Just in time for Xmas, Facebook dropped a huge package of user data.
More than 260 million U.S. Facebook users’ IDs, phone numbers, and names were exposed to an online database that could potentially be used for spam and phishing campaigns. Comparitech reports that before the database was taken down, it was found on a hacker forum as a downloadable file.
Source: Facebook Faces Another Huge Data Leak Affecting 267 Million Users | Digital Trends
Facebook had a rough 2018 and 2019 didn’t really start too well either, when Instagram leaked passwords. Meanwhile, Amazon’s Alexa had it’s own scandal when it turned out that not machines but humans listened to their customers commands. With all of this combined, it doesn’t sound like a great idea to offer more surface for these kind of events. Still, Facebook seems to plan to release a voice assistant of its own.
There’s no indication that it will extend outside Facebook’s own hardware—yet.
Source: Facebook is working on an AI voice assistant similar to Alexa, Google Assistant | Ars Technica