from his prison cell, that was a legitimate deal that would have gone through if the feds hadn't interfered.
Sometimes, being a college professor just makes you a well educated idiot.
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and had actually forgotten his password.
You're right the GP was wrong. The person in TFA isn't just a moron, he's a complete and total moron.
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My credentials? Being smarter than a professor at Johns Hopkins - because I know how to follow instructions to recover my passwords.
Seriously, you're a bigger idiot than he is if you think that h
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It's not Facebook's fault that you're an idiot, nor that you're an idiot looking for your fifteen minutes....
Now this kind of response is kind harsh, no?
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Hi, do you mind if I use your bathroom?
[Months pass]
Why are you mad I decided to come over today and took a shit on your carpet? You said I could take a dump in your house.
You do get that the actual complaint is that he gave them the phone number to use for 2FA, and then months later, they suddenly started using it to spam him with notifications, right? I'm sure he turned them off after they did that, but it doesn't make it any less of a shitty thing for Facebook to do.
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Exactly, you can turn off that naggy stuff off in Facebook.
Facebook only emails me if someone DMs, writes on my wall, or comments on something of mine. Since I'm not like totally awesomecool, no one bothers me on there. I login and take a look once a month at most should I happen to think about it, be in-front of my computer which I pretty much only used to pay bills (so like as little as possible), and be bothered to actually login and look around :-)
After 8 months of posting no updates, and rarely logging
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Anonymous LOL.
Oh they did that years ago (Score:3)
"Now Facebook will nag you when an acquaintance comments on someone else's photo, or when a distant family member"
They did that years ago. Both Facebook and Twitter. I assumed that it was part of their "conditioning" system to get me to check out facebook all the time.
After about 24 hours without looking at facebook, it would make those notifications on my phone. And when I turned that off, they arrived as mails. At the time, I could turn off mails, but that ment that I would not get notifications when people DID write directly to me.
So it ment that I could not use Facebook as a communication channel without getting these constant nagging messages, one way or another.
I assume that most people won't see this because they have a lot of "friends" on Facebook and so they will get constant notifications from messages and times they have been tagged in a image(there something unsettling about that "being tagged").
But I had only around 30 "friends" when I closed my account a year and a half ago and the ones I talk to often still calls and uses SMS or email(so old, I know), so it could be weeks between anyone writing to me there, to Facebook, I was still "getting started" on their platform and they needed to "train me" to use it all the time.
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... and so they will get constant notifications from messages and times they have been tagged in a image(there something unsettling about that "being tagged").
For the second time today I'm referencing a Black Mirror episode. Check out the episode 'Nosedive', it has already predicted how this ends.
You Can Fix It (Score:1)
Login and turn off all the notification settings. Your emails will be greatly reduced. I haven't logged in for about 4 years so I'm assuming these options still exist. My reminder emails aren't too often (perhaps everyone just unfriended me).
And/or block Facebook.
Facebook's ratings... (Score:3)
Facebook is a lot like a TV or radio station trying to drive people to their channel. Sure, they'll give you a secure logon then publish your data into your insecure e-mail account because that drives you back to the site, and they can show you a few more ads, which is how they're paid.
Facebook isn't doing what's right or best, they're doing what moves the ad meter. Somehow, this site isn't as intended.
It's outright lying is what it is doing (Score:5, Interesting)
On my FB business page, I keep getting notifications of likes on my posts - I don't HAVE any posts yet, just store items, and none of those have any likes on them. The notification also doesn't tell you who liked the post like it should.
FB is flat-out lying to get people to use its platform, and this should count as false advertisement.
fuck zuck (Score:1)
deleted my facebook yesterday and encourage others to as well.
2 reasons: 1.) Zuck is a Trumper
2.) Facebook has publicly stated they will not purge their forum of purposefully misleading information and fake accounts. they don't care.
GDPR is the solution (Score:1)
Unless Facebook is very clear on about what it uses your personal information for, they are not allowed to use it for that.
Or they could have to pay up to 4% of their entire revenue of their entire consortium.
Will be fun to see what happens with facebook and GDPR in court.
Useless notifications (Score:3, Insightful)
I turned off notification on almost every app, most of the notifications are time wasting bulls**t, like below:
-I do not need notifcations of new stories
-I do not need notifications of new profiles
-I do not need notifications..period
Facebook Notification: someone has tagged you!
Facebook Notification: someone has commented on your post!
Facebook Notification: someone has commented on the comment on your post!
Facebook Notification: someone has commented on the comment of the comment on your post!
Facebook Notification: someone has posted a new pic!
Facebook Notification: someone has posted a comment on a new pic!
Facebook Notification: someone has posted a comment on a new pic and commented on it!
Facebook Notification: someone has updated their profile!
Facebook Notification: someone has a comment on their updated profile!
Facebook Notification: someone has a comment on on the comment of their updated profile!
Another abusive relationship. (Score:3, Insightful)
Facebook is like Trump: No matter what atrocities they commit, no one takes action and they are allowed to continue to make people's lives miserable.
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The TDS is strong in this one.
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Is Facebook making your life miserable ? .....then ,why are you using Facebook ?
