A Warning To Facebook Users
Facebook recently got some bad publicity as they changed their Terms of Service without notifying their users to state that they own any and all information posted on Facebook even after you delete it. To Facebook's credit, they have returned to the previous Terms of Service (for now) while they work on revising it (and anyone is welcome to join the Facebook Bill of Rights and Responsibilities group to make sure the process goes as it should).
But that is not what this warning is about. For some reason or another, I trust Facebook. I don't believe they had any malicious intent in mind in modifying their Terms of Service, but were only responding to the exponential growth in size of the application, and only making sure that the legal language put in place for a tiny start-up app still applied to this now huge internet phenomenon. Really.
But my trust in the corporation that is Facebook is irrelevant. Did you know that if your friend comments on someone's note - someone who is not your friend - you are able to see that someone's note? Conversely, that means that strangers (friend of a friend) are able to see your notes.
Are you strict about who becomes your Facebook friend? And if you are, are you confident that every one of your hundreds of Facebook friends holds to the same strict criteria that you do in accepting Facebook friendships? Think on that for a moment while I move on.
One of the "fun" parts of Facebook is the meme, the Notes where you post inane personal information and then tag 25 of your friends. The Facebook Chain Letter, if you will. Now, this is probably why many of you don't do this already, but for everyone else who sees no harm in the exercise beyond feeling a little closer to people with whom you've lost touch and wasting a little bit of time that you probably could have spent working or folding laundry or playing yet another round of Chutes and Ladders with your kids, here's a fun little meme.
10 Inane Questions (or some other catchy title)
1. What was the name of your first pet?
2. What was the make and model of your first car?
3. What is your mother's maiden name?
4. What city did you live in as a child?
5. What street did you live on as a child?
6. What was the name of your best friend?
7. Who is your favorite actor?
8. What is your favorite color?
9. What is your bank account number?
10. What is your password?
Now, you obviously wouldn't answer 9 and 10, but when you answer any of these questions, hidden amongst seemingly related questions in a silly game (like the Name Game one that I've seen recently that really bothered me), you're providing a hacker the answer to the security questions that other sites (banks, for example) set up to keep your account safe. Let's take a look at the questions in the Name Game:
The Name GameShare
Today at 8:25am
YOUR REAL NAME: Maya Security IsCompromised
WITNESS PROTECTION NAME:(mother and fathers middle names)
Trusting Naive
YOUR SECRET SPY NAME: (your first name backwards)
Ayam
NASCAR NAME:(first name of your mother's dad, father's dads)
Bob John
STAR WARS NAME:(the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name)
Iscma
DETECTIVE NAME:(favorite color, favorite animal)
Green Fish
SOAP OPERA NAME:(middle name, county where you were born)
Security Cuyahoga
SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd fav color, fav drink, add "THE" to the beginning
The Red Milk
FLY NAME:(first 2 letters of 1st name, last 2 letters of your last name)
Maed
STREET NAME:(fav ice cream flavor, fav cookie)
Strawberry Oatmeal
PORN STAR NAME: (1st pet's name, street you grew up)
Fido Market
YOUR GANGSTA NAME:(first 3 letters of last name plus izzle)
Iscizzle
YOUR GOTH NAME:(black, and the name of one of your pets)
Black Doggy
YOUR NEXT CHILDS NAME: (name of your fav perfume/cologne, fav candy
Chanel No 5 Gobstopper
Take a moment to look at the questions they are asking just in the parentheses. Then ask yourself if you've ever posted your status as "Leaving my house unattended for an extended period of time."
We all want to be safe, and we'd like to believe that Facebook is a safe place to share information. But unless you know exactly who's watching (and there are currently over 175 Million Facebook users according to the Facebook blog (blog.facebook.com, and that doesn't count any hackers who may be watching because you just made it on their radar), please be careful what you post.
But that is not what this warning is about. For some reason or another, I trust Facebook. I don't believe they had any malicious intent in mind in modifying their Terms of Service, but were only responding to the exponential growth in size of the application, and only making sure that the legal language put in place for a tiny start-up app still applied to this now huge internet phenomenon. Really.
But my trust in the corporation that is Facebook is irrelevant. Did you know that if your friend comments on someone's note - someone who is not your friend - you are able to see that someone's note? Conversely, that means that strangers (friend of a friend) are able to see your notes.
Are you strict about who becomes your Facebook friend? And if you are, are you confident that every one of your hundreds of Facebook friends holds to the same strict criteria that you do in accepting Facebook friendships? Think on that for a moment while I move on.
One of the "fun" parts of Facebook is the meme, the Notes where you post inane personal information and then tag 25 of your friends. The Facebook Chain Letter, if you will. Now, this is probably why many of you don't do this already, but for everyone else who sees no harm in the exercise beyond feeling a little closer to people with whom you've lost touch and wasting a little bit of time that you probably could have spent working or folding laundry or playing yet another round of Chutes and Ladders with your kids, here's a fun little meme.
10 Inane Questions (or some other catchy title)
1. What was the name of your first pet?
2. What was the make and model of your first car?
3. What is your mother's maiden name?
4. What city did you live in as a child?
5. What street did you live on as a child?
6. What was the name of your best friend?
7. Who is your favorite actor?
8. What is your favorite color?
9. What is your bank account number?
10. What is your password?
Now, you obviously wouldn't answer 9 and 10, but when you answer any of these questions, hidden amongst seemingly related questions in a silly game (like the Name Game one that I've seen recently that really bothered me), you're providing a hacker the answer to the security questions that other sites (banks, for example) set up to keep your account safe. Let's take a look at the questions in the Name Game:
The Name GameShare
Today at 8:25am
YOUR REAL NAME: Maya Security IsCompromised
WITNESS PROTECTION NAME:(mother and fathers middle names)
Trusting Naive
YOUR SECRET SPY NAME: (your first name backwards)
Ayam
NASCAR NAME:(first name of your mother's dad, father's dads)
Bob John
STAR WARS NAME:(the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name)
Iscma
DETECTIVE NAME:(favorite color, favorite animal)
Green Fish
SOAP OPERA NAME:(middle name, county where you were born)
Security Cuyahoga
SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd fav color, fav drink, add "THE" to the beginning
The Red Milk
FLY NAME:(first 2 letters of 1st name, last 2 letters of your last name)
Maed
STREET NAME:(fav ice cream flavor, fav cookie)
Strawberry Oatmeal
PORN STAR NAME: (1st pet's name, street you grew up)
Fido Market
YOUR GANGSTA NAME:(first 3 letters of last name plus izzle)
Iscizzle
YOUR GOTH NAME:(black, and the name of one of your pets)
Black Doggy
YOUR NEXT CHILDS NAME: (name of your fav perfume/cologne, fav candy
Chanel No 5 Gobstopper
Take a moment to look at the questions they are asking just in the parentheses. Then ask yourself if you've ever posted your status as "Leaving my house unattended for an extended period of time."
We all want to be safe, and we'd like to believe that Facebook is a safe place to share information. But unless you know exactly who's watching (and there are currently over 175 Million Facebook users according to the Facebook blog (blog.facebook.com, and that doesn't count any hackers who may be watching because you just made it on their radar), please be careful what you post.
posted by BrainHickey | 9:56 AM
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