Boards.ie email address issue July 2021

Leg End Reject

Very honest of you @Shield.

I wasn't aware of the email issue until today. I did see personal information on the now removed Activities page as it wasn't obvious it was public. I PMed one user to tell them and also one of the Boards employees so that it could be removed.

The activities page was pointless, no one needs to know if someone moves up a level based on their post count, or if someone changes their avatar.

Deja Boo

@Leg End Reject If ^ that is the case, I wouldn't put it past google that the info was already seized upon and harvested ...Since google instantly harvests every open and available speck of data it can, then posts it openly (as they do with every post, image, avatar etc associated with our username). It would seem safest just to close accounts altogether.

I do wish we had the option to delete pms, given such unforeseen breaches of privacy, but this site doesn't even give us that option (except to lol, "leave the conversation" which isnt the same - the data remains.)

StupidLikeAFox

<snip>

Found these in 5 seconds using google

Peregrine

Well, the option is clearly there to let others see it. It was in the old websit too. I've never seen people who enabled it for everyone to see but I never went looking on Google.

However, if this option was enabled by default and their email addresses were made visible then that's a big problem. Mine was disabled by default.

Shield

It can seen by a simple Google search when I’m signed out. I’ll use an existing example. I should not be able to see this because it’s in a different browser that I never use for Boards, thus I’m not a “member”…

8BE96B4E-A2F8-4665-9DBE-405DEC02001A.jpeg

@Boards.ie: Niamh and @Boards.ie: Mark and @Boards.ie: Odhran it looks like we have a data leak. I can see this SIGNED OUT!

Leg End Reject

@Shield I don't know what terms you're using to search. Can you see my email? It's a burner and non-identifiable so not an issue for me, but is for anyone who's email contains their real name.

teachinggal123

Oh dear oh dear.

What an absolute fu3k up. Boards in big, big trouble here.

pleasant Co.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117696965#Comment_117696965

@Boards.ie: GDPR look at this

noplacehere

Hang on how do I know if this is possible? I set my profile to private as soon as I realised I needed to on the new side.

as an aside wtf is going on with that image? It’s illegible

Gadgetman496

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117696986#Comment_117696986

I just took 5 random users from here and can see the email address for all 5 from a simple Google search.

Then I checked yours Leg End Reject an your email is not displayed.

Leg End Reject

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117697017#Comment_117697017

Cheers!

It looks like some users ticked the box mistakenly believing it would hide their email? Or a bug?

Peregrine

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117697017#Comment_117697017

Are you saying you can see email addresses on Google that are supposed to be hidden on their profiles? Or that email addresses that are visible on profiles come up on Google searches?

noplacehere

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117697066#Comment_117697066

I think he’s saying the latter. I had to manually change my setting since the move to vanilla to make mine invisible. I understood from a thread I was reading I needed to but actually I wonder if most people even saw that thread

Mickeroo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117697066#Comment_117697066

The only profiles that have them visible are ones with the "make email visible...." box ticked far as I can see

-=al=-

I think I may have unticked the private email box previously? I'm not sure, but was unticked as is.

I also have a bigger problem in that I can't even make my profile private because of the equals symbol in my username. I get this error when I confirm the changes to my profile - "Usernames must be 3-20 characters and consist of letters, numbers, and underscores."

Even if I wanted to tick/untick the box - which I do, I can't because the characters interfere with the system. Pretty big problem for some users.

I'd be more than happy to have all my data wiped from this site and start fresh. It's my preference at this stage to restart my account. The goalposts have changed.

Wibbs

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117696965#Comment_117696965

This is an example of someone who is part of a community and a mod, a type of member who can get static often enough and yet here he is seeing a problem that could affect this community and those in it whether they see themselves as part of it or not, and pointing it out. Fair play.

If this is a repeatable screwup and lord knows we've had enough with this changeover and the management behind it and any randomer can see people's email adresses with a simple google then WT actual F is going on?

Declan A Walsh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117697081#Comment_117697081

Thanks. I have done than now.

Shield

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117697102#Comment_117697102

“…other members…”

I can see the email addresses when I’m signed out AND in a Google search. I will PM you the unredacted version so you can see what you’re working with.

Wibbs

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117697126#Comment_117697126

I can confirm this; It's not a "mod thing" signed out or not I can see some member's email addresses. Well the ones I've looked at so far(three).

Mickeroo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117697159#Comment_117697159

Yes, I can see it in their profile that it's ticked.

Being still able to see it logged out seems like a bug though.

sioda

This is extremely serious tbh. This whole changeover has been an unmitigated failure.

We as members and content creators have been given an insecure and still in many ways unusable site. Data moved to outside the EU without permission.Boards have been sold a pup imho.

As someone who has been around here for years it's a huge kick in the arse to see a site built by users for users being so badly migrated.

Shield

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117697179#Comment_117697179

Given that it’s a bug that’s affecting our users’ privacy on a scale yet to be determined (more than 1), is there anything you can do as a site administrator that could frustrate the ability of bad actors to help themselves to the email addresses of our users?

Gadgetman496

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117697102#Comment_117697102

I'm not too sure about that Mikeroo. I have "Allow other members to see your email?" unticked from day one yet I can see my own email addy with a google search. It's not my real name so not that important, still not good though.

HildaOgdenx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117697233#Comment_117697233

If you log out of boards, can you still see it? I logged out and I can then still see other details of my profile but not my email.

I have that box unticked from day one also.

Leg End Reject

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117697233#Comment_117697233

Why is this flagged as spam?

Gadgetman496

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117697269#Comment_117697269

I'll try that now & let you know

Mickeroo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117697223#Comment_117697223

I unticked the box on the three profiles linked above, nothing else I can do. I don't know whether they ticked it themselves in the first place or not.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117697233#Comment_117697233

Your one's not showing up for me when I Google search like the others is even when I'm logged in.

Dave0301

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117697269#Comment_117697269

This was the same for me and the "display email" option on my profile was not ticked. However I have set my profile to private now.

Regardless of how this has happened, why the hell was it even an option to display your email? Just not needed. I am trying to be supportive of Boards.ie during all of this as I think it is a great site. However, I am getting more and more frustrated with how it has all been handled.

HeidiHeidi

Has there been any response from boards staff to any of this? Even privately?

The total silence in response to these posts (even if they turn out to be false alarms, they're being made in good faith from what I can see) is deafening

Leg End Reject

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117697309#Comment_117697309

The staff only work Mon - Fri and today is a Bank Holiday.