Facebook Master Password Was "Chuck Norris" 319
I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "A Facebook employee has given a tell-all interview with some very interesting things about Facebook's internals. Especially interesting are all the things relating to Facebook privacy. Basically, you don't have any. Nearly everything you've ever done on the site is recorded into a database. While they fire employees for snooping, more than a few have done it. There's an internal system to let them log into anyone's profile, though they have to be able to defend their reason for doing so. And they used to have a master password that could log into any Facebook profile: 'Chuck Norris.' Bruce Schneier might be jealous of that one."
Re:TFA accuracy? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:There's funny... (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:There's funny... (Score:3, Interesting)
Yeah, that's why you should probably not rely on the summary to be accurate.
In other words, they used a lengthy password (presumably at least 11 characters) with a mix of alphanumerics and symbols and a simple mnemonic that would allow anyone who had seen the password to remember it. That sounds pretty damned good to me.
I have a dim view of the "privacy" of information on FaceBook, but this story isn't even a blip on that radar. If you don't already know that information you post to a social networking site is available to the company that runs that site, you need to wake up.
Re:There's funny... (Score:3, Interesting)
Yes, but this is a childishly simple and unaccountable way to provide said access. Their current system (described in the article) where you hit "Switch login", you have to justify your action, and it is logged, is much better, although I hope it is restricted only to employees who have an active need to switch to other users' profiles, and approved beforehand for anyone else who needs to use it.
Re:New feature on Slashdot! (Score:3, Interesting)
>Wow, I just figured out a new feature on Slashdot! You can type in, "U:username and P:password," and it will replace your password with stars.
They must have implemented a time machine because that joke is older than I am.
Re:Chuck Norris... (Score:3, Interesting)
Chuck Norris doesn't need a password, because when it's the real Chuck Norris - you just know.