Facebook requests the email password of some new users to validate their identity. A practice that is similar to phishing.
Mark Zuckerberg, the boss of Facebook, admits himself, the social network does not have a great reputation for the protection of privacy. It must be said that for over a year, it is a wave of scandals that hit Facebook. A fortnight ago, he admitted that he stored hundreds of millions of users’ passwords without much security.
Today, the social network sinks a little more. When a new account is created, the platform asks to enter the password of the email account that is given. This would be a verification of a member’s Facebook identity, with the main argument that operation is then performed automatically. The worry is that there is no other alternative.
When Facebook practices phishing
This maneuver is identical to one of the wounds of the Internet, phishing. There are, however, nuances. It appears that not all email platforms are affected. With a Gmail account, for example, this request does not appear.
This is the case however from the free GMX mail service or the Russian Yandex Mail. It was necessary that this business is revealed by The Daily Beast website for Facebook to react via a message sent to this editor.
The social network then explained that this method of checking a profile was no longer going to be exploited while stating that the passwords of email are not memorized.
But there could be even worse, according to Business Insider, once the password is recovered, when Facebook takes control of the email, it would take the opportunity to collect all the contacts of the user.
At no time is the user’s consent requested. However, Business Insider has not been able to know if this collection really takes place. This new case shows, once again, that among the giants of the internet, the undisputed leader of social networks remains one of the worst performers in terms of respect for privacy, despite its financial strength.