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by tptacek 3835 days ago
I don't know. I feel bad for Alex but if we want to suggest that Facebook's vulnerability disclosure policy was poorly written, I will ruefully agree.

When you stand up a bug bounty program, you are giving strangers permission to do something that they would otherwise be prosecuted for doing. You should be extraordinarily careful when you do that, and your rules of engagement should be crystal clear. These weren't.
1 comments
hitekker 3835 days ago
EDIT: Having read the CSO's explanation that the guy was using his company work email, it makes more sense why the CSO would contact the company (and explains away the pettiness my comment was referring to)

One thing I notice: if the CSO felt like this person did something grossly illegal and irresponsible, why not go straight to the police? Why instead go to the man's employer and speak passively aggressively?

Paradoxically, contacting the authorities could have helped facebook's argument. It would communicated to the community at large: "Hey Facebook believes it has clear standing to pursue this guy. Maybe, he really did do something wrong."

Instead, what I'm reading is: "Facebook doesn't actually believe what the guy did was illegal per se... but they wanted to spite the guy anyway."

For me, it seems petty.

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tptacek 3835 days ago
Zero is the number of people on HN who would feel better about this situation if Alex Stamos had referred this person to the police to be prosecuted under CFAA.
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easuter 3835 days ago
The researcher has already updated his post regarding the use of his company email. Apparently your original point still stands:

> I never contacted Facebook or Alex using my work email account. It was only after Alex contacted my employer via email that I sent a reply from my work account. Alex indirectly contacted me at work, not the other way around.

Also, why would he be doing this work at the behest of his employer when (IIRC) Facebook's bounty program only pays out to individuals? It would automatically make him ineligible to claim the bounty.

To me it seems like Alex Stamos tried to use some good old threaten-your-livelihood intimidation tactics and failed miserably.

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