Interesting post making the rounds on LinkedIn by a Chris Chan about why he quit Facebook. It’s a fine read. Nothing to really get too excited about except one call out in the post caught my eye:
Do you trust a hacker to safeguard your personal data?
Apparently, to Chris, this is a giant red flag. Hackers must be evil creatures that are out to destroy everything that is good about software and technology. But if that’s the case why was it only this week that Christ left? The entire ethos of Facebook has been the Hacker culture. (But Hacker simply means building things that work, fast.)
[As a quick aside, I am not a regular Facebook user. I mainly use it to follow along with what my friends are doing and commenting on.]
This is where I pause and wonder about rationalizations and fear-mongering. If I had to choose between a hacker and a typical corporate IT person to safeguard my data, I will choose the hacker every time.
Hackers (at least respected ones that have a track record) know what they are doing and why. They may not get it right the first time but they work to get where things need to be. Generally they aren’t going to be coding in shadows, they are going to be doing it visibly. Why do you think everyone complains about Facebook processes? Because they know about them! Everything is very up front or at least discoverable.
You standard corporate IT person is just doing a job. If they are given a directive (even from someone who doesn’t know the difference between HTTP and HTTPS) they are going to follow it. They don’t ask too many questions, they don’t seek be on the cutting edge, the take the safe paths. This person does not really care if your data is safe or not as long as they have followed processes and procedures and applied with all current corporate standards.
[Hackers are occasionally found in Corporate IT departments. You will know one is there because the manager of IT will complain about them regularly but go to them first when something needs to get fixed. Find this person and befriend them immediately.]
Which would you trust more with your data?