Facebook is Crooked

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Gang Uses Facebook to Rob Houses

From: http://www.pcworld.com/article/205295/gang_uses_facebook_to_rob_houses.html

John P. Mello Jr., PC World

Sep 10, 2010

Leaving the house this weekend? Telling all your Facebook buds about it? You might want to reconsider that.
Police in Nashua, New Hampshire broke up a robbery ring this week that was using Facebook to plan their heists. The gang was monitoring Facebook pages to determine when a target would be out of their home and then robbed it. Some 50 home robberies were reported in the city with a population of 85,000 during August alone, although only 18 have been linked to the Facebook gang so far. As a result of breaking up the gang, Police say they've recovered $100,000 to $200,000.
Although, Facebook has made progress in tightening up its privacy controls, many users still leave themselves vulnerable to snoopers. Just how vulnerable can be seen by going a website called Openbook. It will scour public Facebook pages for keywords. For example, by searching on vacation, you could discover Facebook members catching a little R&R and with a little more research, find where their vacated home is located.

Earlier this year, another website, PleaseRobMe, demonstrated how the location of online gamers could be tracked using Twitter. It aggregated tweets that used a social networking game called Foursquare to announce when players left their homes. For casing a break-in, tracking tweets sure beats sitting in a parked car outside a victim's house. Currently, PleaseRobMe appears to be on hiatus.

For Facebook members, there are third-party tools for protecting their privacy. ReclaimPolicy, for instance, will scan your Facebook settings and let you know where your privacy is at risk. However, the program hasn't been updated since Facebook changed its privacy controls, so its results may have to be implemented manually. SaveFace takes a simple approach to Facebook privacy. It simply sets all privacy controls to "friends only."
By the way, although the burglary gang in Nashua was smart enough to use Facebook to set up their robberies, their smarts seemed to stop there. As part of their purloined spoils were a specific brand of firecracker which they couldn't resist setting off in a public place. An off-duty police officer heard the racket and from the scene of the explosions was able to track down the first of three suspects in the case. Police say more arrests are expected.

Friday, September 10, 2010

Facebook users are jerks, another study confirms

From: http://technolog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/09/09/5077830-facebook-users-are-jerks-another-study-confirms

September 9, 2010

By Helen A.S. Popkin

Never mind global warning! Given the cavalcade of studies — specious or otherwise — revealing how Facebook is destroying humanity, we probably won't be around for the worst of it.

Why, just this week we learned thatFacebook use can lower grades by 20 percent. That's the latest on a list of studies that includes how Facebook can cause health problems, destroy future job opportunities, whip up jealousy and blah blah blah. And now, here's another one that tells us Facebook users are either totally conceited or serious self-haters.

It's been this Facebook user's personal experience that one can be both of the above. And sure enough, a much-hyped undergraduate psychology thesis out of York University in Canada finds that both narcissists and low self-esteem sufferers (within the test group) tend to spend more time on Facebook, loading up their profiles with a lot of self-centered content.

"We all know people like this. They’re updating their status every five minutes and the photos they post are very carefully construed," the thesis author Soraya Mehdizade said on York University's news page. "The question is, are these really accurate representations of the individual or are they merely a projection of who the individual wants to be?" The study also found:

The more extreme the narcissism, the more time spent checking Facebook.
The more extreme the self-loathing, the more time spent checking Facebook.
Males were more concerned with the "About me" sections of their profiles.
Women are more concerned with how good they look in their pictures.

Burglary ring targets Facebook users in New Hampshire

From: http://www.necn.com/09/10/10/Burglary-ring-targets-Facebook-users-in-/landing.html?blockID=307943&feedID=4206

Sep 10, 2010

Police in Nashua, New Hampshire say they've busted a burglary ring in which the suspects targeted Facebook users.

Police say they recovered more than $100,000 worth of property, allegedly stolen by three men.

In all there were more than 50 break-ins. Police say the thieves targeted people who posted their locations on their Facebook profiles. They started striking when the users weren't home.

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Twitter, Facebook and the tornado

From: http://www.zdnet.com/blog/saas/twitter-facebook-and-the-tornado/1136

By Phil Wainewright | September 8, 2010

I’m feeling in a bad mood with Twitter at the moment after the recent change to OAuth accreditation stopped SimplyTweet working on my iPhone. I know there’s a workaround or that I could use Twitter’s own iPhone client but I resent being put into that position, especially if it means having to conform to Twitter’s retweet format, which I’ve never bought into (I prefer to add my own comments when I RT). I wish it were possible to go to another social network in protest, but the trouble is there really aren’t many choices around, and that’s another thing that bugs me — these social networks are turning into monopolies.

