2008 Woodie Awards
A Facebook ruckus
Jay Nargundkar
Issue date: 10/10/06 Section: Opinion
Remember that Facebook group that was popular a month or so ago, about that guy who would have a threesome with his girlfriend if 100,000 people joined his group? I didn't join, but that creepy "News Feed" feature told me many people I know did. It turns out the group's creator, "Brody Ruckus," is a fictional creation of a company seeking to promote its downloading service.
According to a report last week in The Washington Post, the company, Ruckus Networks, got access to the e-mail addresses of 300,000 Facebook users who joined the group and has been sending out unsolicited e-mails about Ruckus products. Rest assured, Ruckus did not find some way to hack private data from its group members - it got the e-mails from people who signed up on the Brody-related website it set up and promoted on the group.
However, the troubling issue here is the company's assumption of a right to use students' personal info when they had not given permission for it to be used as such. Ruckus Networks' argument is cause for concern: The Post article says the company feels that "users did agree to join the Facebook group of 'Brody Ruckus,' so if Ruckus resurrects the character, users may expect e-mails from him."
Ruckus Networks is only talking about e-mails here, and it doesn't take much effort to put those in the trash or set your spam blocker on them. But that is not the point. By their logic, if you join a Facebook group, you have given the creators of that group the right to use your phone number, your address, your AOL Instant Messenger screenname, etc.
That's not just disturbing - it is a substantial invasion of privacy. The Brody Ruckus example may have been relatively harmless, but it demonstrates how easy it is to exploit our penchant to reveal too much information online. There is bound to be more reports in the future of cases where people's private info is used in more malicious ways - identity theft, blackmail, who knows?
When we use sites such as Facebook or programs like AIM, we tend to think of them as being in our private little world. That is not the case. It is na've to disbelieve that people we don't know can stalk us online. An AIM profile or away message can be read by anyone, and on Facebook anyone on the same regional network as you or anyone who knows any of the thousands of people at your school can see your information. At worst, any website or program can be hacked and its secure information compromised. Some people have their Facebook privacy settings set to "friends only," but when you have 350 "friends" on your school network, half of whom you barely know, that precaution should be of little comfort.
I am not one of those people who is some zealous privacy freak - you can find me on Facebook, and while I have tweaked some privacy settings, I'd hardly say they were restrictive. No, what we should endeavor for then is not to fight a losing battle of putting up walls, but to be more prudent in what we put up online. Any content you publish on your page, you should not mind sharing with a stranger. To be safe, keep in mind that what you might give away freely today, you would be more discreet about five or 10 years from now.
Oh, and if some guy says he will let you watch him and two hot girls in a threesome, it's probably too good to be true.
Jay Nargundkar is a junior finance major. He can be reached at terpnews@gmail.com.
According to a report last week in The Washington Post, the company, Ruckus Networks, got access to the e-mail addresses of 300,000 Facebook users who joined the group and has been sending out unsolicited e-mails about Ruckus products. Rest assured, Ruckus did not find some way to hack private data from its group members - it got the e-mails from people who signed up on the Brody-related website it set up and promoted on the group.
However, the troubling issue here is the company's assumption of a right to use students' personal info when they had not given permission for it to be used as such. Ruckus Networks' argument is cause for concern: The Post article says the company feels that "users did agree to join the Facebook group of 'Brody Ruckus,' so if Ruckus resurrects the character, users may expect e-mails from him."
Ruckus Networks is only talking about e-mails here, and it doesn't take much effort to put those in the trash or set your spam blocker on them. But that is not the point. By their logic, if you join a Facebook group, you have given the creators of that group the right to use your phone number, your address, your AOL Instant Messenger screenname, etc.
That's not just disturbing - it is a substantial invasion of privacy. The Brody Ruckus example may have been relatively harmless, but it demonstrates how easy it is to exploit our penchant to reveal too much information online. There is bound to be more reports in the future of cases where people's private info is used in more malicious ways - identity theft, blackmail, who knows?
When we use sites such as Facebook or programs like AIM, we tend to think of them as being in our private little world. That is not the case. It is na've to disbelieve that people we don't know can stalk us online. An AIM profile or away message can be read by anyone, and on Facebook anyone on the same regional network as you or anyone who knows any of the thousands of people at your school can see your information. At worst, any website or program can be hacked and its secure information compromised. Some people have their Facebook privacy settings set to "friends only," but when you have 350 "friends" on your school network, half of whom you barely know, that precaution should be of little comfort.
I am not one of those people who is some zealous privacy freak - you can find me on Facebook, and while I have tweaked some privacy settings, I'd hardly say they were restrictive. No, what we should endeavor for then is not to fight a losing battle of putting up walls, but to be more prudent in what we put up online. Any content you publish on your page, you should not mind sharing with a stranger. To be safe, keep in mind that what you might give away freely today, you would be more discreet about five or 10 years from now.
Oh, and if some guy says he will let you watch him and two hot girls in a threesome, it's probably too good to be true.
Jay Nargundkar is a junior finance major. He can be reached at terpnews@gmail.com.
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