Details of 100m Facebook users collected and published

#1 · 30-07-2010 06:56PM #1

Ron Bowes used a piece of code to scan Facebook profiles, collecting data not hidden by the user's privacy settings. The list, which has been shared as a downloadable file, contains the URL of every searchable Facebook user's profile, their name and unique ID. Mr Bowes said he published the data to highlight privacy issues, but Facebook said it was already public information.

The file has spread rapidly across the net. On the Pirate Bay, the world's biggest file-sharing website, the list was being distributed and downloaded by more than 1,000 users. One user, going by the name of lusifer69, described the list as "awesome and a little terrifying". In a statement to BBC News, Facebook said that the information in the list was already freely available online.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-10796584

alwaysadub · 30-07-2010 06:59PM

People shouldn't leave their profile public if they don't want people to be looking at it.

Rabies · 30-07-2010 06:59PM

I can open a phone book and easily get a Name, phone number, address.

Then call up and ask for more personal info.

No big deal really.
Nothing shocking about it. Info was already public.

TheMilkyPirate · 30-07-2010 06:59PM

Meh.

Mr Benevolent · 30-07-2010 07:02PM

Hah, look at the TPB uploader's file list. Bet he didn't want the world finding out about his porn stash...

Terry · 30-07-2010 07:03PM

baraca wrote: »

Meh.

I'll second that by adding that my name is not searchable.

Biggins · 30-07-2010 07:06PM

Not bothered. The CIA, FBI, MI5, MI6, G2, FSB and Shin Bet know about me - what else have I got to worry about!

Superbus · 30-07-2010 07:07PM

"Jack likes Dutch Gold" "Great nite... I think

" "Conor is now friends with Aine"

Vital information I'm sure.

PogMoThoin · 30-07-2010 07:08PM

Rabies wrote: »

I can open a phone book and easily get a Name, phone number, address.

Then call up and ask for more personal info.

No big deal really.
Nothing shocking about it. Info was already public.

Yes, but Facebook has a default setting for privacy that makes some info publicly available. People have to make a conscious choice to opt-out of the default security options. Much like the Eircom WEP issue, most people are clueless and won't bother

Mark200 · 30-07-2010 07:10PM

I'm downloading it now, just out of curiosity. The only information that I have viewable to public on my facebook is my name and the groups I have joined... but it'll be interesting to see what kind of information on people is actually in the file. I'm sure there are plenty of people who never bothered to stick their information on private.

But I agree, it's not a big deal since it was already viewable by the public anyway.

Actually, looking at the files it seems the only information that the files have is the names and profile urls.... hardly newsworthy.

Ghost Train · 30-07-2010 07:11PM

Pity Eircom have blocked the pirate bay and this important info from its customers

PeterIanStaker · 30-07-2010 07:12PM

People need to be aware that they can set the privacy levels on FB. I didnt know until I was shown recently.

30-07-2010 07:13PM

Not Facebook's fault if you had your profile public.

Mark200 · 30-07-2010 07:16PM

Ghost Train wrote: »

Pity Eircom have blocked the pirate bay and this important info from its customers

There are plenty of other torrent sites....

PogMoThoin · 30-07-2010 07:16PM

Mak_United wrote: »

Not Facebook's fault if you had your profile public.

Yes it is, it should be private by default, opt in to make public

PogMoThoin · 30-07-2010 07:17PM

Ghost Train wrote: »

Pity Eircom have blocked the pirate bay and this important info from its customers

They've only blocked the website, the torrents from Piratebay still work

biko · 30-07-2010 07:19PM

Set your account to as private as possible. Like only friends can see anything, not friends of friends nor everyone.

snowyeoghan · 30-07-2010 07:19PM

There is no personal information in the fies - only names and URLS to their Facebook profile.

This is all useless, until somebody begins to exploit this information.

Rabies · 30-07-2010 07:20PM

PogMoThoin wrote: »

Yes, but Facebook has a default setting for privacy that makes some info publicly available. People have to make a conscious choice to opt-out of the default security options. Much like the Eircom WEP issue, most people are clueless and won't bother

I think the same goes for number book. Opt in or out.

Its up to the individual to create the profile and they stock it with what ever info they want. Public or private, its down to the profile owner.

30-07-2010 07:27PM

PogMoThoin wrote: »

Yes it is, it should be private by default, opt in to make public

Arguably. But this is very different from the Eircom WEP issue. Eircom were selling routers with a password that could easily be broken. The sole point of the password was to prevent people gaining access, and it wasn't sufficient.

Facebook is the opposite. The sole point of a Facebook profile is to make information available to a wider range of people. If Facebook made the default setting private, there would be huge numbers of complaints from people about how they can't find their friends.

