US: Saudis recruited Twitter workers to spy on users | Hacker News Reader

US: Saudis recruited Twitter workers to spy on users

apnews.com

If replace Saudis with China,I believe there would be tons of comments here to blame Chinese government. How lucky Saudis is :)

Yeah, that's funny to watch as an original submitter. 30 upvotes and 3 comments in 50 minutes. Seems like people have very little to say about the whole... incident. Other than point out that twitter security practices are not good for established company and you should not talk to police. Which are correct statements, but kinda generic, given the circumstances.

Just a nit pick, word Saudis mrans people of Saudi Arabia, like Americans means people of America. You can either say "replace Saudis with Chinese, or Saudi with China".

thank you pointing out :)

There are tons of comments blaming Saudi government / MBS.

>Investigators alleged that a Saudi working as a social media adviser for the Saudi royal family recruited Twitter engineer Ali Alzabarah by flying him to Washington, D.C., for a private meeting with an unnamed member of the family.

MICE. Especially considering what the Family may do to the people who displeases them. Anyway, reminds about the recent story of GitLab making moves to avoid Russians and Chinese. Time to add Saudis to the list i guess.

How the hell did they even have access to this data?

Twitter isn't a 6 month old startup. How is there not strict access controls in place?

I think at least one of the princes of UAE is a major Twitter investor. And UAE has a strong relationship with KSA. Still doesn't make sense, but could be one way to find the connection.

>> Ahmad Abouammo ... was also charged with falsifying documents and making false statements when questioned by FBI agents at his Seattle home — offenses that carry a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison if convicted.

Lawyer 101: Don't talk to the cops. If the FBI are wanting to talk to you in your own home it isn't for your convenience. Thank them for their visit, shut the door, and get a lawyer. When he tells you to sit on the couch quietly, do it.

(Many defense lawyers would advise not even opening the door.)

Duplicate: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21467921

The US government would never do this, because they can just send a National Security Letter directly to corporate to get private user info.

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