|
Two Cents -
Your Two Cents!
|
|
 Public but personal details from more than 170 million Facebook profiles were harvested from the site and made available in a downloadable torrent file this week. Ron Bowes, a security researcher and blogger, wrote a software program to scan Facebook's public directory of profiles. Users can choose to opt out of that directory, but most stick with Facebook's default setting and allow their name and a few other personal details to be publicly searchable.
Bowes' exploit did not involve breaching users' privacy settings or obtaining any passwords, and all of the information he gathered is openly available on Facebook's site. However, the sheer size of his data haul is significant: Bowes' chunky 2.8 gigabyte file includes names and URLs for 171 million Facebook profiles. While Bowes called the information's easy accessibility "a scary privacy issue," Facebook downplayed his exploit. Though the information Bowes culled is public, his approach still violated Facebook's terms of service which prohibits collecting user information "through automated means," which includes harvesting scripts like the one Bowes created. Facebook is typically aggressive in cracking down on policy violators, but Bowes doesn't seem concerned. He's already planning the next phase of his Facebook data dive. Bandwidth constraints stopped him from gathering users' public photos and other openly available details, this time around. "So far, I have only indexed the searchable users, not their friends," he wrote in his blog. "I'd like to tackle that in the future, though, so if anybody has any bandwidth they'd like to donate, all I need is an ssh account and Nmap installed."
Question: Are you concerned that your information was part of the pirate download, and what do you think Facebook should do about the situation?
|
|
Your Favorites -
Health & Wellness
|
 Finally, there is an effective way to protect yourself from the nuisance of summer insects. Geraniol is a plant-based, pesticide-free product that has been proven to be the best and safest insect repellent out there. BugBand uses Geraniol in a clever way; as a wristband. Just click it on your ankle, bike, tent, baby stroller, or anywhere insects may be a problem and you have a protective shield around the immediate area. It keeps biting insects a safe four feet away and works up to 120 hours. |
|