The phonebook analogy is a much more apt comparison than the Eircom WEP fiasco

Terry · 30-07-2010 07:30PM

28064212 wrote: »

Arguably. But this is very different from the Eircom WEP issue. Eircom were selling routers with a password that could easily be broken. The sole point of the password was to prevent people gaining access, and it wasn't sufficient.

Facebook is the opposite. The sole point of a Facebook profile is to make information available to a wider range of people. If Facebook made the default setting private, there would be huge numbers of complaints from people about how they can't find their friends.

The phonebook analogy is a much more apt comparison than the Eircom WEP fiasco

Or the register of electors.
Throw your name in there and change the settings so that you don't get junk mail.
http://www.checktheregister.ie/

Grimebox · 30-07-2010 07:32PM

Somebody gathers public information that has already been made public by the user. What's the problem?

Grimebox · 30-07-2010 07:35PM

PogMoThoin wrote: »

They've only blocked the website, the torrents from Piratebay still work

Really? I first noticed piratebay was blocked WHEN my torrents stopped working.

RachPie · 30-07-2010 07:36PM

Mine's not on public, so as long as anything of mine isn't published, I'm happy.
Anyone else, I suggest you change your settings!

fontanalis · 30-07-2010 07:39PM

Can someone clarify something? Wasn't Facebook sold for billions despite neevr making a profit, and isn't the only way to make money off it to sell information to marketing companies or through aggressive, direct/tailor made advertising based on the user profile.

Terry · 30-07-2010 07:40PM

Grimebox wrote: »

Somebody gathers public information that has already been made public by the user. What's the problem?

To highlight that it can also be made available to hackers and the like.

How many of you have gotten one of those spam PMs from a friend that lead to a virus riddled site?
This is how the hackers do it. They just exploit the weak security, garner the e-mail addresses, hack the account and then send on dodgy links.
You click the link, and then they hack your account.

Keep your e-mail address hidden from everyone.

30-07-2010 07:43PM

PogMoThoin wrote: »

Yes it is, it should be private by default, opt in to make public

No, it tells you about the option of making it private when making one so its up to you.

Like bebo, myspace etc.... Its all public by default.

Your own hard luck if you were to lazy to set it to private.

Mark200 · 30-07-2010 07:45PM

fontanalis wrote: »

Can someone clarify something? Wasn't Facebook sold for billions despite neevr making a profit, and isn't the only way to make money off it to sell information to marketing companies or through aggressive, direct/tailor made advertising based on the user profile.

They make money through advertising on their site.

Facebook don't share any of your information with third parties without your consent.

PogMoThoin · 30-07-2010 07:46PM

Grimebox wrote: »

Really? I first noticed piratebay was blocked WHEN my torrents stopped working.

That TPB torrent is dl'in fine for me on Eircom, I'm very curious as to what it contains. Its being leeched to hell, not great speeds

messymess · 30-07-2010 07:46PM

Rabies wrote: »

I can open a phone book and easily get a Name, phone number, address.

Then call up and ask for more personal info.

No big deal really.
Nothing shocking about it. Info was already public.

You see, this is the line that's being spun by Facebook execs. They've casually brushed this off but they're absolutely reeling about the bad publicity this has caused. Is it a co-incident that the "researchers" site is currently down? I hope he's up to his hole in legal threats. He's an irresponsible idiot looking for attention and not a security researcher. He blatantly violated their T&C's by scraping 100m user's data. I'm at pains to to see why they didn't notice and stop this. Scraping 100m users worth of data is pretty dam hard to miss.

The fact of the matter is that Facebook couldn't really care less about your privacy. If they did their privacy policies would have remained static, or become more restrictive over the years, not less.

http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/04/facebook-timeline

Standard data protection laws dictate that personal data has a shelf life and that once it has expired, it's deleted (in this case this is when YOU want). How many people have their facebook walls open, pics available etc? If a site encourages you to use it so interactively they should do everything in their power to protect your personal information. Lock it down and THEN let people open it up, NOT the other way around.

I really pity the people who joined controversial groups or had a pictures of themselfs with a spliff in their mouth at 18 trying to get a job when they've matured a bit. People look at this stuff! God knows what else he scraped! Peoples walls, their pics?

Facebook has really messed up because they encourage you to share everything and far too insecurely. They made their security interface too unintuitive for most people to use to its full extent, if at all and god knows how many times they changed their settings about.

I'm downloading the data now to take a look at what this guy scraped but make no bones about it, he's a complete cock sucker.

fontanalis · 30-07-2010 07:51PM

Mark200 wrote: »

They make money through advertising on their site.

Facebook don't share any of your information with third parties without your consent.

Thanks, I think Facebook (despite being handy for looking up people you lost contact with) is a gimmick that didn't warrant it's sales price and maybe I'm being paranoid but I expect horror stories about peoples information going walkabout in the future.

Details of 100m Facebook users collected and published

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