Facebook..leaks and leaks and leaks..

http://techcrunch.com/2010/11/09/sendible-facebook-hack/


and segue to ....

As a non facebook using autistic who struggles with simple face to face interactions I find it utterly fascinating watching from the "outside"
Zadie Smith has written an interesting article in the New York Review of Books re the film and the man.
Turns out she was actually on the original mashup.
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2010/nov/25/generation-why/?pagination=false“

Suggest anyone who is interested could look up "Dunbar's number"

 

Very well-written article from Zadie Smith, read it with great pleasure.

Thanks for posting the link. (from a person 1.0, stuck in the dark ages according to younger nephews ).

 

With 500mill ?? users, and some massive dollar valuation; Facebook does deserve careful observation and apparently that will not be forthcoming from the Web2.0.
Not a luddite, but, I still like to feel the weft.

 

Good gravy!
Red flags galore here. In addition to the three obvious ones above, there are a few before clicking or "liking"

- TiinyURL link
- The posting it self, “Change Your Facebook Background Here!”

Not really that weird if you ask me. Most Facebook users seem oblivious to the possible dangers in "Liking" pages. I find it amazing, well not really, that anyone would "Like" Google or YouTube.

Heck I have enough trouble following items posted on my News Feed page from the minuscule number of real friends I have in Facebook I cannot imagine what it would be like with all of the items that would show up from Google or YouTube.

That second link you posted Longboard was a great one. I got a link to that from a friend this morning but didn't have time to read it all. This time I did, thanks.

 

This in response to a security flaw, which occurs all the time, everywhere, and in all sorts of code? Sounds like a poor attempt at hyperbole to me.

What "possible dangers" would those be, exactly?

 

The "possible dangers" are not being aware of who or what information is shared when you "Like" something on Facebook or click a "Like" button outside of Facebook.

Liking a comment on your News Feed page lets the poster know you liked it, plus anyone else reading that post will see you liked it. That can be more than just your circle of friends. Anyone who received that News Feed post can see who liked it. This also includes comments. That danger is you have no idea who the poster sent it to.

If you like a Facebook page, that information gets posted on your wall, anyone with access to your wall will see that. The "danger" is if you want to keep, for example, your religious and political preferences private (information blank in your profile). Liking a page that promotes a particular political or religious direction basically lets the cat is out of the bag. While this can be controlled to an extent using Facebook's Privacy settings, anyone who is viewing that liked page can see a who else likes that page. Facebook has made some improvements in this area. There used to be a See All option available next to "# People Like This" so you could browse through who else liked the page. Now it just shows a sample of people who liked that page, but you could still be shown in that example.

"Liking" an application is another story all together. See: https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=284726

Facebook has improved in this area some what. Now if you "Like" an application "Application" you get this:

You have the option to Allow or Leave Application. If you Allow, then you are passing this information on to the application (3rd party). Some of that information listed can be set to to other that Everyone in Privacy settings, yet it appears it will be passed to a 3rd party anyway. Not to mention giving that 3rd party a list of your friends. One reason to stay away from applications altogether in Facebook if you ask me.

Then there is the Like or Recommend button on external web sites.

From Facebook "What is the Like button?" http://www.facebook.com/help/?search=What is the Like button?

 

You seem to assume people aren't aware of those. That sounds like a rather far-fetched assumption to me, given that they can see what their friends liked, and they can see what other people liked, ostensibly the whole point of "liking" something is to let other people know what they like, AAAAAND not to mention that the whole reason they're on Facebook in the first place is to share stuff with people.

 

Stuff like Likejacking perhaps? (coined by Sophos, link)
Or is that considered as rather harmless and much more as (Sophos) FUD?

 

That's actually a somewhat valid concern, except that the risks are pretty similar to clicking on basically everything else. While I agree that steps should be taken to avoid it, it's hardly a danger, just an annoying nuisance.

 

When you leave off the rest of what I said, I suppose so...

BTW I make no assumptions here. I have a Facebook account. I see what my kids post, my friends post. They either don't care who is "listening in" or do not realize that more that just their circle of friends can read this stuff, so can my circle of friends.

 

Actually, I didn't. It was just part of the assumption you were making.

Well, sounds like the "danger" you're talking about comes from being stupid rather than anything inherent to Facebook itself.