I know this post is going to do my social networking credibility no good at all, but I’m steadfastly determined to resist the lure of Facebook. Coincidentally I was talking to a friend yesterday who was freaked out by the ‘People you may know’ feature that cropped up in an email invite he’d received from a Facebook user. I wonder how many people realize that if they have a Facebook account and they haven’t prevented it from using their contact list in this way, then their name (and photo if they’ve uploaded one) will routinely get displayed to any of their acquaintances that get one of these Facebook invitations. I suppose it’s well known how fast-and-loose Facebook plays with people’s privacy but it’s one of the reasons I’m holding back from ever joining Facebook (the other reason was the timesink I’d heard it can be to keep your personal page updated. I have enough difficulty remembering to update my LinkedIn profile as it is).

It crossed my mind the other day that the reason these networks are taking such a cavalier attitude to user sensibilities is that they (and their VC backers) have all read Geoffrey Moore’s Crossing the Chasm andInside the Tornado books. They know the classic theory that, if everyone is adopting your platform, then you don’t have to take their feelings into account. Moore’s book cites the example of Oracle, whose database product was buggy, constantly behind schedule and had appalling customer support throughout its early years. But that didn’t matter simply because it was what the crowd was adopting, and so as the 800lb gorilla in the market, it was possible to ignore the gripes of dissatisfied users and put-upon partners.

Except that we’re supposed to have moved on to a world today where the customer is king, where the social networks precisely are the agents of consumer power, and no one should have to put up with being treated like that any more. Is even our brave new world so powerless toescape the economy of followers?

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Facebook users 'more narcissistic'

From: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/facebook/7990836/Facebook-users-more-narcissistic.html

People who constantly update their profile on Facebook are more likely to be narcissists, researchers have claimed.

09 Sep 2010

The social networking site is a haven for narcissistic people because they can establish a large number of hollow 'friendships' without having to establish a real relationship, a study found.

Facebook also enables them to control how they are viewed by friends or people they would like to be introduced to, the survey indicated.

Soraya Mehdizadeh, of York University in Canada, questioned 100 students aged 18 to 25 about their use of the site, before giving them psychological examinations to determine how self-important and attention-seeking they were.

There was a positive link between the level of narcissism identified by the test and the number of times a day the students checked their Facebook page, the Daily Mail reported.

People with poor self-esteem – which some experts believe can lead to narcissism – also monitored their Facebook more frequently than usual.

Men were found to be more interested in written entries on their profile, while women placed more value on which pictures appeared on their page.

The report was published in the journalCyberpsychology, Behaviour And Social Networking.

Woman charged in Facebook crash: I'm the victim

From: http://www.freep.com/article/20100909/NEWS03/9090341/Woman-charged-in-Facebook-crash-I-m-the-victim

SEPT. 9, 2010

BY TAMMY STABLES BATTAGLIA
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

The 23-year-old Pontiac woman who police say caused a fatal crash after a fight on Facebook told police that she was the one being victimized, a detective testified Wednesday.

A hearing will continue Sept. 22 to determine whether Torrie L. Emery will be tried for second-degree murder in Oakland County Circuit Court.

Pontiac residents Alesha Abernathy, 21, died and Danielle Booth, 20, was critically injured when their car ran a red light July 21 and crashed into a truck on Woodward at Rapid Street in Pontiac.

Investigators say Emery and Booth had been arguing on Facebook about a man, and Emery started the chase when she spotted the women driving through McDonald's on Woodward in Pontiac. Emery's 3-year-old daughter was in a child seat in the back of her car.

Pontiac police Detective Paul McDougal testified Wednesday that Abernathy and Booth crashed as he watched them being chased by Emery at speeds of more than 80 m.p.h.

Emery sat emotionless in 50th District Court on Wednesday as McDougal described following the women's cars, then pulling Emery over after she sped past the crash.

"She jumps out of the car: 'I don't even know this girl. She's following me with my baby in the car,' " McDougal said in Judge Cynthia Thomas Walker's courtroom.

Witnesses Karen Holland and her son William Hall testified that they were stopped at the light at Rapid Street when the crash happened in front of them.

"I said 'Oh my God, she's not going to stop,' and it happened that fast," Holland said, adding that Abernathy's car fishtailed as though she was trying to stop at the red light before hitting the truck.

