back to article Instagram bug 'exposed' hipsters' private photos to strangers

A just-patched vulnerability in Instagram potentially exposed hipsters' private photos and more to strangers. A bug in the popular photo touch-up utility, acquired by Facebook in April for $1bn, allowed malicious users to add themselves as "friends" to individual accounts without permission and view snaps marked as private. …

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  3. g e

    So THAT'S why

    Zuckerberg thought Instagram was a great fit with Failbook!

    instagran.surefyre.com is way cleverer tech though... ;o)

  4. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Moral of the story...

    If you want to keep something private don't stick it ont he fecking internet. Christ , don't people EVER learn??

    1. JDX Gold badge

      Re: Moral of the story...

      I think you'll find you're living in the dark ages. You're the kind of person who born 50 years earlier would be the pensioner who keeps their savings hidden in a pot in the garden.

      1. Andy ORourke
        WTF?

        Re: Moral of the story...

        Hiding your savings in a pot at the bottom of the garden seems like a decent idea given the shitstorm the banking industry has caused us, no or minimal return on savings and my pension pot being worth less than I've paid into it.

        If you meant to include the joke Icon in your post please ignore my comments

        Cheers

      2. TeeCee Gold badge
        Facepalm

        Re: Moral of the story...

        Close.

        Now if you could provide an example of a pensioner who buried their savings in a pot in their garden and then went around nailing maps of the exact location and a detailed description of the pot's contents to every tree within a 50 mile radius, you'd be right on the money.

        As far as I can make out, nobody ever did that. I wonder why.....?

      3. Stevie

        Re: Moral of the story...

        "I think you'll find you're living in the dark ages. You're the kind of person who born 50 years earlier would be the pensioner who keeps their savings hidden in a pot in the garden."

        Haha! Yes, those foolish old people. I put *my* money in a bank where it can safely...f*ck!

      4. Anonymous Coward
        Facepalm

        Re: Moral of the story...

        "I think you'll find you're living in the dark ages."

        Am I? Oh well, when your private data and/or pictures eventually ends up in the hands of people you rather it hadn't through your own naivety I hope you cheer yourself up by remembering that you're such a cutting edge hipster in the zeitgeist.

        1. JDX Gold badge

          Re: Moral of the story...

          Yawn. If you're so scared of the internet maybe you'd better stay away from it.

          Your bank, utility companies, local council, etc all have your intimate personal data and have done for years. Telling people not to put data on the web if they want it to be private is just burying your head in the sand... the data is already out there waiting to be leaked even if you join the cool kids who laugh at facebook and only access the web via proxies. I guess you don't use phone or email either in case they record and leak your conversations.

          There's being sensible - making sure your data can only be seen IF it's leaked rather than because you didn't RTFM - and there's being paranoid.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            WTF?

            Re: Moral of the story...

            "Your bank, utility companies, local council, etc all have your intimate personal data and have done for years."

            We don't have much choice about that and sometimes that data does leak into the wrong hands. We do have a choice about putting personal info on social networking sites however. You might as well say that because occasionally we might get hurt in a car accident anyway , there's no point wearing a seatbelt.

            "I guess you don't use phone or email either in case they record and leak your conversations."

            Thats a lot more effort than hacking a website or a website operator making a cockup because someone would have to go out of their way to record a phone conversation or take copies or emails on a server.

            "There's being sensible - making sure your data can only be seen IF it's leaked rather than because you didn't RTFM - and there's being paranoid."

            What , you mean like Facebook changes their privacy settings without telling anyone beforehand?

            But I'm sure their plans were in the manual somewhere, right? Right? Hello ... ?

          2. Rameses Niblick the Third (KKWWMT)
            Thumb Down

            Re: Moral of the story... @ JDX

            I don't recall my bank, utility companies, local council taking my family holiday snaps and sharing them around anybody who cared to wander in and look.

            Although to be fair, neither did instagram, but only because I don't use it.

            1. KnucklesTheDog

              Re: Moral of the story... @ JDX

              "I don't recall my bank, utility companies, local council taking my family holiday snaps and sharing them around anybody who cared to wander in and look"

              No, but as Instagram is a tool for sharing photos around anybody who cares to wander in and look this probably isn't really a fair comparison.

              I didn't actually know you could make photos private, it's really just a Twitter for photos. Using it to archive private photos strikes me as a bit like using Twitter to archive bits of text, it's just not really what it's geared up for. Still, no excuse if people are given the option of using it like that I suppose.

    2. LinkOfHyrule
      Joke

      Re: Moral of the story...

      Or use Photoshop off-line to touch up those pics of yourself at the annual Surrey housewives and slaves, rubber swinging orgy, if you don't want the world to know you won this years best all round Gimp! Speaking of which, yes Lunux guys before you start, you can also be touched up by the Gimp if you don't want to pay for/download a cracked, Photoshop!

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    That wasn't a bug!

    It was merely moving towards Facebook integration, b*tch.

    Regards,

    Mark Zuckerberg.

  6. Dave 126 Silver badge

    Dawson Bros. Funtime: "Facebook Stalker"

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sgl25IadVPk

    from a BBC comedy pilot, for those in the UK the full half hour show is on the BBC website, and includes 'iPad - Now For Horses' and other tech centred sketches. Witten by the people who did the One Ronnie "Blackberry, Orange, Eggs Box £3.60" sketch.

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