A secret program called "Project Ghostbusters" saw Facebook devise a way to intercept and decrypt the encrypted network traffic of Snapchat users to study their behavior.
Facebook achieved their MITM attack by selling a VPN with spyware in it.
And so you have to wonder: who in his right mind would buy a VPN service from effing Facebook of all companies? It’s like asking the KKK to do the catering at your bar mitzvah: if you have a problem with the service, you kind of asked for it.
it was a free app, wasn’t owned by Facebook from the beginning (they’ve acquired it in 2013), and it offered data saving, so it was a tempting install for people with small data plans.
Yeah but…
Facebook achieved their MITM attack by selling a VPN with spyware in it.
And so you have to wonder: who in his right mind would buy a VPN service from effing Facebook of all companies? It’s like asking the KKK to do the catering at your bar mitzvah: if you have a problem with the service, you kind of asked for it.
@ExtremeDullard
@throws_lemy
Facebook paid kids $20 a month to run this app: https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/1/30/18203803/facebook-research-vpn-minors-data-access-apple
These kids most likely didn’t see it as a VPN at all
it was a free app, wasn’t owned by Facebook from the beginning (they’ve acquired it in 2013), and it offered data saving, so it was a tempting install for people with small data plans.
When I was a kid, my parents taught me not to accept free candy from creepy old men.
Kids should be taught not to install VPNs from Big Data for the same reason - and a whole host of other common sense internet hygiene rules.
Sure, but you would have to first get people to understand what VPNs are.
I constantly wondered the same thing about sensor-laden VR HMDs, but here we are.
At this point I wonder how many people wouldn’t bat an eye if their Facebook account was their national ID.