Hacker News Reader

Hacker News

Comment by shortandsweet | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

shortandsweet

What's your hard point about it?

Seems like a dummy, fake, account would provide what you need?

What other concerns do you have?

Legitimately curious.

View on HN

What happens when Facebook closes the dummy, fake account you've associated with that device for not being a real person? Do all of the purchases you've made also get blocked?

I'd say you should get a refund at minimum. Or even transfer your purchases to a new account in some fashion.

That would never happen. More likely they would never reply or just give an automated answer.

Facebook's statement on the matter doesn't say that there will be a refund or transfer and that the purchases will be lost.

If that would stand up in court (certainly outside of the US) isn't clear.

This was discussed in depth in a previous discussion in the topic, but your assumption that it's trivial to create a fake Facebook account for this is wrong. There may be different experiences but you should assume you'll need a valid mobile number or a valid-looking social graph, or both.

How is my assumption wrong? They haven't even implemented it fully yet.

There's google voice for a number. Probably other services that offer that.

I think your post has a lot of assumptions... Social graph? What?

Not just for this purpose, but Facebook accounts in general. If you try to create one without a valid number and/or seemingly valid friends list, chances are it's blocked in no time.

I don't know a thing about Google Voice, but I for one wouldn't bother setting up some fake numbers to create a fake account to use my own hardware.

That's fair as long as FB specifies these requirements ahead of time. I'd be unhappy if FB didn't tell you and this is only discovered after the fact.

I recently created a Facebook account with a made up name and a new Google Voice phone number to sell an old monitor and the account was disabled within 2 hours.

Perhaps it was disabled due to money being involved? I could see that as fraudulent activity myself.

I tried to create a work Facebook account using my work email address and phone number and they required SMS verification. I tried all manner of services, even Twilio but Facebook seems to be able to differentiate.

Facebook don't allow dummy/fake accounts and haven't for quite some time[0].

So tying expensive game licenses to an account Facebook may close at any time is a non-starter.

[0] https://www.facebook.com/communitystandards/misrepresentatio...

I dont see where a gaming account is prohibited? Maybe stretching the multiple accounts requirement but there are ways to navigate that.

There's no such thing as a "gaming account." They're the same account.

Facebook collects data beyond what you provide when opening the account; they can use that to either detect the fakeness of the account and close it or track its activity to populate your (real) shadow profile, or both.

Just like with radioactive sludge, the best way to deal with Facebook is to not get anywhere near it.

A fake account on Facebook is against their terms of service.

Some people who are critical of Facebook for their ethical lapses would feel like a hypocrite obtaining Facebook services under fraudulent pretenses.

An account to use oculus doesn't seem like it's a fake account. It's being created to use their services. I don't see how that qualifies as fake.

You're the one who specified a fake account.

> Seems like a dummy, fake, account would provide what you need?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com