Employee number 51 talks about the social network's former practice of letting staffers access any user's account with a master password. July 17, 2013 11:36 AM PDT (Credit: Facebook) Facebook was allegedly reckless with member privacy during its earliest days, according to the tales of Katherine Losse, an early Facebook employee who eventually became Mark Zuckerberg's speechwriter. Losse, who joined Facebook as a customer support staffer in 2005, told the Guardian that employees had access to member data including passwords at the time. Though Facebook later added more secure systems for helping members regain access to their accounts, it initially provided support staff with a master password that enabled workers to log in to any account -- Facebook had less than 5 million members at the time -- and access messages and other data, she said. Related posts Judge dismisses lawsuit over Instagram terms of service Gowalla co-founder checks out of Facebook Yahoo IDs officially up for grabs Facebook insists you don't care how many people saw your posts Facebook 'massacre' joker: It's been blown out of proportion Losse, employee number 51 at Facebook, left the social network in 2010 and soon became persona non grata after writing "The Boy Kings," a book that details her time at Facebook and sheds light on some of the more unflattering practices in the company's earliest days, including the master password privacy disaster. Her latest statements to the Guardian echo claims made in the book. "Jake introduced us to the hanky application through which users' emails to Facebook flowed. Once we learned how the software worked, Jake taught us, without batting an eyelid, the master password by which we could log in as any Facebook user and access all their messages and data," Losse wrote in "The Boy Kings." "I experienced a brief moment of stunned disbelief: They just hand over the password with no background check to make sure I am not a crazed stalker?" Though Facebook, which is now heavily regulated, hasn't followed these types of questionable practices for years, Losse's accounts will underscore a prevailing belief that you shouldn't trust Facebook or other Internet companies with your personal information. "Users of social networks generally assume that they are the only ones that can access the information they input, and in most cases at most companies that is most likely not true, because at least some of the staff need to have access to user accounts in order to do their jobs," Losse told the Guardian. "There has to be a way for the staff to manage and repair user account issues, and for this reason user data within most startups, especially when they are young, is never completely locked up from company staff."
Employee number 51 talks about the social network's former practice of letting staffers access any user's account with a master password.
Facebook was allegedly reckless with member privacy during its earliest days, according to the tales of Katherine Losse, an early Facebook employee who eventually became Mark Zuckerberg's speechwriter.
Losse, who joined Facebook as a customer support staffer in 2005, told the Guardian that employees had access to member data including passwords at the time. Though Facebook later added more secure systems for helping members regain access to their accounts, it initially provided support staff with a master password that enabled workers to log in to any account -- Facebook had less than 5 million members at the time -- and access messages and other data, she said.
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- Facebook 'massacre' joker: It's been blown out of proportion
Losse, employee number 51 at Facebook, left the social network in 2010 and soon became persona non grata after writing "The Boy Kings," a book that details her time at Facebook and sheds light on some of the more unflattering practices in the company's earliest days, including the master password privacy disaster.
Her latest statements to the Guardian echo claims made in the book. "Jake introduced us to the hanky application through which users' emails to Facebook flowed. Once we learned how the software worked, Jake taught us, without batting an eyelid, the master password by which we could log in as any Facebook user and access all their messages and data," Losse wrote in "The Boy Kings." "I experienced a brief moment of stunned disbelief: They just hand over the password with no background check to make sure I am not a crazed stalker?"
Though Facebook, which is now heavily regulated, hasn't followed these types of questionable practices for years, Losse's accounts will underscore a prevailing belief that you shouldn't trust Facebook or other Internet companies with your personal information.
"Users of social networks generally assume that they are the only ones that can access the information they input, and in most cases at most companies that is most likely not true, because at least some of the staff need to have access to user accounts in order to do their jobs," Losse told the Guardian. "There has to be a way for the staff to manage and repair user account issues, and for this reason user data within most startups, especially when they are young, is never completely locked up from company staff."
