Facebook Boosts Application Privacy Controls
Facebook has made it possible for its members to assign, on the fly, a wider variety of access levels to content they post using third-party applications and Web sites, the company said Wednesday.
Previously, members chose a default privacy setting for content shared via applications, and that setting was then applied across the board to this type of post going forward.
While this default setting remains, members now have the option to apply a different access setting to each thing they post through an application or Web site, on a case-by-case basis, according to Facebook. For example, when using an application that lets members post greeting cards, members can now handpick on whose friends’ Walls they want a particular card to appear.
Full Story: Yahoo News
Facebook employee claims they record everything you do and can read your messages
An interview with an anonymous Facebook employee is flying around the web and burning up Twitter, but is the info discussed really anything surprising? The employee revealed that the company records everything their users post, upload and view, and that their data is kept even if they delete it. That’s not exactly a secret-Facebook uses the information for the Suggestions area, to serve relevant ads, and to provide such services as letting you know when your friends have birthdays coming up.
The other revelations in the interview might be a bit more unsettling to some. The employee said that until recently a master password existed that allowed employees to log into any account. That practice was done away with in what they called a “crack down” and now any employee who logs into a user account must explain why it was necessary. The employee, who was not identified for fear of losing her job, also said all messages sent on the site are easily accessed by employees.
Full Story: Gadgetell
Facebook CEO Zuckerberg causes stir over privacy
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s contention last week that privacy is becoming less important to online users caused a stir across the Internet
and among privacy advocates.
Zuckerberg told an audience at the 2009 Crunchies Awards ceremonies in San Francisco on Friday that social norms are changing and people don’t expect or want nearly as much privacy as they have in the past.
“When we got started, the question people asked was, ‘Why would I want to put any information on the Internet?’,” he said during the presentation of awards to top online startups and makers of innovative technology.
Full Story: Computer World
Hacked Facebook Applications Install Fake Antivirus Software
Roger Thompson, Chief Research Officer, AVG, has recently disclosed that many games and other applications made to be used on Facebbok.com have been attacked for silently sending users to websites that try to download harmful programs, as per the news by THE WASHINGTON POST on October 15, 2009.
Thompson adds that though hijacked Facebook accounts are not odd, but “this is the first time when Facebook applications have been targeted”, as per the reports by SFGATE on October 14, 2009.
The security company traced back many hacked Facebook applications to a Russian website. This site seems to be exploiting hacked applications to initiate attacks against users’ systems by exploiting unpatched Adobe software vulnerabilities, said Thompson.
Full Story: Spam Fighter
How to Lock Down Your Facebook Account
Facebook definitely allows you to easily communicate with others, but if you’re not careful, certain information you would like to remain private can be exposed. Here we take a look at locking down your profile, and how to avoid other annoyances.
Facebook is a great way to keep in touch with friends, family and other contacts online. It’s also a great place to spread personal information, pictures, and other data to everyone if you don’t use the proper settings. The first thing you want to do is change default settings under the Privacy Settings.
Full Story: How to Geek
Facebook, Twitter support U.S. FCC’s Web rules
WASHINGTON, Oct 19 (Reuters) – Popular websites Facebook, Twitter and Craigslist on Monday threw their support behind an open Internet framework to be unveiled by U.S. regulators this week.
They were among two dozen technology companies, including Google Inc (GOOG.O) and Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O), which wrote a letter to the head of the Federal Communications Commission in support of staff proposals that would restrict network operators from favoring certain content over others for both landlines and wireless platforms.
The full FCC panel of three Democrats and two Republicans is slated to vote on Thursday on whether to issue proposals for so-called Network neutrality
Advocates of Net neutrality say Internet services providers must be barred from blocking or slowing traffic based on its content, because some content could generate more revenues than other. But providers say the increasing volume of bandwidth-hogging services, like video sharing, requires active management of their networks.
Full Story: Reuters
Facebook, Tweet on INQ Mini 3G
FACEBOOK-ING and tweeting�is now�taken to another level with the new INQ Mini 3G.
Fully integrated with popular social networking websites, this new social mobile phone�aims to target the mass market at an affordable rate.
Mr Yuen Kuan Moon, SingTel’s Executive Vice-President of Consumer, said: ‘At the last count, there�are 1.65 million Facebook users here and it cuts through the cross section of the population.
‘So it’s not only the 14-16 year olds on social networking but also your granny and grandads.’
Full Story: Straits Times
Mark Zuckerberg Hacked Harvard Computers to Score With Girls
Back in the day, corporate titans had to, you know, actually become corporate titans before they attracted authors eager to debunk their legends. But living at Internet speed, you no longer need to wait before folks start coming out of the woodwork to reveal what a stinker you are.
So let’s start with a little sympathy for Mark Zuckerberg, the 25-year-old Harvard dropout who founded the social- networking Web site Facebook.
A gazillionaire whose gazillions are still a bit theoretical — his company has yet to reveal how it plans to make all that money, let alone actually make it — Zuckerberg is presented in Ben Mezrich’s “The Accidental Billionaires” as the second coming of Bill Gates.
Full Story: Bloomberg
Facebook criticised over privacy
The social networking site Facebook has come under fire for planned changes to its privacy settings.
It wants to “simplify” the process so users only have to set them once, instead of for each individual feature.
Facebook says the change will help people share more information with one another.
However, critics argue the new set up could lead to members being persuaded to share too many personal details – their date of birth for example.
Tom Royal is from Computeractive magazine.
He said: “I’m a little bit worried about the settings recommended by Facebook because as far as I can see it’s actually sharing quite a lot of information with quite a few people.
Full Story: BBC News
Accused Facebook Spammer Could Face Jail Time
An alleged spammer could face jail time in connection with a Facebook lawsuit after a judge referred him to the U.S. Attorney General’s Office for criminal proceedings.
Judge Jeremy Fogel of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California referred Sanford Wallace to the U.S. Attorney General’s Office for criminal proceedings for allegedly violating an injunction that prohibited him from accessing Facebook.
Facebook filed a lawsuit against Wallace and two other men in February for spamming and phishing schemes through the social-networking site. The following week, Judge Fogel issued a temporary restraining order barring Wallace and two other alleged spammers, Adam Arzoomanian and Scott Shaw, from accessing Facebook’s network.
“We see Fogel’s ruling as a strong deterrent against spammers. Spammers feel that they are immune from criminal prosecution. Fogel’s ruling demonstrates that judges will enforce restraining orders and spammers who violate them will face criminal prosecution,” said Barry Schnitt, a Facebook spokesman.
Full Story: Yahoo Tech
