At midnight on May 4, 2018, Jane Manchun Wong (hereinafter referred to as "Wong") posted her first "discovery" on Twitter.
pic | Jane Manchun Wong (Source: Data Picture)
" Twitter is developing the secret private message function of end-to-end encryption of !" she wrote.
A young woman, who is only 23 years old, disclosed an update plan for a large technology company, and did not use any tools other than her reverse engineering capabilities. This very unusual behavior, both in the past and present, has changed the way some tech companies work and release updates.
This tweet is the first tweet posted by Wong. By looking at the open source code of companies such as Twitter and Meta, she was able to discover new features and projects before tech companies officially announced them, and even see those features and projects that are being developed secretly.
After she gets this information, she will post a screenshot of the function on Twitter, and finally wait to see the netizens' reactions.
27-year-old Wong has strong programming skills. She has a large number of fans on Twitter, including some celebrities from the technology and press.
When she entered the code of the website and the application to see what the software engineer was doing, fans were waiting for her discovery with interest.
(Source: MIT Technology Review)
"Basically, the most popular applications in the world no longer have secrets beta testing," said Casey Newton, founder of the news release platform Substack. "If it's in the code, Wong can find it. I think this affects how tech companies treat new features testing and communication."
This is not Wong's job. In fact, she describes reverse engineering code as her hobby. “I just like to dig deep into these apps and see how they are built.” Wong and his family now live in Hong Kong.
She is not a hacker because all the information and data she obtains are public.
Wong's Twitter updates some information almost every day, but she insists that no information she posted comes from internal leaks. She said: "Leakage means that employees are the source of information. But I only use public data and code, not leaked information." The disclosure of
Wong has not failed so far. Journalists will quote her work, or exclusive information in the article. "At first, people would ask, 'Who is this person? How did she get this message?'" she said, "But over time, I built up trust. You have to prove that your message is valid."
Some tech companies have added Easter eggs to her in the code, and many have even given up on hidden code and chose to go with the flow.
Newton said: "In some cases, developers will add information like 'Hello, Wong' to the code. They know she will see it."
Wong's work has also attracted people's attention to the often overlooked R&D departments, which can be called a (company) PR victory.
Meta's programmer liked her so much that they created an internal Jane Manchun Wong fan club, which even included CTO Andrew Bosworth. A Meta spokesperson said: "We value her contributions and feedback, which help improve our products."
However, not everyone and company like and welcome her. Surprise is a key element that gets a lot of attention for the release of tech products or feature displays, and Wong's early disclosure of secrets undermines this, breaking the walls carefully built by tech companies.With just one Twitter, she can effectively destroy all their momentum on new features.
Wong believes that this is exactly why she chose to tweet before the function is released. For her, all this confidentiality and hype are problematic. The meaning of the
application is to be used by people, so shouldn't people know what updates are being made behind them?
It's not hard to imagine that some companies might be upset that a social media celebrity casually leaked their secrets on Twitter.
As an Asian woman in her 20s, she keeps posting revelations about technology companies on Twitter. Her identity makes her unable to escape the infamous cyber violence. "I hope more people realize that I am a person," she said, "rather than a machine."
This controversial state has had a profound impact on her. Over the years, she has repeatedly tweeted that she was frustrated and felt that people hated her.
She has also been discussing her mental health issues publicly and said that she will continue to deal with depression .
Although Wong describes this work as a hobby, it is sometimes more of an obsession: she spent nearly 18 hours a day digging into code just to figure out what these companies are modifying.
She sacrificed her sleep and health. Sometimes when there is too much online harassment, she will lock herself at home for several days. She even threatened to commit suicide several times after being ridiculed online.
Because of medical problems, she had to drop out of the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth. She graduated in a few months at that time, which made her feel very regretful.
Is this all worth it? Wong thinks yes. She noticed that the company is more transparent about their current work. “If they were like this before, I wouldn’t have to,” she said.
During the epidemic, Wong adjusted and reevaluated her schedule. She is still a night owl now, but gradually finds balance. She began hiking outside and found some peace in a cafe near her home.
The isolation brought about by the epidemic made her realize that she did not want to do this job as a full-time person. “I’ve always wanted to be a software engineer since I was six,” she said. “I want to create something.”
But she’s not ready to find a job in the tech industry, even though she gets a lot of offers. She said: "My curiosity is not fully satisfied. When my curiosity is satisfied, I will stop and say goodbye to this."
Support: Ren
Original text:
https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/04/22/1049460/silicon-valley-secrets-twitter-jane-manchun-wong/
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