So I've been thinking lately about how easy it is to commit identity theft/fraud using Facebook (shamelessly plugged recommended reading admittedly light on substance), and, frankly, it scares the hell out of me. I've never met a lay person who realizes how easy it is to assume the identity of others and manipulate/extort/blackmail/slander/profit/ruin people.
Case in point: I recently used this to pull a prank on a friend by changing his own Facebook name/photo to someone else's and then telling him that the aforementioned person had left it up/open on his computer. He then, thinking he was pulling a prank, started screwing with the person's account and posting ridiculous statuses. When he was done and gone, I changed his name and photo back and laughed at the fact that he had just spent a solid chuck of time and a decent amount of effort and creative energy fucking himself. Laughs were had.
But on a less funny note, I then watched him use the trick that I had just taught him to fuck with other peoples' relationships, and I used it (as a proof of concept) to "steal" my own social security number.
What worries me most about this "loophole" is that I think Facebook will have a hell of a time closing it. It's important that social networking sites are easy to use, and yet fixing this problem could change that just enough to discourage their use and prevent the use of widespread, secure social networking in the future.
I haven't really been active here in a while, and this thread doesn't really fit with the rest. But uh, think Facebook will do anything about it? Think it matters?
Discuss. And also feel free to post tits.
Case in point: I recently used this to pull a prank on a friend by changing his own Facebook name/photo to someone else's and then telling him that the aforementioned person had left it up/open on his computer. He then, thinking he was pulling a prank, started screwing with the person's account and posting ridiculous statuses. When he was done and gone, I changed his name and photo back and laughed at the fact that he had just spent a solid chuck of time and a decent amount of effort and creative energy fucking himself. Laughs were had.
But on a less funny note, I then watched him use the trick that I had just taught him to fuck with other peoples' relationships, and I used it (as a proof of concept) to "steal" my own social security number.
What worries me most about this "loophole" is that I think Facebook will have a hell of a time closing it. It's important that social networking sites are easy to use, and yet fixing this problem could change that just enough to discourage their use and prevent the use of widespread, secure social networking in the future.
I haven't really been active here in a while, and this thread doesn't really fit with the rest. But uh, think Facebook will do anything about it? Think it matters?
Discuss. And also feel free to post tits.
