So that's all going really well.
I wish I could convince myself that not having an Instagram (or Facebook, or Twitter) account would not cause my business financial harm. Sadly, I am not yet able to convince myself of that.
Fucking Facebook
Looks like DNA Lounge no longer has an Instagram account. It was "disabled" without explanation of any kind, and then did this shit:
Tags: corporations, dnalounge, doomed, firstperson, security, www
18 Responses:
Is Meta short for Metastasize? Not sure why cancer springs to mind whenever Facebook is mentioned
It's the "damned if you do, damned if you don't" era of integrating/making yourself dependent on arbitrary decision making at big tech companies.
I like the idea of federated services, but we really aren't at the "just run your own mail server" state of things. Not in terms of ease of implementation. There are a lot of issues of reach (user #'s) as well.
It doesn't say anything about not including dongs in the selfie.
I think imagery of one's genitals is too personal to entrust Facebook with. They're already asking for facial verification, don't give them ideas.
Why does the photo have to be a selfie? If you get somebody else to photograph you holding the sheet of paper, would Instagram refuse to accept it?
It's so that a facial recognition algorithm can work on it. They're gathering biometrics, because most people don't know the difference between identity ("I am this person (and not a robot)") and permission ("I have access to this account").
Regarding the selfie: probably because AI art sites like https://thispersondoesnotexist.com/ don't yet do selfies.
Other news in the selfie department:
https://www.cbp.gov/travel/us-citizens/mobile-passport-control
This same thing happened to me in October. I lost access for about 5 weeks. I sent them the awkward selfie photo 3 or 4 times before it actually worked. One day my account was just back with no explanation for why I got booted except that I may have “violated” their terms. Which terms specifically, I can’t even guess.
Well, in order to in to get instant approval from Zuck's fascist digital fiefdom, there's only one photo you can use:
You should photoshop a stock photo holding the code
I had the same thing happen to my NFTtheft account on IG. They kept requiring me to upload an image and personal idea that said "NFTtheft" on it. I tried telling them that I would not be able to provide that because my name isn't "NFTtheft", but they replied with the same request. So I'm locked out forever.
Probably related to this:
Mark Zuckerberg announces a paid subscription model for Instagram called 'Meta Verified'
It's like the modern-day version of a hard disk crash, except that it's ten times worse. Cloud providers can and will lock you out for any arbitrary reason at any arbitrary time of their choosing with no warning and usually no justification for doing so either.
The more users depend upon and are intertwined into their cloud services, the worse it is when this happens. For example, if you are entirely reliant on one provider, then you lose your email, your purchased digital content, etc, your ability to pay online bills, all in an instant when they suspend or close your account.
https://techcrunch.com/2016/11/18/google-reverses-its-digital-death-sentence-for-pixel-phone-resellers/
In contrast, when one's IT skills are properly developed (backups, RAID), a disk crash on a personal system is practically nothing.
This is why modern video games are so unappealing; I did not sign up to live in a world where someone across the planet can break my stuff after taking my money. But the consumer market seems to absolutely love such a modern and innovative policy by the corporations!
https://www.flatpanelshd.com/news.php?subaction=showfull&id=1657022591
Same thing happened to me when I signed up for a new IG account where I provided valid email and phone #. The account was immediately locked and required this same verification.
Meanwhile, I know somebody who's being stalked from multiple fake FB and IG accounts, and can't get any of the posts taken down or accounts suspended. Meta just ignores all reports of abuse.
I'm guessing Meta, Twitter, Google, et. al. run this heuristic:
Good luck. I feel your frustration but have no solution to offer.
I got a PixelFed account on the site where the PixelFed developer offered it.
Then he deleted it. I don't know why. Unlike you, I didn't get any messages or any appeals process.
That's the first step. Next step is asking for video proof of you drinking a verification can and burping your ip address.
And now that it's back, apparently they're making me confirm my email address with a code every day because of "unusual activity". How many days do I have to do this until it is usual activity?