I don't use Facebook. I just keep hearing about all the issues it causes.
How Facebook gets your phone # (Score:1)
Fun fact: Facebook won't let you have more than one "app id" (essentially, what any other website would call an API key) unless you give them either a credit card or a phone number. And my boss and boss' boss weren't willing to do that, but they wanted me to do a job, so .. guess what I did.
So before anyone yells "How the fuck did Facebook ever get this guy's phone # in the first place, so that they were able to spam him?!" I present to you, this one possible explanation.
Re: How Facebook gets your phone # (Score:1)
All it takes is one of your contacts to upload their contacts list, and itâ(TM)s all over. Mr A has email X and is a Facebook user; Ms B knows Mr Aâ(TM)s email and phone number...now so does FuckFace.
I never shared my phone number with them, but one of my relatives did.
Simple and effective solution. (Score:1)
DO NOT USE FACEBOOK. Cancel your account. Delete it all. No one needs Facebook. It is and always has been a steaming pile of s--t.
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Well, due to Facebook I'm now much better in touch with family and friends in five countries across two continents. It has been very nice for this.
Notifications disabled and I use mobile website instead of apps so I can only read personal messages when I get to a computer.
Of course as far as Facebook knows I graduated from the Unseen University with speciality in General Wizardry and Extreme Napping. Unfortunately it refuses to add Ankh Mopork as home town as it couldn't locate it on the map. It has asked m
LifeInvader(tm) (Score:2)
...You gotta appreciate the GTA5 trolling of facebook.
And yet, facebook never learns. I quit facebook 6 years ago. But every damn smartphone I purchase, has the app by default, and not possible to remove without 3rd party software which you have to "trust". In some cases, not even removable.
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Where have you been (Score:2)
Friend Suggestion alert you can't turn off at all (Score:2)
How about the incredibly annoying "Friend suggestion" alert/notification that you can't turn off?
Zuckerbook's Doomsday clock is ticking (Score:4, Insightful)
Don't you love me anymore? I love you, still, more than ever! Please, please, PLEASE don't leave me! I know I've been bad, I know I've hurt you, I know I've screwed up time and time again, but really, honestly, I've changed this time, I'm a totally different social-media site than I was before, things will be different this time, just please don't walk out on me!
Sound familiar?
Face it, Zuckerbook: IT'S OVER. No one wants to continue in this destructive relationship anymore. Some are having the veil lifted from their eyes slower than others, but it's inevitable, you can't stop it, and worse, you know it's true and are flailing about in desperation, fighting a delaying action, deeply in denial that It's Over Now, and only the long, cold night is what lies before you now.
Denial
Anger
Bargaining
Depression
Acceptance
That's where you''re at right now, Zuckerbook: Trying, desperately, to bargain your way out of your imminent demise. So sad! It won't work.
That's okay, you're more than halfway through the process. It won't take long now.
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I agree. But Facebook still owns Instagram and all the kids use IG. Most of them don't even realize IG = Facebook.
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Unfortunately, Uncle Zuck has enough information on you that if he wants you to sit on his lap, you better comply or all your FB contacts get a copy of your browsing history.
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Reality check! (Score:1)
This is how Facebook has always operated from way back in its beginnings. At first they merely spammed those emails you directly provided during sign up with a message "your friend dickhead@host.tld has signed up for facebook and wants you to join too!"
Eventually they started requesting your login/password for many different services such as hotmail/msnmessenger, icq and others. They'd then unload daily upon the addresses they'd managed to harvest.
How on earth do people think they grew so quickly?
I created
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Worst than that (Score:2)
People keep signing up Facebook with my email. They're able to create and use Facebook without verifying the email address. I've clicked on that "I didn't sign up for Facebook" link plenty of time.
Notification System Drove Me Away (Score:2)
For some time now, FB may or may not notify me, if somebody posts on my wall, mentions or messages me, but they will notify me every single time any of my friends does something on their own wall. This spam of stuff I don't care about, combined with failing to notify me about the stuff I do, is why I hardly ever visit FB anymore.
Is anyone surrpised? (Score:2)
Their product is leaving in droves, after learning they're being sold out, every minute of every day. Why wouldn't they leave? And why wouldn't Facebook bend over backwards to egg these users back in? With the very things that traps people in the first place, the insatiable need to know what's going on with people you know. It's a great bait and I imagine it's pretty effective, given the addictive nature of Facebook and the peddling the 'tease' doses in email. Wow.
If anyone wanted to know what a drug d
Yeah I noticed this too (Score:2)
I use it quite rarely and I really don't need a bloody notification that a friend has simply uploaded a new picture. I'm not tagged, I wasn't there, it's just them with their kids at the park, what?
It's getting worse.
Privacy vs Convenience (Score:2)
A friend tried a few times to convince me to use Facebook. "You can find friends you haven't seen in a long time. It's a convenient way to communicate and share pictures."
Each time, I responded by pointing out the loss of privacy. She didn't care.
Finally I told her, "Ok, at least protect the privacy of your kids. When you talk about your kids in a Facebook message, don't write their full names. Refer to them by the first letter of their names. Your friends reading your Facebook message will know who you're