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See... and here you all thought I was being too paranoid. I think I've been just paranoid enough! Besides, paranoia has nothing to do with why I haven't made a FB page. It's... um... too much coffee or something.

100 Million Private Facebook Users Info Exposed

This why I'll never be on any of those social networks.

Bowes used code to scan the 500 million Facebook profiles for information not hidden by privacy settings. The resulting file, which allows people to perform searches of various different types, has been downloaded by several thousand people.

This means that if any of those on the list decide to change their privacy settings on Facebook, Bowes and those who have the file will still be able to access information that was public when it was compiled.

So it comes down to 1 in 5 people do not know how to use privacy settings when setting up their account. That means 4 in 5 do, sounds more like a user issue not a facebook issue. I don't see how its facebooks problem that their users displayed their private information to the public. I almost take it that the privacy settings work if you actually use them, that's 400million names that weren't given out.

Hell, I don't even post "private" information to my profile - I leave a lot of fields in my profile blank. They get my name and city and my status updates. My profile is public, and I don't share anything I'm not comfortable with.

I agree that it's not Facebook's problem. It's users who aren't very smart.

Never joined and still not planning to. The problem isn't really about evil, unfortunately. It's more insidious than that. People have a tendency to trust that public corporations will be held to their perceived promises, even when they're not willing to read the legalese in the actual stated promised. And they trust whatever a computer tells them because it's a one-way conversation. It seems "official" when it's typed up on a public computer system, just as much so as a television ad or news broadcast.

The other half of the problem is the people on the other side of the website. Most web developers do not have an adequate understanding of security, encryption, and information theory in general, which constantly depresses me, since information management is their job. And the ones who do know what they're doing are often explicitly ordered to do it wrong, because someone in Upper Management wants it done fast and cheap, with the minimum possible inconvenience for the users. And that's just not how security works.

That being said, they apparently did their job "well enough" if only 1 in 5 accounts had personal information visible for this script to harvest. The lesson to be learned here is that letting people choose their own levels of security in a "social network" is silly. It may be what people think they want, but uninformed opinions and security are a very bad combination. The social network itself isn't a bad idea. It's a tool and no more evil than any other tool. It's used foolishly. And its business model encourages more foolishness.

For the record, I heart you Jezebelle! You always have valuable and intelligent input. I just wanna give you a big snuggle sometimes!

Saying Facebook or any other social network is evul for some users not making some info private is like saying the phonebook is evul because some people choose not to have an unlisted number...

What Nico said.

i have used so much fake info on stuff like that i fergot who i really am lol
but no i dont do FB and recently deleted my old myspace.
everything is evil its just how evil yer willing to get ;P

Facebook is power, which can be used for good or for evil.

Much as the doctor would say, when you tell him that it hurts when you type your cell phone number in: then don't type your cell phone number in.

I have to add, as well (referenced by Nico), my amusement at the vast irony of this "amazing" discovery.

"Dude, I just found a way to download several hundred thousand random people's names, numbers, and addresses!"

"That's awesome!! Now if only we could print all that information out in gigantic books with very thin paper, sell advertising to local businesses, and deliver it to people's homes, we could make millions at the expense of the publics foolishness!! We'll call it a Phone Book, and soon we will conquer the WORLD!!"

Nushen wrote:The moral of the story is just to be careful what you put out there on the internet.P

Ok so while agree with the moral, the rest totally made me think of this article.

no worries i have downloaded the file in question and there is no traceable information or anything that can be used in identity theft. only names and last names and the link to Facebook profile

no passwords of any kind so no reason to be worried. i will put up screenshots if you guys want to so you can see that there is no danger.

I understand why people would be a little upset about the whole thing, but if you have any sense like I'm sure most of us do I doubt your posting your social security number or what bank you go to with your pin number and card number on a daily basis. Some people just need to calm down and realize nothing has happened that hasn't already happened to them about a million times every week as part of their daily lives, if you've been or are going to college do you have any idea how many people have your SSN right now?, its ridiculous!

All that aside facebook and other sites aren't evil, just mostly useless....mostly

really Nushy? you are that paranoid?

as tk said its a phone book...

as roth just said... oh hell yeah i remember using my SSN for everything in college.... and when i look back im like omg such a bad freakin idea... it was even on my student ID card that you...
turned into the library, fitness center, computer labs when you checked in... any of those students coulda easily made a list of name and ssn...


and when it comes to FB... if yer dumb enough to not set privacy measures then you kinda deserve yer info stolen i mean sheesh... first thing i did on FB was set privacy options.

Yea the peoples don't use privacy settings. ROFLMFAO!!!!

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000450642650