100M Facebook Profiles Now Available For Download

[Starbuck]

One hundred million Facebook user profiles containing personal information such as e-mail addresses and phone numbers, are now available as a 2.8GB torrent download. Ron Bowes of Skull Security created the torrent using a Web crawler program, harvesting data from public profiles of users who have chosen not to change their privacy settings.

 

The file contains information for 1 in every 5 Facebook users, all those who are currently listed in the Facebook open access directory. Nothing is illegal about the torrent, because it simply uses data that is available to the public. Even those who have secured their own Facebook page may not be completely out of the clear. In a statement on his website Bowes said:

 

"...this is a scary privacy issue. I can find the name of pretty much every person on Facebook...Once I have the name and URL of a user, I can view, by default, their picture, friends, information about them, and some other details. If the user has set their privacy higher, at the very least I can view their name and picture. So, if any searchable user has friends that are non-searchable, those friends just opted into being searched, like it or not! "

 

Privacy is a huge concern for many Facebook users, and has put the social networking site in the news over and over again. While Facebook does have quite a few privacy options in place, it often makes understanding and finding those options as an individual user fairly complex. The process of making your Facebook profile unsearchable requires going through numerous different menu pages, a process that might frustrate some users into just not doing it at all.

 

 

What about you? Have you made your profile unsearchable on Facebook, or are you comfortable with having your information included in the torrent file?

 

 

Source:

100M Facebook Profiles Now Available For Download

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Its the nature of the beast really isn't it.

 

Have you ever tried Googling a friends name? If they are known on a social networking site, odds are it will be in the first page of Google results.

 

So many people on Facebook want their details known so others can find them, perhaps it will become the telephone directory of the future? I think in the world of social networking we have to accept that some of our personal details will become known.

 

Setting passwords using date of birth or siblings and childrens names is just plain bonkers and it helps hackers no end.

 

Perhaps a bit of education from Facebook for us all would help?

[Starbuck]

perhaps it will become the telephone directory of the future?

You may well be right there.

I've always thought the main problem is.....

People can just buy a computer and get on the net without any problem.

Most probably have no idea on PC security or Privacy.

It's a shame that everyone isn't made to complete a course before being allowed to run lose.