| |
|
World NEWS |
|
|
|
|
|
Facebook's security flaws exposed
July 30, 2010
Two days after Facebook launched its Safety Page to help users keep data secure, the personal details of 100 million users were posted online.
Security consultant Ron Bowles used software to collect data not hidden behind privacy settings, and shared it on the Pirate Bay website as a downloadable file.
Bowles said he made the move to highlight privacy issues, the BBC reported.
Facebook said the information was already public.
"People who use Facebook own their information and have the right to share only what they want, with whom they want, and when they want," it said.
"No private data is available or has been compromised."
The launch of the Safety Page followed demands by privacy activists that Facebook give users more control over the use of their personal data.
Simon Davies from the watchdog Privacy International told BBC News Facebook had been given ample warning something like this would happen, and should have acted to prevent it.
"It is inconceivable that a firm with hundreds of engineers couldn't have imagined a trawl of this magnitude, and there's an argument to be heard that Facebook have acted with negligence," he said.
Also yesterday, Facebook launched a trial version of its much-anticipated new service, which allows members to pose questions to other users of the 500-million-strong social network.
Facebook Questions lets members "tap into the collective knowledge" of other members, Facebook's director of product management Blake Ross said.
Mr Ross said Facebook users routinely posed questions to their friend network.
"With this new application, you can get a broader set of answers and learn valuable information from people knowledgeable on a range of topics," he said in a blog post.
Mr Ross said Facebook Questions was so far available to only a limited number of members but "we'll be developing it rapidly based on their feedback".
Questions and answers posted using the application will be "public and visible to everyone on the internet".
Source: the australian
|