"There was really nothing we could do. We called 911," said Hall, the first person to try to help Abernathy and Booth.

Emery -- also charged with assault and child endangerment -- is being held without bond in the Oakland County Jail.

Abernathy's mother, Angel Abernathy, 37, of Waterford, said Wednesday that she was surprised to hear for the first time in Wednesday's hearing that Emery claimed to be the victim.

"It's disappointing because not only did she ruin her life, she ruined mine, (Alesha's) dad's, my mom and dad," Abernathy said. "Everybody lost. No one won. Danielle's family -- they all lost. All because of some man."

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Facebook use can lower grades by 20 percent, study says

From: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39038581/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/

By Suzanne Choney

msnbc.com

updated 9/7/2010

Does the "F" in Facebook stand for an "F" in school? A new study says that college students who are on Facebook while studying or doing homework wind up getting 20 percent lower grades than students who don't have the social networking site in visual range, or even running in the background on their computers or mobile phones.

The study, reported in the Daily Mail of Britain, was done by Netherlands psychologist Paul A. Kirschnera of the Centre for Learning Sciences and Technologies at the Open University of the Netherlands, and Aryn C. Karpinskib of Ohio State University. It will be published in the journalComputers in Human Behavior.

Kirschnera told the Daily Mail that his team studied 219 U.S. university students between ages 19 and 54, and found that Facebook users had a typical grade point average of 3.06, while "non-users" had an average GPA of 3.82.

The psychologist said the study wasn't about whether Facebook's good or bad, but goes more to the stereotype that younger people are fluid multi-taskers —sending text message, listening to music, reading a book, all at the same time, for example — without any problems. (Driving and texting at the same time is, of course, being the among the most dangerous multi-tasking activities anyone can do.)

"The problem is that most people have Facebook or other social networking sites, their e-mails and maybe instant messaging constantly running in the background while they are carrying out other tasks," Kirschnera told the newspaper.

"Our study, and other previous work, suggests that while people may think constant task-switching allows them to get more done in less time, the reality is it extends the amount of time needed to carry out tasks and leads to more mistakes.

"We should resist the fashionable views of educational gurus that children can multi-task, and that we should adapt our education systems accordingly to keep up with the times."

Among the comments to the story was this one, from "I'moverhere" in Britain: "Believe me, if it isn't Facebook, it's something else. There's always something ready to distract a bored mind. While you're at it why not do a similar survey relating to consoles, television, texting, radio, football practice and staring into space?

"Having said that, Facebook does take up a lot of time due to society's increasing dependence on computers for education. Even in 2004 when I was doing A levels, I would get information from a book rather than Wikipedia. This instant-satisfaction-minimum-effort society has a lot to answer for."

Facebook Simplifies Online Stalking

From: http://www.pcworld.com/article/204977/facebook_simplifies_online_stalking.html?tk=hp_new

Facebook is testing a feature that makes it easier to follow a single person's activity. Will it become a stalker's best friend?

Dan Tynan, ITworld

Sep 7, 2010

The problem with stalking people on Facebook is that it's too much damned work. But a new 'Subscribe to person' feature Facebook is testing may make it much easier.

Normally if you want to stalk a complete stranger -- especially those who've set their profiles to private -- you have to find some excuse for contacting them, convince them you're worthy of their Facebook friendship (possibly by friending some of their friends first), and then dial up their FB profile several times a day looking for updates.

Now imagine stalking dozens of complete strangers each day -- say, a bevy of Florida supermodels. Checking every single one of those profiles several times a day is exhausting work (or so I've heard).

[ See also: How to murder a Flash cookie zombie ]

But according to the All Facebook blog, Facebook has been testing a "Subscribe to" feature that alerts you whenever the object of your obsession does anything on FB. So every time one of my those supermodels uses Facebook Places to check into her plastic surgeon for another collagen treatment or posts photos of her BFFs frolicking in bikinis I could get a text message sent to my mobile. Imagine the time this could save.

Facebook confirmed to AllFacebook it's been testing a 'subscribe to' feature, though its official response was achingly short on details.

“This feature is being tested with a small percent of users. It lets people subscribe to friends and pages to receive notifications whenever the person they’ve subscribed to updates their status or posts new content (photos, videos, links, or notes).”

There are of course many more questions to ask before we call this a "stalkers button"(as Mashable's Jolie O'Dell already has). Like:

* Will you be able to subscribe to anyone's profile, or simply those of your friends?
* Will you be notified when someone is subscribing to you?
* If, so, can you reject some subscriptions and accept others?
* Will you be able to opt out of subscriptions entirely, or have other granular controls as to what people can and can't subscribe to?

