Random Thoughts

A Reason to Reconsider Social Networks

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Reason being, one of these days something you posted many years ago will bite you in the ass.

Yes, you know who you are. Remember the picture you posted online of you smoking pot and getting frisky with an inflatable chair, or being barsexual? Yea, thats not gonna go over so well with the new employers. Regardless if you are posting information on social sites as “private” or “friends only” information WILL leak out the only question is when.

Normally its a friend who thinks its cute to download a picture off your profile and email it to another friend, but now the networks themselves are doing the leaks for you. Previously MySpace had a bug where anyone (via a special url) could see anybodies private pictures. Now it’s Facebooks turn!

A security lapse made it possible for unwelcome strangers to peruse personal photos posted on Facebook Inc.’s popular online hangout, circumventing a recent upgrade to the Web site’s privacy controls.
The Associated Press verified the loophole Monday after receiving a tip from a Byron Ng, a Vancouver, Canada computer technician. Ng began looking for security weaknesses last week after Facebook unveiled more ways for 67 million members to restrict access to their personal profiles.
But the added protections weren’t enough to prevent Ng from pulling up the most recent pictures posted by Facebook members and their friends, even if the privacy settings were set to restrict the audience to a select few.
After being alerted Monday afternoon, Facebook spokeswoman Brandee Barker said the Palo Alto-based company fixed the bug within an hour.

Next time you want to post evidence of your drunken debauchery or say something really crazy and radical – you may want to give that a second thought now. In other words, think before you upload. if it might embarrass you for others to see it… just don’t upload.

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