In a post-Edward Snowden world, it’s hard not to assume you’re always being watched in some capacity. However, corporations have largely ignored this sentiment, choosing instead to simply act as if none of it ever happened. All conspiracy theories aside, the truth is: privacy is now a currency (or some other, admittedly better dystopian catchphrase). Props are certainly in order for Facebook, then, who recently announced their plan to start notifying users when their profiles are being hacked by government officials.
"While we have always taken steps to secure accounts that we believe to have been compromised, we decided to show this additional warning if we have a strong suspicion that an attack could be government-sponsored," Facebook’s Chief Security Officer Alex Stamos said in a statement. "We do this because these types of attacks tend to be more advanced and dangerous than others, and we strongly encourage affected people to take the actions necessary to secure all of their online accounts."
When evidence suggests that your account has been the victim of such a move, Facebook will send you the following message:
In a recent transparency report quoted by Mashable, Facebook revealed that the number of government requests for Facebook user data in the first half of 2014 increased a whopping 24 percent from the second half of 2013. With Facebook taking a very public stand against such practices, we might very well be at yet another tipping point for digital privacy.