Then there are the macro issues. I can easily see this turning Facebook into even more of a marketer/spammer's haven, similar to what happened with Twitter. It also seems like yet another way for the raging narcissists of the InterWebs to compete by seeing who gathers the most subscribers. Ee-yuck.

But the real key here -- assuming Facebook decides to roll out the 'subscribe to' feature to all users -- is what the default settings will be. Will Facebook once again decide that "sharing is the social norm" and force users who don't want to participate to opt out, or will they be smart this time and just let the narcissists and spammers who want this feature opt in for themselves?

I and my those Florida supermodels eagerly await their response.

ITworld TY4NS blogger Dan Tynan would stalk you on Facebook, but first he needs to take a nap. Catch his brand of juvenile snark at eSarcasm (Geek Humor Gone Wild) or follow him on Twitter: @tynan_on_tech.

Would you pay for a cooler, less creepy Facebook?

From: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/09/07/pete_lawrence/

By Andrew Orlowski • Get more from this author

Posted in Music and Media, 7th September 2010 09:29 GMT

Free whitepaper – The Register Guide to Enterprise Virtualization

Sick of creepy, unaccountable social networks that are little more than hoarders and traders of personal information? Pete Lawrence, founder of the Big Chill Festival is too, and will today unveil his plans a member-supported service.
Now you might expect a new "crowdfunding" initiative to get the usual short and brutal Regtreatment - but this one deserves to be taken seriously.

'We're a democratic member-owned co-op, bitch'

Firstly, because it's backed by Pete Lawrence, whose reputation as one of the most principled (and nicest) music entrepreneurs potentially brings a core audience. And secondly, because the time is right - with frustration at Facebook and the faceless data hoarders now quite palpable. Someone has to try something different - and a subscription model with voting rights means members actually care about the service.
Pic-Nic Village sounds like a cross between MySpace, Facebook and LinkedIn, with affinity groups or Village "guilds". But the unique proposition is that if you want to play, you'll have to pay. The target is to reach £700,000 from public supporters. Members will pay a tenner a month. But for this they'll be sure that their privacy is preserved. The pressure on free ad-supported services such as Facebook, with hundreds of millions of users but no reliable revenue stream, has seen them whittle away at users' privacy. But then you get what you pay for.
Lawrence aims to launch in a year's time. For now, £100 buys a two-year membership and one share in the company, while £300 can get you lifetime membership and three shares. If the Village fails to meet its £700,000 the money will be returned. If successful, a Foundation will automatically keep between 10 to 15 per cent of revenue, elected by members, to reinvest in deserving projects and startups.
Lawrence co-founded the Cooking Vinyl label in the mid-80s, and the Big Chill events in 1994. The first festival took place the following year. But he severed all links with it three years ago.
"Small intimate events are where my heart is. The Big Chill has become something else totally," he told us. Festival Republic, which also produces Glastonbury, Reading, Leeds and Latitude and is owned by the giant US group Live Nation, bought out the brand name last year.
The Village social network will eschew corporate sponsorship and banner ads, but is considering charging for commercial classified job listings. But where it goes next is up to the members.
The received wisdom in web circles is that crowdsourced funding doesn't usually work. But web wisdom is anything but wise. For example, two popular community sites which broke the taboo against subscriptions years ago have been proved right. At both - Something Awfuland MetaFilter - users pay to comment. Elsewhere discussion forums such as theGuardian's CIF drown under the weight of couldn't-care-less commentards and drive-by trolls. ®

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Spammers exploit another Facebook flaw

From: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/09/07/facebook_spam_abuse/

By John Leyden
Posted in Malware, 7th September 2010

Spammers have taken advantage of a vulnerability in Facebook to spread auto-replicating links, a trick that makes it possible to spread crud without using social engineering.
Simply clicking on any application spam links was enough to "share" the application to the user's wall, net security firm F-Secure explains, adding that the links had stopped working by late on Monday.
While Facebook has contained this threat, others along the same lines are likely to follow, not least because spammers have taken to web 2.0 sites as channels for crud promotion or (increasingly) to distribute survey scams.
For example, comment spam promoting a survey that supposedly offered an iPad as a prize for completion was brazenly posted to a YouTube channel maintained by Sophos earlier this week, as illustrated by a blog post here. ®

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