17 votes

We found Joe Biden’s secret Venmo. Here’s why that’s a privacy nightmare for everyone.

1 comment

  1. joplin
    Link
    Oh, FFS! Some of this shit is unbelievable. I expected the argument of "users can just turn off making everything private!" except that in this case, they can't: I'd say it's hard to believe that...

    Oh, FFS! Some of this shit is unbelievable. I expected the argument of "users can just turn off making everything private!" except that in this case, they can't:

    While many critics have focused on how the app makes all transactions public by default, Venmo’s friend lists are arguably a larger privacy issue. Even if a Venmo account is set to make payments private, its friend list remains exposed. There is no setting to make this information private, which means it can provide a window into someone’s personal life that could be exploited by anyone — including trolls, stalkers, police, and spies.

    I'd say it's hard to believe that companies are this stupid and irresponsible, but really, it's not.

    17 votes