Post by @dcoderlt@ohai.social

2026-10-11 07:02 UTC

New #WSocial data fuckup, posted by @_elena@mastodon.social on Bluesky but not on the Fedi? Apparently, during signup (which requires your real ID) you get an option to “display real name and age publicly”, and if you do, your nationality, real name, and age (offset by < ±1 year) are included in the data that is accessible to anyone, even people without a WS account, and to any scraper bots who care to look. WS claims this is “public by design” and works as intended. https://bsky.app/profile/elenarossini.com/post/3mxgkjg335k2u

Replies (4)

@mo@mastodon.ml 2026-10-11 10:28

@dcoderlt@ohai.social so, if you choose the option called «publish my personal data» it will, shockingly, publish your personal data. Who could've expected such a leak... @_elena@mastodon.social

Open ##4986354
@lluad@mastodon.ie 2026-10-11 16:28

@dcoderlt@ohai.social @_elena@mastodon.social The signup dialog the original(?) post shared a screenshot of made it fairly clear that that data would be shared. Not crystal clear or perfectly described, but clear enough unless one were looking for it to be otherwise.

Open ##4989326
@dcoderlt@ohai.social 2026-10-11 07:04

Looking at https://pds.ls/at://did:plc:am3r5ugi44s26fwouvel7mrz/eu.wsocial.verification.record (hover over individual did-plc-xxxx items) shows multiple records with “nationality”, “givenNames”, “familyNames”, and “birthDateApprox” fields, and which WS accounts those are associated with. cool cool cool.

Open ##5011755
@gsc@mathstodon.xyz 2026-10-12 06:47

@dcoderlt@ohai.social @_elena@mastodon.social If people can't be held responsible for deciding with whom to share data, who should be? There are enough cases that data is published against the will of their owner, here they at least ask for consent?!

Open ##5011765