Fac(eboo)k off, Canadian Pornking!
Just like pop will eat itself, Facebook will one day self-destruct (2). Until then, it's getting an ever increasing mind-share and implicitly expanding media coverage. In the last salvo in this war for our brainspace, we learn that Facebook is taking a Canadian porn site to court over alleged attempts to steal private details of users(1).
The lawsuit names Istra Holdings Inc., the numbered company affiliated with SlickCash, and defendants Brian Fabian and Josh Raskin as either "residing or working" at the same Toronto address. The SlickCash website boasts that its partners have been "involved in every facet of the online adult industry" since 1999. The suit also names Ming Wu and six other defendants whose identities remain unknown. The amended complaint was filed last Wednesday after Facebook was granted court orders in Canada forcing Internet service providers Rogers Communications and Look Communications to divulge subscriber information.
Obviously, it's great to hear that the two ISPs, Look and Rogers have actually upheld the privacy of a user, no matter who they were or what they've done. After all, the allegations have yet to be proven in court. We can only hope that they do the same with all such requests and are not using this as a PR opportunity. As for PR, it is unlikely IMHO that Facebook will recover at least the money spent on trial from that numbered corporation even if they win, which if true, suggests that the trial itself is rather demonstrative - although clearly necessary and a step in the right direction. Almost since its inception, Facebook faced significant criticism regarding its privacy policies. The following video clip has been around for more than 1 year and is alleging a nefarious connection between Facebook and CIA / NSA.
Facebook and Privacy
Facebook had its share of privacy woes, perhaps far more than any other Web 2.0 outfit. It started with persistent allegations of connections to CIA. This is not as outlandish as it may seem. CIA has an official policy, launched in the previous decade, of cooperation with private corporations and of active involvement in the private sector. It only makes sense that they do this, as that is the most efficient way of spending the taxpayer's dollars. Some of the privacy issues the Facebook users identify are not always valid. Nonetheless, the Beacon system is a little too intrusive for anybody who delves into the details.Facebook vs. Myspace
It's hard to believe today that Myspace was once mightier than Facebook. Facebook has become cooler long time ago and has been growing much faster. It seems that Facebook users are more educated, usually university students and graduates, whereas Myspace addresses the lower end of the spectrum.Advertising on Facebook
With its increasing popularity, Facebook has become a great advertising medium. Facebook is now a microuniverse on its own.Sources
- Facebook suing Cdn porn site for allegedly hacking its servers - Canadian Press
- Facebook Self-destruct - IT week
- The Facebook Marketing Bible - insidefacebook
- Facebook climbs the social scale - Guardian
- MySpace hoax leads to suicide, but no laws broken - IHT
- Facebook etiquette - wired.com
- Facebook v Google muhammadsaleem.com
- CNN: The Facebook Economy - cnn
- Time - Why Facebook is the Future - time
- adnomics - compare facebook application penetration
- MySpace: Hot or Not? - rwweb
- Facebook gets greedy for traffic - valleywag
- myspace pedophiles - wired
- zuckerberg road - wired
- A Good Facebook Profile tips - quicksprout
- What if more is less? - rww
- Facebook Outage: Wakeup Call - more BusinessWeek facebook articles: a, b, c, d
- Conspiracy! - PrisonPlanet
- Social Networking Vulnerabilities - Yahoo
- Your privacy is an illusion - valleywag
- Facebook, MySpace are great resources for scammers, Better Business Bureau warns - cbc.ca
- Your own google search - google
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