Technology

Tea was storing its users’ sensitive information on Firebase, a Google-owned backend cloud storage and computing service.

Every time. With startups, it's always an unsecured Firebase or S3 bucket.

How many red flags do you need to collect before you get a free cat?

Why did the app had the government IDs and credit card data to begin with? The app looks like an obvious phishing scam/ Honeypot situation.

Honestly it seems like a weapon that can too easily be used for defamation

Ah nice.

Time to implement a social score. Those who rate highly have better access to social areas.

Those who rate lower are fucked for the rest of their life.

This sounds like such an amazing idea that has no shortcomings whatsoever!

Edit: /s

I feel that the app filled a need of women we should not ignore. But the app, both this specific app and also the overall concept, is just too rife with downsides to be workable.

So we, as men and as society need to reevaluate why women feel the need for such an app, and reinvest in the criminal justice system to hold victimizers more accountable.

It’s okay to call this app and similar Facebook groups unacceptable. But that’s not enough, we must also call for stronger protections for victims of criminal behavior.

A more ironic outcome couldn't have happened

Change the target to any other group and the outrage would be 100-10000 fold bigger.

Try it out, instead of Women rating men, try subbing in various minority groups or races.

Bonus points for the most offensive combinations.....

e.g. Russians rating Ukrainians in your area....it can get pretty bad...I can think of many worse combos.

I think of the "bad" dates I would want to be able to warn other women of that didn't rise to the level of calling the cops. The guy who ordered triple the food and drinks I did and skipped out on the bill. The guy who flat out lied about multiple things and then got irate when I politely excused myself from the date. The MAGA weirdo who went on an unhinged rant about how I needed to submit to him because God said so. I imagine some men have comparable experiences with some anti-social women. The experiences coming to mind were not illegal, but were absolutely things I want to spare my fellow humans from.

I would prefer the dating apps themselves have some mechanism for disincentivizing anti-social behaviors. It would have to be more than a simple 5-star rating.

I wonder how it would work IRL to offer the ability to write a few sentences in response to prompts about a date. The written review is not published as-is, but is used in grouping of many reviews to give a summary about a person. Like the summary product reviews on Amazon now. "Bill's dates found he was prompt and polite. Some dates expressed discomfort at some of his political views" and "Bob's dates warn he is often late and is quick to use foul language to describe women. Multiple dates report no intention to communicate with Bob further". "Ben's dates report he has skipped out on the bill repeatedly, and sends unsolicited dick pics. Multiple dates have blocked him".

The group summary gives a buffer so the person reviewed doesn't know which specific date said what. And ensures the summary doesn't include negative comments about a person unless multiple dates of theirs independently report similar experiences.

Of course a bad actor could ditch their dating profile and start fresh any time they build up enough negative reviews to make their summary look bad. And of course the reviews and the summaries would have to be secured tighter than "Tea" is.

How does this app even work?