Promises, promises: Facebook’s history with privacy; Washington Post, March 30, 2018

Ryan Nakashima, Washington Post; Promises, promises: Facebook’s history with privacy

"“We’ve made a bunch of mistakes.” ‘’Everyone needs complete control over who they share with at all times.” ‘’Not one day goes by when I don’t think about what it means for us to be the stewards of this community and their trust.”

Sound familiar? It’s Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg addressing a major privacy breach — seven years ago .

Lawmakers in many countries may be focused on Cambridge Analytica’s alleged improper use of Facebook data, but the social network’s privacy problems go back more than a decade. Here are some of the company’s most notable missteps and promises around privacy."

We won't let politically motivated hacks silence us; Guardian, 9/9/16

Chris Stone, Guardian; We won't let politically motivated hacks silence us:

"...[W]e also know why we’ve been attacked: because – like the others in the hackers’ sights – we believe in human rights, democracy and open societies, and we’re willing to act on our principles.

Today’s political hackers remind me of the Watergate burglars, only now they’re breaking into servers instead of offices. Now, as then, the political bosses behind these break-ins hope to use the stolen material to embarrass or discredit their enemies. But the lesson of Watergate is that this tactic can easily boomerang, bolstering the democratic credentials of those attacked, and bringing the real discredit back on the dirty tricksters.

Think of the organizations whose work has been stolen by DC Leaks as a new “Enemies List” – reminiscent of the roster President Nixon maintained of 20 journalists, lawyers, politicians and other public figures whom he reviled. It was certainly dangerous to be among the president’s 20 enemies, but as Nixon’s power waned, being on the list became a badge of honor.

At least a couple of those included later described it as among their greatest achievements. Yes, you had been under surveillance and perhaps worse: maybe your office was burglarized, your phone calls tapped or your career derailed. But inclusion was also a mark of effectiveness: you had been speaking up enough to disturb a president who himself proved to be the true enemy of American democracy.

These recent intrusions, and I expect there will be more, are a symptom of an aggressive assault on democratic principles that is taking place globally. As a private philanthropy, we have the independence to persist. We will learn from DC Leaks and will continue to support open society no matter whose enemies’ lists we land on."

How Putin Weaponized Wikileaks to Influence the Election of an American President; Defense One, 7/24/16

Patrick Tucker, Defense One; How Putin Weaponized Wikileaks to Influence the Election of an American President:

"The use of Wikileaks as the publishing platform served to legitimize the information dump, which also contains a large amount of personal information related to democratic donors such as social security and credit card numbers. This suggests that Wikileaks didn’t perform a thorough analysis of the documents before they released them, or simply didn’t care.

It’s the latest installment in a trend that information security researcher Bruce Schneier calls organizational doxing and that Lawfare’s Nicholas Weaver calls the weaponization of Wikileaks."

Donald Trump Calls on Russia to Find Hillary Clinton’s Missing Emails; New York Times, 7/27/16

Ashley Parker, New York Times; Donald Trump Calls on Russia to Find Hillary Clinton’s Missing Emails:

"Donald J. Trump said Wednesday that he hoped Russia had hacked Hillary Clinton’s email, essentially encouraging an adversarial foreign power’s cyberspying on a secretary of state’s correspondence.

“Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,” Mr. Trump said, staring directly into the cameras. “I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press.”

Mr. Trump’s call was an extraordinary moment at a time when Russia is being accused of meddling in the U.S. presidential election. His comments came amid questions about the hacking of the Democratic National Committee’s computer servers, which researchers have concluded was likely the work of two Russian intelligence agencies.

Later in the news conference, when asked if he was really urging a foreign nation to hack into the private email server of Mrs. Clinton, or at least meddle in the nation’s elections, he dismissed the question. “That’s up to the president,” Mr. Trump said, before finally telling the female questioner to “be quiet — let the president talk to them.”"