How much of our private info are Lemmy admins able to see?

2 years ago by Magik11v to c/asklemmy

Like if I edit a post, can they see what the pre-edited post was?

TheOneCurly 45 points 2 years ago

Based on this closed issue, I don't believe Lemmy natively keeps an edit history, the comment is overwritten. However, admins have full access to all data on the server database so they can (and do) keep backups and look over them at any time. You should consider everything you do on your instance available to your admin, including private messages.

path: 0 8669484, hotness: undefined, score: 45, children: 1
june 8 points 2 years ago

Simple rule of thumb: if you don’t own it, assume the owner has access.

path: 0 8669484 8702041, hotness: undefined, score: 8, children: 0
savvywolf 14 points 2 years ago

If it's been online for any amount of time, always assume that someone has seen it, screenshotted it and asked the wayback machine to archive it.

Chances are they haven't, but if you've leaked a password or key, better change that right away.

path: 0 8669978, hotness: undefined, score: 14, children: 0
eya 4 points 2 years ago

Everything.

path: 0 8669603, hotness: undefined, score: 4, children: 0
Oha 2 points 2 years ago

Everything you send to the server

path: 0 8670680, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 0
TheUncannyObserver 2 points 2 years ago

Well if it’s a post, that’s not private information anyway, even if you edited it. As for actual private data, they can see your email address.

path: 0 8671573, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 0
april 1 point 2 years ago

Don't forget it may have also been replicated to other instances before you edit or delete it where those admins also have access to the database.

path: 0 8670093, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0
Lath 0 points 2 years ago

Can they see passwords? If so, I recommend not using the same stuff for every instance.

path: 0 8672491, hotness: undefined, score: 0, children: 7
user224 7 points 2 years ago

Lemmy is open-source. Anyone can modify it as they wish, so do consider that a yes.

In fact, it is better to assume every service you use stores passwords in plaintext.

path: 0 8672491 8673361, hotness: undefined, score: 7, children: 0
slazer2au 2 points 2 years ago

Very unlikely. As Lemmy is open source you can see how it talks and what functions it does. If they were storing passwords in clear text someone would have raised an alarm siren about it.

Best case is they are using a salt and hash method to store passwords making them incredibly hard to brute force.

path: 0 8672491 8673342, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 4
plistig 3 points 2 years ago

And every lemmy instance can change the source. For every website there is, assume every worker from CEO to the janitor can read your password in plaintext.

path: 0 8672491 8673342 8673570, hotness: undefined, score: 3, children: 1
slazer2au 2 points 2 years ago

This is also true.

path: 0 8672491 8673342 8673570 8673700, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 0
groet 3 points 2 years ago

Can you verify the software running on an instance is the same as the one in the source code repository? You can't. Can you verify the instance isn't running code to read passwords from your login requests even if the code is the original open source code? You can't.

That's why (and for other reasons) you should never use a password for more than one site/service/instance.

Lemmy admins (admins in the Lemmy application) probably can't read your password. But everyone with admin rights on the server operating system can.

path: 0 8672491 8673342 8673651, hotness: undefined, score: 3, children: 1
slazer2au 3 points 2 years ago

That is why I said unlikely. Yes it can happen. All it takes is one admin to look and go 'Why are we storing passwords in clear text?' and that instance is burnt.

path: 0 8672491 8673342 8673651 8673831, hotness: undefined, score: 3, children: 0
savvywolf 2 points 2 years ago

Always assume they can. Use a password manager and have different passwords for each service.

path: 0 8672491 8695733, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 0
asklemmy
asklemmy

@lemmy.world

login for more options
41043
9477
8502

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions


Rules: (interactive)


1) Be nice and; have fun

Doxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, toxicity and dog-whistling are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them


2) All posts must end with a '?'

This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?


3) No spam

Please do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.


4) NSFW is okay, within reason

Just remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].


5) This is not a support community.

It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.


6) No US Politics.

Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world or !uspolitics@lemmy.world


7) No Hit-and-Run questions.

Please don't delete your post for no apparent reason. If you plan on deleting a question later, say so in the post, or if you feel that you have a good reason to remove it, message a mod beforehand. It's not fair to the ones who took their time to answer, and it's not in the spirit of the community.


8) No Bots.

Posts or comments from bots, LLM's, AIs, Neural Networks, Transformers, or Marvin the Paranoid Android are not welcome in AskLemmy. Real humans only please.


Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Tech Support

No Stupid Questions

You Should Know

Reddit

Jokes

Ask Ouija


Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu


go to feed...